I think a strong synopsis can do three important things for an author:
- crystallize what your book's really about, which is more than a little useful when revising.
- show an agent or editor how your novel has a plot to excite and eventually satisfy readers through the requisite mix of surprises, emotional tugs, and logical connections.
- show those publishing pros that you understand how your plot works, leading them to think that you might just be able to do that again.
Don't forget to include:The world breathlessly awaits the results.
- What makes it all appealing. If you've summarized everything except the reason readers will be drawn through the plot, you've failed.
- The ending. I don't care if it's a surprise. Tell me how it fricking ends.
Meanwhile, for more examples to learn from, there's Miss Snark's Crapometer-synopsis thread. Evil Editor's Face-Lifts are more focused on query letters, but also offer useful advice on expressing the essence of a story. Cynthea Liu takes a more formulaic approach to synopses, seemingly based on the five-paragraph essay, but that's okay; as a genre, synopses are all about content, not form.
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