How to Summarize Your Story

Agents and publishers want a synopsis of your book. Even if you self publish, it’s useful to be able to tell your entire story in as few words as possible.

Leslie and I had to summarize Dream Eater’s Carnival for a writing community. It felt overwhelming, at first, because I was thinking about everything at once.

Then I took a step back. I broke the story into 2,000 word blocks, then summarized each block in forty words or less. All the sudden, it was easy.

If your summary is still too long, start cutting words. If you’ve cut an entire block’s summary, then maybe that block isn’t necessary, or it could be slimmed down further.