In a guest post on Jane Friedman’s blog, Julie Artz shares an interesting idea for brainstorming your novel using a long-form synopsis and your writer friends. In short, Artz suggests providing a rough-form synopsis to your critique partners while you’re still planning your novel and ask them to brainstorm 10-12 “what if” questions. Here’s how it works:
- Draft your long-form synopsis. Unlike a synopsis for an editor or agent, this one can be long and messy. Your synopsis should include the basics of your story – including category, genre, story goals, and the change arc – as well as a rough outline of your story structure. Finally, make a few passes through your outline and find areas that need to be fleshed out before you show your critique partners. Your result should be a 3 – 7 page synopsis. Much more than that is too much. Much less and you might have some plot holes that you can fix yourself before asking for brainstorming help.
- Share your long-form synopsis. With your draft in hand, it’s time to share. Ask your critique partners to ask clarifying questions or brainstorming questions. Also ask for comp title suggestions. Be sure they understand that you don’t want advice on character names, plot points, or other details. This is a brainstorming exercise, so every idea is on the table.
- Refine your long-form synopsis, an iterative process. With your partners’ feedback, refine your synopsis. “Take the feedback you get up-front and spend some time thinking it over, reading potential comp titles that weren’t on your radar, looking for ways to freshen any tropes that were identified, and otherwise filling in any logic gaps,” Artz says. She also recommends using the synopsis to track big picture changes or test out suggested edits before you start rewriting. “The long-form synopsis is an excellent way to communicate with whoever is on your writing team about your planned changes so that you can get their input without them having to read a full manuscript or decide deep into the process that they don’t like your approach,” Artz explains.
