Before I go any further with my tale, there are a few changes that I’d like to make. As I’m writing this, I find it difficult to refer to myself in the first person. So, the change I’m making will be taking the form of sometimes spooky, as in referring to myself in the third person and other times I will you the word I, as in referring to myself in the first person. But no matter what tense I use, the story must go on and so with that, let’s get back to it.

“Hearing the train whistle, I was on my feet in an instant. Grabbing my knapsack, I flung it over my shoulder and waited near the tracks for the train to pass by. The hobo stood up as well, causally brushing his hands on the legs of his blue patched overalls. “Well since I don’t have anything better to do,” he said with a yawn, “I suppose that I will join you.”

“You really don’t have to,” I began….

“Nope, it’s already decided.” He interrupted. “Someone got to watch out for your country tail, besides I owe you for giving me dinner.”

“You really don’t have too…” I began again.

“Oh shut-up,” he hissed. “I owe you a favor and I intend to keep it. Now get ready to jump.”

Not knowing what else to say – but wanting to have the last word, I was about to reply, when the train came barreling down upon us. Realizing that I was out of time. I shut my mouth and prepared to jump.

After a hard day of walking, I found myself next to a set of train tracks. Seeing that the tracks were shiny, I assumed that they were used frequently.  Not sure of when the train was going to come by, I placed my sack on the ground and used it for a seat. Taking out some of my meager possessions, I made myself a tuna fish sandwich. I was about to bite into my sandwich, when I heard a voice besides, “Say, you’re new around this area, aren’t you?”

Looking up, I see this scrawny mangey cat looking down at me. Not sure on how best to approach him, I chose to say nothing at all; hoping that he would take the hint and go away. Instead, he sided up to me, pulled out a battered cornstalk pipe. Lighting it with a battered zippo that hosted a deep red star in the center, the smell of catnip and hyssop reach my nostrils.

“So, are you waiting for the train to pass by?”

Looking at him briefly, I inclined my head in agreement. Taking this as a good sign, he continued, “Have you ever jumped a train?”

“I’ll manage.” I muttered.

“Oh, I’m sure you will, you look like a sturdy cat in all. Say, are you going to eat that sandwich or just stare at it.”

“Would you like half,” I asked

“Well, I wouldn’t want to impose, but if you insist.

Before I could say anything, the entire sandwich disappeared in a single gulp. “Now that was a mighty good sandwich,” the hobo said with a burp. ‘You should’ve really tried some.”

“I would’ve I began…but I was interrupted by the loud whistle of the train coming around the bend.

It was November 15, 2024, and I had settled down for a nap on top of the lazy chair recliner. Life was good. Well as good as it could get for a fourteen-year-old Russian feline. My landlords are decent. I have all the food and treats that I could want and I can come and go as I please. Naturally, I wouldn’t have it any other way. This is of course the land of the free and home to many free-thinking cats such as myself. But this wasn’t always the case. Many years ago, when I was just a young kitten, life wasn’t nearly as easy. I remember it like it was yesterday, though it was thirteen years ago. I was born on a rural country farm in the south of Russia. Life was hard. From an early age, I learned how to hunt for mice and small birds. Every once in awhile a saucer of milk would appear for me and my brothers. But being the youngest, it was usually gone by the time I got to it. I remember my favorite part of the day was sleeping and playing in the hay.

But all of this changed one day. The farmer and his wife who were outspoken, were arrested by the KGB. With no one there to run the farm. My brothers and I were left to fend for ourselves. The following day, I gathered as much food and supplies that I could muster and placed them in a knap sack. I didn’t know where I going, but I knew that it was my time to leave.

Sincerely,

Spooky

Posterizing is one way to draw attention

Raging and roaring about how you’re the best

Egging others on

Oh. I don’t know

These words don’t want to come together

The first line is okay

The second is better

The third has potential

But put together, they’re

A natural disaster

And here I made a rhyme

Though it was not my intention

It is not half bad

Though it could require some attention

But this is a free write

And though I had hoped to make a point

I feel that it was lost

When these words refused to come together

Ava and Sassy were still arguing, when Jocren and John passed them in a flash. Jocren was leading with John close behind. Fatheriam turned to face this new threat. Jocren flying fast and low to the ground, pulled up at the last moment causing Fatheriam’s attention/ gaze to follow him as he skimmed over the top of Fatheriam’s head.  John who was right behind, ran his blade into Fatheriam’s spine, where it became lodged.

Fatheriam roared, flashing wildly about. The meter above his head dropped down to 80%.  As John and Jocren turned around for another go, Ava and Sassy who had felt Jon and Jocren rush by them, turned and shouted, “Hey, wait for us.”

“Well, if you two decide to get your heads out of your ass and begin working as a team, then by all means join us.”

“How dare you talk to us that way,” Ava shouted. Just then a fireball that had been fired in their direction, hit them full force throwing them twenty feet back. Piking herself up, Ava started fuming. Sassy who had just gotten herself righted from spinning, spat, “Look, I don’t quite care for you, nor do you care for me. But what I hate even more is being made a fool of, by a freakishly tall monster.”

“I second that,” Ava quipped. “No man has the right to tell me what to do. I’ll grind all those who defy me under the heal of my boot. Let’s show this worthless piece of garbage what us women are made off and then we’ll have a nice chat with our subordinates about who is actually in charge.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Sassy replied with a smile.

Okay then, so here is what we’re going to do,” Ava said. “John, I want you to charge Fatheriam, like you did last time. However, at the last moment, I want you to pull away”

“So, I’m supposed to be a decoy?”

“Yes, that would be the general idea.”

“I know that I’m just a scientist and all that.” Sassy replied. “But wouldn’t it make more sense for those of us who fly to cause the diversion…given that we can get out of the way at a moment’s notice?”

Ava sighed. “You’re right that would make a lot more sense.  So how about this. We team up. Jocren and I will work together and Sassy and John will work together. Jocren and Sassy will provide the diversions, while John and I will run the attacks.”

“Okay sounds like a plan, but I don’t know why Jocren and you are always joining up.” Sassy replied. “What if I wanted to spend some time with Jocren?”

“Look, I don’t care who works with me…” Jocren began…But both women turned to him and screamed. “Shut-up.”

Having just about enough of the bickering, Jocren shrugged his shoulders and turned away. Looking at John he said, “I don’t know about you, but I want to get this stupid thing done and over with and I’m not going to wait while two women blow their own horns.”

“Agreed,” John replied. “Let’s leave the girls to their bickering and you and I form our own team. Lead the way and I will follow”

“I couldn’t agree more, Ava replied, as she dove out of the way of the incoming fire ball. “We need to find a way to take him down and quickly. Otherwise, we won’t survive.”

“What did he say about daggers.” Jocren asked as he drew his blaster and fired at Fatheriam point blank range. “Hey, my blaster barely did any damage.”

“I believe that Fatheriam had mentioned something about that.” Ava replied. “Something about it being boring and so how knives would lively up the fight.”

“Let’s put this to theory to the test,” John replied, pulling out a long thick hunting knife. Waiting for an opportunity to present itself. John braced for the charge. He didn’t have to wait long. Fatheriam dodging an assault form Jocren, turned his back to John. Seizing the opportunity, John charged Fatheriam. Reaching him in short order, John plunged the knife into Fatheriam’s back. Letting out a howl, Fatheriam swung his arms around wildly throwing John several yards back. Standing up, John was about to charge again when he noticed two things. First a health meter had appeared above Fatheriam’s head and second Fatheriam had begun to change. No longer was he tall and skinny, but he had grown ten times his normal size.

 “What is going on.” Jocren asked. ‘Why does Fatheriam has that meter above his head/”

“I’m not entirely sure,” Sassy replied.  “Though, if I had to guess then that bar above his head would be a health meter and to take him down, we need to deplete it.”

When I first started writing this synopsis, I only had a rough idea of where to begin. The only thing that I knew was that a synopsis was in simple terms – a brief description of the novel, from start to finish. Knowing this, the first thing I did was go through all my old word documents to see, if I had anything remotely dealing with a synopsis. Even though I did find one document, it was over twenty pages long that covered the first two books that I had written. This was not even close to what I was looking for. My second step was doing research on what a synopsis looked like and how to write it. Below are the two examples I found:

Synopsis of Harry Potter

The story begins at the eleventh birthday of Harry when he comes to know that his parents were wizards. He receives a letter from Hagrid for the acceptance and invitation to study at Hogwarts. He leaves his uncle Vernon, aunt Petunia, and his cousin Dudley. He makes new friends Hermione and Ron. He learns many techniques at Hogwarts, taught by his professors and the headmaster, Dumbledore. His friends help him through the most challenging years in Hogwart. He comes to know about the reality of his parent’s death. The wizard practicing dark magic: Voldemort. His scar and mirror alarm him of Voldemort. Every experience Harry, Hermione, and Ron find themselves in dangerous situations. However, it brings them closer to Harry as his fight with Voldemort begins.

A synopsis is a brief and general view of a storyline and other defining factors of a literary work. Also known as a summary or an outline, its a condensed statement of a large piece of work to the point and in an effective manner. It tells us about the plot, style, genre, characters, tone, theme, the story from the beginning, climax, and anti-climax. It gives a reliable preview of writing skills. It is mostly written in active voice and third person. The impression of emotions and feelings is also included in it. In short, it is less, and yet we can understand the critical parts of a story or a poem. It can be of any type – fictional and non-fictional setting. When writing a synopsis, we shouldn’t be over-detailed and wordy. It helps in grabbing the attention and convincing the readers. A synopsis should be long enough to pack in everything good about the story or any writing piece.

How To Write Synopsis With Examples – Literary Devices

Now that I had my examples, I began working on writing the synopsis. Still not sure as to how to begin. I followed the example above and simply began writing.  

Synopsis of Crow.

 The story begins when Jocren, who is a thief by trade. Finds out that his sister Jill has been kidnapped. In order to save her, Jocren must embark on a quest to free Crow from his prison. In order to do this, Jocren first goes to the person who has is holding his sister hostage and that is Dr. Rotter. Bringing with him the tablet, that he had just stolen back from the Dragtonians. Joining him is Sassy, who through some mishaps has found herself possessing Jocren’s sword. Upon arriving at the Crowdidyian lab of Science and Religious Exploration  Jocren, found several surprises waiting for him. The first being that Dr. Rotter is his father and he had orcherated the kidnapping not only for the tablet but for Jocren’s assured willingness to undertake a quest to et crow free. Since it is believed that only one who is half Crowdidyian and half Dragtonian can achieve this. Or so the prophesy told by Phlegm, the Crowdidyian High Priest.  Faced with the predicament that either he is sent on this mission or his sister is sent on the mission, Jocren reluctantly agrees. This is necessary since they’re the only two that are mixed breeds The whole reason why Dr,rotter shacked up with Jillian-A to begin with. After this, Jocren and Sassy are required to witness a tournament where his teammates will be decided. The competitors that survive are, john, Ava, Fatheriam, Ninja and Lucky Star. After attending another banquet in honor of the victors, where Jocren is forced to take an innocent life. They are informed that they would be leaving early in the morning. With all that is going on, Jocren struggles, but eventually succeeds in taking the first few steps needed to set Crow free.

Once I had finished writing the rough draft of the synopsis, I knew that I had to cut it down quite a bit. Starting from the beginning, I cut out everything that was not needed and condensed everything else. In the end I was able to cut out 125 words from the first draft. What you see below is the final draft:

New version below:

Having returned home from a rather dangerous job, Jocren finds his sister Jillan has been kidnapped. Following the instructions left on the note by the kidnappers, Jocren and his sword Sassy quickly makes their way to the lab of Crowdidyian lab of Science and Religious Exploration. There he attempts to negotiate for his sisters return, but soon finds out that Dr. Rotter wants something more than just returning the ancient tablet that Jocren had stollen from them. To ensure his sisters safety, Jocren agrees to undergo a dangerous mission to set Crow, the leader and god of the Crowdidyians free. Joined by John, Ava, Fatheriam, Ninja and Lucky Star, the sole survivors in a death tournament in honor of Crow. Together with a set number of scientists and Phlegm, the high priest of crow, they struggle with the scant clues and challenges left by Click, a servant of Crow. as their numbers begin to dwindle, Jocren and the others learn to work together, even though their faith in each other is only skin deep.

Now my whole purpose of writing this blog, is to help any other writers who are facing the same difficulties that I did when writing this or overall looking to get published. I do not claim to be an expert on such things. Given that this is my first synopsis that I have written successfully.  

As to what I plan to do next, I’m going to take the cover letter (that I had written previously), along with the synopsis here and paste them into the query manager form. Afterall of this is done and I have followed the publishers’ directions precisely, then and only then will I hit the submit button.

Personally, I don’t hold out much hope from hearing back from any of these publishers that I submit to. However, I also knew that if I didn’t at least try, then I wouldn’t get anywhere and that is unacceptable. So there you have it, come what may, at least I know that I have succeed in writing a synopsis.

Sincerely,

Richard Polk