I’ve covered the aspects and tips of writing book blurbs for readers, and now I want to give a little advice for composing synopses for editors and agents. These professionals will need more than just an emotional reaction to your story. If you’re trying to pitch to them for the first time, they will most likely want the book blurb version. However, if they already took you on and want to know the book summary, they’ll need to know its core components. These can be simplified into four categories with the acronym GOST.
Goals
What is the character trying to do? He can be trying to get a job promotion, save a life, or prove his worth to his wife. There is something at the beginning of the book that he is lacking, and the book should follow his journey to getting it—even if it isn’t what he originally thought he needed.
Obstacles
What are the conflicts the character faces? Examples include a relationship, a journey, or a villain. There should be multiple obstacles in your protagonist’s way to his goal. You’ll need one main big obstacle, but there should also be several small things for your protagonist to overcome before facing the real threat.
Stakes
What is the cost if the character doesn’t succeed? There must be something at stake that the protagonist will lose if he doesn’t reach his goal. Maybe it will be a divorce or perhaps someone will die. But it does have to be something interpersonally related to the character. Writers like to say that the stake is the end of the world, but the world is too big a concept to be a personal motivator. In reality, it’s the protagonist’s need to save his kids that has him trying to stop world destruction. The stakes have to be something personal that readers can relate to in their own lives.
Tactics
What does the character do to reach the goals? Every journey to reach a goal has to have a plan of action. In a book, there should be at least three sets of plans to achieve the goal. The first plan will always fail, and it usually involves the protagonist trying to fix the problem the wrong or easy way. When that fails, he’ll have to develop a new plan and so on. This cycle of planning and failing will continue until the protagonist finally makes the hard decision to sacrifice something in order to succeed.
Final Thoughts
The synopsis outlines the heart, or GOST, of your story. It’s the inner workings of your book so professionals can help you make the best book you can write.
Thanks for reading!
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