A tip on writing plot summaries from Sam McCarver
Published: September 9, 2005
Before
A coming-of-age story about a young woman who was an abused child.
This line needs more complication for a plot, so you give it further thought, adding a title, a main character and more substance, as follows. Now you can discuss your story with agents or editors, and you can use your short summary as a starting point for writing a synopsis of several pages. Hollywood filmmakers use short summaries like this, which they call "log lines."
After
In Sea Change, a coming-of-age novel, Jennie Starr overcomes childhood traumas caused by her abusive stepfather, following her mother's death. She leaves home, manages to attend college, becomes a U.S. senator and establishes a nationwide foundation to assist abused children. |