3. Preparing the synopsis – the author’s job

At the library I read books, make notes, and get
ideas. A library is free to use, and there's always
a librarian there to help if I can't find what I'm
looking for.

 After I have been given the brief, the first thing I do is to write a synopsis (sin–op–sis: from Greek words meaning ‘together’ and ‘seeing’)

The synopsis is a page-by-page summary or plan of the book. It helps the editor to see my ideas, and shows how I intend to order them from the first page to the last page of the book (remember, the editor has told me how many pages will be in the book). I like to think of the synopsis as a promise, because it tells my editor what I’m promising to write about.

I’m a visual writer. This means I imagine the finished pages – words and pictures – in my head right from the start. I try to put enough information into the synopsis to help my editor, designer, illustrator, and picture researcher see the book exactly as I’ve imagined it. Sometimes, the synopsis has more words in it than the finished book, since there is so much information which needs to be passed on to the other people in the team.

Preparing the synopsis is when I do my research, finding out the facts I want to use, and the ones I don’t. Research takes up a lot of my time. I borrow books from libraries, visit museums and other useful places, interview people and, of course, use the Internet.
You might wonder why I don’t do all my research on the Internet, as search engines make it so easy to use (perhaps you found this website by using a search engine). For me, the Internet is another means of tracking down facts, and it’s to be used alongside libraries, museums, and so on – it’s not a replacement for them. The Internet can both save time, and waste time as I surf from site to site, and still can’t find what I’m looking for. And it can trick me! I might find a website that seems to be useful, but then I discover its facts are wrong, so I can’t trust it. If this happens, what do I do? I could go to another website, only to find the same wrong facts are repeated there – this is a problem of the Internet. What I actually do is double-check the facts in a book (usually a reference book). If I don’t have the book myself, then I head off to my local library which, if you stop to think about it, is actually a search engine – a place to look things up.

When I’m happy with the synopsis, off it goes to my editor. I also send her photocopies of pictures from books, or photographs I’ve taken of things I’ve seen. These are picture references which will help the designer, illustrator, and picture researcher do their jobs.

One of my bookcases. These books are all about ancient Greece and Rome.