While your novel extract is the most important part of your submission, a strong one-page synopsis plays a key supporting role by showcasing the heart of your book and pinpointing the “who, what, where and when” of where your story goes.

Here are the key elements we hope to find.

Writing a One-page Synopsis — Your Opening Pitch

Opening your one-page synopsis with your novel’s pitch gets your submission off to a flying start. Writing in the third person, present tense, introduce your main character and setting, followed by the central catalyst and resolution of your book.

Tip: As an example, here’s the pitch Abi Daré used in her winning submission for The Girl with the Louding Voice: “14-year-old Lagos housemaid refuses to accept her fate – she wants an education and to get a ‘louding voice’.” 

Paragraph One — Tell Us How Your Novel Starts

Moving on to your first paragraph, tell us how your novel starts. Focus on your main characters and use simple, declarative sentences for clarity and brevity. Key points to include are:

• Who is your main character, and what is their situation at the start of your book?
• What are they hoping to achieve, and why is this important to them?
• What is the inciting incident that starts the main character’s conflict and journey?

Tip: Keep the focus on your main characters. If you need to mention minor characters at all, just say ‘their doctor’, ‘their neighbour’, ‘new classmate’ etc.

Paragraph Two — Show How Your Plot Unfolds 

Now set out what happens in the mid-sections of your book. This will likely be the longest part of your synopsis and here, we are looking for your novel’s main plot points and a sense of your main character’s arc. Key points to include here are:

• What gets in the way of what your main character is trying to achieve?
• How does this conflict affect them?
• Who is helping your character towards their goal and who is hindering them?
• What is the turning point for your character that sets them on the path to either achieving or not achieving their goal?

Final Paragraph — Tell Us How Your Novel Ends

In your final paragraph, explain how your novel concludes, including spoilers and any plot twists. Key points to include in your closing paragraph are:

• How does your character try to solve the conflict?
• What happens in the climax of your book?
• Is your main character better or worse off at the end of the novel?

Formatting a One-page Synopsis

Present your one-page synopsis as the final page of your submission document, at the end of your novel extract. Your synopsis should fit onto one A4 page with standard margins all around, and be single-spaced, left aligned in an ‘easy-to-read’ font such as Times New Roman.

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