I really enjoyed this course. It got to the nub of what’s required and enabled me to keep focussed on what’s important. I thought the section which discusses the different approaches to writing a synopsis were super helpful. I’d highly recommend it.
Write a Synopsis
LEARN HOW TO CRAFT A SMALL BUT PERFECTLY FORMED SYNOPSIS AND IMPRESS PROSPECTIVE AGENTS
£20 a month as part of the WHQ membership
First month half price!
First month half price!
Part of the Writers’ HQ membership
One week course - or take as long as you need
Join our kickass community
course home
curriculum
how it works
what you get
course home
You think you’ve done the hard part by writing a book, but landing an agent is the next big hurdle to leap over. Writers’ HQ’s online synopsis writing course will help you prepare for sending your manuscript out into the big wide world of publishing.
A kickass synopsis shows an agent you can plan and execute a super tight plot. But reducing a whole manuscript into just a few pages of story summary can be a reet pain in the backside…
Learn how to craft a small but perfectly formed synopsis and impress prospective agents with your summarising prowess.
curriculum
PART 1
Oh synopsis, why art thou a pain in my arse?
PART 2
What does a synopsis even look like?
PART 3
Pull out the bare bones of your story
PART 4
Stuck? A few notes on synopsis technique
PART 5
Synopsis dos and don’ts
PART 6
Synops-YES or sy-NO-psis?
how it works
1. Enrol
Sign up for a fully-fledged WHQ membership and get access to this and ALL our online courses direct from your member dashboard. Super simple.
2. Read, watch, do
The lessons are a mix of text, images, videos and exercises. To get the most out of the course, try to give yourself at least an hour a day to read or watch the material and do the exercises. We’ve made them as bite-size as possible but also if you wanna do the thing you gotta do the work.
3. No rush
This course is written to be done over a week but if you miss a day or something comes up, don’t panic! Go at your own pace. We’ll be waiting for you in the community forums when you’re ready to catch up.
4. No money? No problem
If you’re unable to afford WHQ membership please get in touch via our our bursary scheme!
5. Milk no sugar
Drink plenty of tea and stock up on biscuits. Enjoy it. It’s supposed to be fun. Love you. Mwah.
what you get
- Help and advice from award-winning authors and literary agents
- Daily inspiration, whip-cracking, writing exercises and prompts
- Access to our private forum full of super cool people to help and support you along the way, including Team WHQ, our specially-picked and hand-baked gang of badass writers.
- Seven days of exercises, advice and resources to help you build the best possible synopsis package
The books can’t be all wrong – can they?
I’ve been struggling with my synopsis for – well months if the truth be told. Writing, tweaking, rewriting, putting it in the drawer and hoping it will sort itself out. This course gave advice that I hadn’t found elsewhere and I think I now have a much improved synopsis. I shall be posting it soon and will look forward to feedback – (I am not afraid!).
It’s my editing blueprint for good, for now, forever! I could write a song about this course .. but instead I’ll sing your praises and say how you’ve taken the huge job of drafting a novel and made it simple .. well, simpler, because you have the knack of getting right to the heart of what a novel is, what it’s for, how it works as an entity, who inhabits it. About midway through the course I had a personal business crash that required my total attention to fix, and it’s a shame because I was enjoying the forum and taking part in it. BUT I was safe in the knowledge that if I could get back to reality and my life quick enough, I could continue and I have – and completed! I have a deadline to fulfil with my writing group and if I can manage it, I will return to the Forum too before the course ends in a few days. I will undoubtedly be returning for the course on Submission to an Agent but I’m nowhere near ready. Can I just say how helpful it was knowing the course materials would continue to be up on the site as I’ve desperately needed this time.
My only crit would be, and I mean it in a positive way, is that I felt the whole course could have been double the length anyway – as in 3 months, and then another 6 weeks for the materials to be up on the site. Many exercises of ’60 mins’ or ’45 mins’ took days or a whole week! By the way, more expensive courses I’ve taken (e.g. for thousands!) were NOTHING compared to this!! Bless you, and though I wish you EVERY SUCCESS with your own writing, I hope you DON’T STOP DOING THIS!!! A THOUSAND THANKS.
Mark Ruskin
Publishing 101: Write a Synopsis
Brilliant advice and guidance – enough to get my synopsis actually written
I got my synopsis written with WHQ holding my hand – thank you!
It’s my editing blueprint for good, for now, forever! I could write a song about this course .. but instead I’ll sing your praises and say how you’ve taken the huge job of drafting a novel and made it simple .. well, simpler, because you have the knack of getting right to the heart of what a novel is, what it’s for, how it works as an entity, who inhabits it. About midway through the course I had a personal business crash that required my total attention to fix, and it’s a shame because I was enjoying the forum and taking part in it. BUT I was safe in the knowledge that if I could get back to reality and my life quick enough, I could continue and I have – and completed! I have a deadline to fulfil with my writing group and if I can manage it, I will return to the Forum too before the course ends in a few days. I will undoubtedly be returning for the course on Submission to an Agent but I’m nowhere near ready. Can I just say how helpful it was knowing the course materials would continue to be up on the site as I’ve desperately needed this time.
My only crit would be, and I mean it in a positive way, is that I felt the whole course could have been double the length anyway – as in 3 months, and then another 6 weeks for the materials to be up on the site. Many exercises of ’60 mins’ or ’45 mins’ took days or a whole week! By the way, more expensive courses I’ve taken (e.g. for thousands!) were NOTHING compared to this!! Bless you, and though I wish you EVERY SUCCESS with your own writing, I hope you DON’T STOP DOING THIS!!! A THOUSAND THANKS.
Jan McCarthy
Publishing 101: Write a Synopsis
How to write a synopsis.
This course broke down the scary monster Synopsisrex into bite-size, digestible pieces.
Full of great resources and links to further reading, it made me almost, looking forward to crafting one of these beasts.
It’s my editing blueprint for good, for now, forever! I could write a song about this course .. but instead I’ll sing your praises and say how you’ve taken the huge job of drafting a novel and made it simple .. well, simpler, because you have the knack of getting right to the heart of what a novel is, what it’s for, how it works as an entity, who inhabits it. About midway through the course I had a personal business crash that required my total attention to fix, and it’s a shame because I was enjoying the forum and taking part in it. BUT I was safe in the knowledge that if I could get back to reality and my life quick enough, I could continue and I have – and completed! I have a deadline to fulfil with my writing group and if I can manage it, I will return to the Forum too before the course ends in a few days. I will undoubtedly be returning for the course on Submission to an Agent but I’m nowhere near ready. Can I just say how helpful it was knowing the course materials would continue to be up on the site as I’ve desperately needed this time.
My only crit would be, and I mean it in a positive way, is that I felt the whole course could have been double the length anyway – as in 3 months, and then another 6 weeks for the materials to be up on the site. Many exercises of ’60 mins’ or ’45 mins’ took days or a whole week! By the way, more expensive courses I’ve taken (e.g. for thousands!) were NOTHING compared to this!! Bless you, and though I wish you EVERY SUCCESS with your own writing, I hope you DON’T STOP DOING THIS!!! A THOUSAND THANKS.
Helene du Mauri
Publishing 101: Write a Synopsis

Learn a range of techniques and approaches to summarise your novel into a stellar synopsis that suits your story and style.

Finish the course with a succinct, synopsis that perfectly sums up your plot and makes you look like a proper professional writer person.

Join our lovely little online community to support you all the way to synops-yes.
tutors

Sarah Lewis
Half of Writers’ HQ
Procrastinator Level: Set up WHQ and had a baby to avoid writing her novel

Jo Gatford
Half of Writers’ HQ
Procrastinator Level: Set up WHQ and did an MA to avoid writing her novel
related courses
[vc_row us_bg_overlay_color=”#9fa3a7″][vc_column][vc_column_text]
Write a Synopsis
Learn how to craft a small but perfectly formed synopsis and impress prospective agents
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row height=”small”][vc_column width=”2/3″ css=”%7B%22default%22%3A%7B%22margin-bottom%22%3A%220px%22%2C%22padding-bottom%22%3A%220px%22%7D%7D”][interactive_banner_2 heading_tag=”h1″ banner_desc=”I really enjoyed this course. It got to the nub of what’s required and enabled me to keep focussed on what’s important. I thought the section which discusses the different approaches to writing a synopsis were super helpful. I’d highly recommend it. – Angela Watt” banner_image=”id^27957|url^https://writershq.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/pub-101-write-a-synopsis-thinkific-card.png|caption^null|alt^null|title^pub-101-write-a-synopsis-thinkific-card|description^null” banner_style=”style6″ banner_color_title=”#ffffff” banner_color_desc=”#ffffff” banner_color_bg=”#9fa3a7″ image_opacity=”1″ image_opacity_on_hover=”0.2″ css_ib2=”.vc_custom_1571157889479{margin-bottom: 0px !important;padding-bottom: 0px !important;}”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″ css=”%7B%22default%22%3A%7B%22margin-top%22%3A%220px%22%2C%22border-top-width%22%3A%221px%22%2C%22border-right-width%22%3A%221px%22%2C%22border-bottom-width%22%3A%221px%22%2C%22border-left-width%22%3A%221px%22%2C%22border-color%22%3A%22%23dedede%22%2C%22border-style%22%3A%22solid%22%7D%7D”][us_btn label=”TAKE THIS COURSE” link=”url:%3Fadd-to-cart%3D192|||” width_type=”full”][vc_column_text]£20/month. Access all WHQ membership courses First month half price!
[/vc_column_text][us_separator size=”small” show_line=”1″ css=”%7B%22default%22%3A%7B%22color%22%3A%22%23efefef%22%7D%7D”][us_iconbox icon=”fas|check-circle” size=”15px” iconpos=”left” alignment=”left”]Part of the WHQ membership
[/us_iconbox][us_separator size=”small”][us_iconbox icon=”fas|clock” size=”15px” iconpos=”left” alignment=”left”]Week long course, rolling access
[/us_iconbox][us_separator size=”small”][us_iconbox icon=”fas|users” size=”15px” iconpos=”left” alignment=”left”]Join our kickass community
[/us_iconbox][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_tta_tabs][vc_tta_section tab_id=”1570293069335-6de171b6-a2c02cc8-183f” title=”COURSE HOME”][vc_column_text]You think you’ve done the hard part by writing a book, but landing an agent is the next big hurdle to leap over. Writers’ HQ’s online synopsis writing course will help you prepare for sending your manuscript out into the big wide world of publishing. A kickass synopsis shows an agent you can plan and execute a super tight plot. But reducing a whole manuscript into just a few pages of story summary can be a reet pain in the backside… Learn how to craft a small but perfectly formed synopsis and impress prospective agents with your summarising prowess.[/vc_column_text][/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section tab_id=”1570293069387-b07b8985-01f72cc8-183f” title=”CURRICULUM”][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]- Oh synopsis, why art thou a pain in my arse?
- What does a synopsis even look like?
- Pull out the bare bones of your story
- Stuck? A few notes on synopsis technique
- Synopsis dos and don’ts
- Synops-YES or sy-NO-psis?
- Help and advice from award-winning authors and literary agents
- Daily inspiration, whip-cracking, writing exercises and prompts
- Access to our private forum full of super cool people to help and support you along the way, including Team WHQ, our specially-picked and hand-baked gang of badass writers.
- Seven days of exercises, advice and resources to help you build the best possible synopsis package
Work out how to best present your story in synopsis form, from logistics and structure to characterisation and narrative voice – with a whole bunch of tips and tricks to suit every writing style.
[/us_iconbox][us_separator][us_iconbox icon=”far|hand-peace” style=”outlined” iconpos=”left” alignment=”left”]Finish the course with a succinct, comprehensive synopsis that perfectly sums up your plot and makes you look like a proper professional writer person.
[/us_iconbox][us_separator][us_iconbox icon=”far|thumbs-up” style=”outlined” iconpos=”left” alignment=”left”]Join our lovely little online community to support you through starting, middling, finishing and beyond.
[/us_iconbox][us_separator][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row el_id=”reviews”][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]