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That title is an old joke about the difficulties of writing a novel \u2013 that the book often has a beginning, a muddle and an end. You\u2019ve probably sat through meetings or presentations that feel the same way; good start, liked how it finished (everyone loves the end of a meeting), not really sure what we did in the middle.<\/p>\n
I teach loads of structuring techniques to help people solve this problem and by far the most powerful one, the tool that will make your message much clearer and more memorable, is also something that\u00a0all<\/em>\u00a0novelists use\u2026 as I have discovered to my cost, in sweat.<\/p>\n I recently completed my first novel and obviously learned a heap of new writing skills (kudos to Curtis Brown Creative for their guidance!), but the most challenging new skill wasn\u2019t writing the book. It\u2019s something every novelist has to master, something most novelists despise, and something readers don\u2019t even see: the synopsis.<\/p>\n How do you condense a complete, galumphing novel down to one page? That challenge has faced every novelist who\u2019s ever pitched a book, from Agatha Christie to Stephen King. The synopsis is never pretty. It\u2019s not designed to be. It\u2019s a reduction of all the writer\u2019s wonderful descriptive prose down to the cold, hard, bare bones of the story. Writers hate them because there\u2019s no room for descriptive tone, authorial voice, all the things they\u2019re good at. I bounced my synopsis back and forth among my supportive group of novel-writing friends until, by draft six, it was the purest, most refined version of the 90,000-word world I had created. And I still hate it.<\/p>\n And then, as if the torture is not complete, the masochistic author goes yet further and sums up the entire story in a\u00a0sentence<\/em>. Why? (They really must enjoy pain.) Because agents need to be able to sum up the book succinctly when they\u2019re selling it to potential publishers.<\/p>\n What has this gruelling-but-necessary challenge got to do with your everyday work? Before I explain, let\u2019s imagine the authors\u2019 challenge. I made up these examples (with apologies to the original authors) – see if you can spot the famous stories they describe. (Answers at the bottom)<\/p>\n After discovering he\u2019s a wizard, a boy realises he\u2019s the\u00a0only\u00a0<\/em>wizard who can sense the resurgence of a long-dormant evil so deadly it will end all that is good in the world, and only he can stop it.<\/strong><\/p>\n Next, a recent film:<\/p>\n A bereft mother, angry that the local police haven\u2019t found her daughter\u2019s killer, publicly shames them into action costing her reputation with family and friends, but finds unexpected allies in her enemies.<\/strong><\/p>\n A classic film (and novel):<\/p>\n A reluctant gangster, the youngest son of a mafia empire, is thwarted in his efforts to go straight when he avenges the murder of his older brother, resulting in him becoming \u2018his father\u2019s son\u2019 and the very thing he fled \u2013 a murderous mafia boss \u2013 now destined to battle his own demons of good versus evil.<\/strong><\/p>\n (That last one was tricky, a lot happens in that story!)<\/p>\n Journalists use this technique too. A newspaper article might have many column-inches of detail but the first paragraph often sums up the essence of the entire story. Above that is a headline, which condenses the story into just a few words.<\/p>\n Take Brexit. (Please, someone, take it.) After a referendum in 2016 and something called Article 50 we are in the middle of\u00a0two years<\/em>\u00a0of daily debate, news stories, arguments, deals about deals within deals about\u2026 sausages (probably). But if a space alien, or a child (or basically anyone who lives outside Europe) asked you, \u2018What\u2019s Brexit?\u2019 you\u2019d probably say, \u2018It\u2019s about Britain leaving the European Union.\u2019 Amazing! A galaxy of detail, data, debate and arguments, millions of lives and billions of pounds summed up in seven words.<\/p>\n That\u2019s the skill you already have.<\/p>\n That\u2019s the skill you should apply to your next presentation or meeting. What authors do when they distil their book into a sentence is crystallise the\u00a0essence<\/em>\u00a0of what their story is about. If you do the same with your own \u2018story\u2019 – the content of your presentation – you will create a simple, memorable, repeatable \u2018headline\u2019 which sums up what your big idea, project or proposal is about. This benefits you in two ways:<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/dev.twentytwo.digital\/ukbodytalk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/frustrated-writer-2-300x184.jpg\")
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