Avoiding Spoilers in a Synopsis

A synopsis is important for every writer to be able to write. Agents ask for them. You have to be able to put one together for your book for a bookseller, a blog, or a library. The worst part, at least for a synopsis that isn't going to an agent, is avoiding spoilers.

It's so hard not to give things away! I find that I have to write a synopsis over and over to make sure that I don't have spoilers in it. And the simplest things could be spoilers. Who would have thought that a single sentence could give away the twist ending when it didn't come across that way when I was writing it? 

Sometimes I wonder about the best way to go about writing a synopsis. I've read a dozen different articles on the best way to do it, but I always seem to either be giving away too much information or keeping back too much. So I've wondered what kinds of questions I should ask myself when I'm writing my next synopsis.

• How would I describe this novel to a friend without giving too much away?
• What would I want to know about this novel before I bought it?
• How much information would I want to know?
• What are some books that I love that have examples of a great jacket synopsis?

It's about time to rewrite the synopsis to The Forest's Heir because of the blog tour. And I'll have to start writing the synopsis for The Fire's Princess for it's release in June. It's about time to get some more practice with writing a synopsis.