How do you write a cracking synopsis that really does your novel justice and makes the reader want to read on? Author Jill Dawson offers her best tips for this tricky task, which many new and not-so new writers find daunting and mysterious, but which Jill actually loves!
Online Workshop with Jill Dawson Saturday, 29th November 2025 10 am – 12 noon
“I I have just sold a new book – Dion – to be published in 2028 by Bloomsbury, on the basis of a one page synopsis. You might say, ‘Well that’s easy for you, you have an agent and a track record …’ and yes, it will be my thirteenth novel, but I also sold my first non-fiction book, School Tales, by sending a synopsis to the Women’s Press in 1986 as a new writer of 26, and my second in 1990 – and I have never looked back. I find them fun and a wonderful way to ‘dream up’ the novel and the creative task ahead. I have some tricks to share to change your mindset. If I can’t make you love the task as I do, I can at least make it less mysterious …”
Jill will show how a synopsis may have many different functions for a writer, not least as a creative tool to help you understand the novel you are writing but also of course as a selling document and to accompany submissions for new writers applying to agents. It is an essential skill for anyone serious about becoming published.
This will be a highly practical two-hour Zoom session and by the end you’ll have the basics of your own synopsis, ready for you to work on or showing you your challenges and the way forward. (One of Jill’s tips is that to be good, a synopsis needs to be taken seriously and may need as many rewrites as a novel!)
Bring a notebook or laptop to write on, and an open mind.
Fee: £200
Places are strictly limited so contact Gold Dust asap to secure your place and avoid disappointment.
