I’m in the middle of preparing a submission to a literary contest, and as part of this, I must turn my 95,000-word manuscript into 600-word synopsis that tells the whole story.

Which is a lot harder than it sounds.

The rules of the category I am entering (Genre Fantasy/Sci-Fi) are clear: submissions must be of new, never-before-published novels. You can include only the first 25 pages of the manuscript, which will follow the synopsis.

In other words, the synopsis first, sample of the novel second.

The rules are:

• Must be no more than 27 pages, including the synopsis. If the entry is longer than 27 pages, it will be disqualified from the contest and only receive one critique.
• Must be single-sided.
• Page one must begin with a synopsis (no cover page, please.)
• The synopsis must be 1 to 2 pages.
• It must be in 12-point font.
• The entire document must be double-spaced.
• Separate scenes…