story through Harold, Leone and the author, and sketches in a number of
locations. It suggests character through a sprinkling of traits: Leone seems
to be the sensitive type, perhaps a naive country girl who can’t take the
complexities of city life. It hints at a plot line: Leone’s suicide, and Harold’s
homosexuality as a possible causal factor, and gives us a brief insight into
the impact of past events on present happenings. And it is not arranged in
chronological order: it starts with what seems to be the end of the story,
Leone’s suicide.
Most importantly, the ‘Novel in Ten Lines’ uses its generic subversion to
cultural ends. It captures strongly, if briefly, the plight of those who feel, or
are, socially marginalised. Leone seems to be an example of a country girl
who found it difficult to survive the pressures, loneliness and exploitation
of the urban environment. Harold, though implicated in Leone’s problems,
is also struggling with his own sexual (non-normative) identity, and has in
his pocket the work of James Baldwin, African-American and gay novelist.
It also raises the problem of the relationship between art and culture: in the
novelist’s notebook social problems become reduced to fictional ones.
To create your own synoptic novel try these strategies:
- Create a bird’s eye view of the action which conveys an overall impres-
sion of what the novel is about. It is easy to fall into the trap of simply
writing a scene, rather than conveying a sense of a whole work.
Remember that the piece is an overview, so ideally you will need to
imply multiple characters, scenes, times and locations. - Decide on at least one catastrophic or climatic event on which the ‘plot’
hinges. Hint at events that lead up to, or fall away, from the main event. - Create a fruitful balance between being detailed and elliptical. You need
to give enough information to arouse interest and make certain essen-
tials clear; the rest is up to the reader. - Compress the time sequence. You will need to cover a large span of
time but reduce it to a few sentences. Also play with the order of the
story; it may be more racy if not chronological. - Suggest character traits without developing them.
- Move between different locations and times. This is essential in the syn-
optic novel to give an overview of the action. - If you can, use the form as a way of exploring marginalised or unac-
cepted identities in our society. - Make sure that you keep the synopsis short. Giving yourself a ten-line
limit may be a good way of ensuring that.
In the student example by Joshua Lobb below, time and place keep chang-
ing most effectively. Also note how the love scenario builds up but is
The invert, the cross-dresser, the fictocritic 195