Writing the Chapter by Chapter Summaries

In the previous article, I told you how to structure and create the table of contents for your book. If you have the table of contents written, then you have the book's framework already set out.

For the chapter summaries, take each chapter in turn, write the chapter name as a heading then write a brief paragraph explaining the what that chapter will contain.

Taking my example table of contents from the previous article for my Big Book of Curry Recipes project:

1. Table of Contents
2. Introduction
3. Traditional Curries
4. The Curries of South Asia
5. The Curries of Southeast Asia
6. The Curries of Indonesia
7. The Curries East Asia
8. The Curries of Africa
8.1 East AFrica
8.2 West AFrica
8.3 Southern AFrica
9. The Curries of the Caribbean
10. British Curries
10.1 Historic Curries
10.2 Restaurant-style Curries
11. Classic Spice Blends and Spice Pastes
12. Index


The introductory chapter is about the history and importance of curries and how they are cooked. The definition of what a curry is. How they evolved in the Indus Plains of India some 4000 years ago, how Persian, Arabic, Portuguese and British influences shaped modern curries as we know them. Then how Indian traders and Buddhist monks transported curries east to Asia and west to West AFrica.


Traditional curries are curry recipes from the curry homeland of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka (the Indian sub-continent). Though the chapter focuses on curries it also treats curry in the round so that recipes for accompaniments, drinks, breads, pickles and relishes are also given so that you can serve a whole curry based meal. Also meat curries, fish curries and vegetarian curries are dealt with separately so that you can experience the breadth of dishes available.

Do this for each chapter and you will quickly have written your chapter summaries.

Again this shows the publisher that you have a proper plan for you book and that you can actually deliver on what you have promised.

On to the next part: Writing the Chapter Summaries.
Back to the Introduction on Writing a Book Proposal.