A novel synopsis is a plain summary of your whole plot, ending included, that agents often request alongside your query letter and sample pages. The common default is one to two pages (roughly 500 to 1,000 words), single-spaced, in third person and present tense. Follow your main character from the opening situation through each major turn to the climax and the resolution, and say why each turn happens. Leave out subplots that do not change the ending, statements of theme and teaser questions. Guidelines vary by agent, so check each one's page before you send.
What agents use a synopsis for
The query letter's job is to make an agent want to read. The synopsis has a different job: to show that the book works. From one or two pages an agent can see whether the plot escalates, whether the main character's choices drive events rather than luck, and whether the ending pays off what the opening set up. A sagging middle or a resolution that arrives from nowhere shows up faster in a synopsis than in 300 pages of manuscript.
It is rarely the deciding document. Agents working through the slush pile decide mostly on the query and the opening pages, and some never read synopses at all. Where the synopsis earns its keep is later: an agent who requests the full manuscript, or an editor weighing it for acquisition, may use it as a map and a refresher on who is who. That is why it has to be accurate and clear rather than dazzling.
It is also a revision test. If you cannot explain in a sentence why your protagonist makes the choice that sets up the climax, the problem is usually in the book, not the synopsis.
The conventions agents expect
There is no industry standard, only habits that most agents' guidelines share. These are the safe defaults when a guideline just says “synopsis”:
| Convention | Common default | Note |
|---|---|---|
| ConventionLength | Common default1–2 pages, about 500–1,000 words | NoteSome ask for one page, a few allow more |
| ConventionSpacing | Common defaultSingle-spaced | NoteUse double spacing if the agent asks |
| ConventionPerson | Common defaultThird | NoteEven when the novel is in first person |
| ConventionTense | Common defaultPresent | NoteEven when the novel is in past tense |
| ConventionEnding | Common defaultRevealed in full | NoteNo cliffhangers or teasers |
| ConventionNames | Common defaultMAIN CHARACTERS in capitals at first mention | NoteMinor characters by role: “her aunt” |
| ConventionFont | Common default12-point serif, such as Times New Roman | NoteName, title and page number in a header or footer |
Synopsis vs. query letter vs. blurb
Writers mix these documents up because each one summarizes the book. What separates them is who reads it and whether the ending is on the page.
| Document | Who reads it | Its job | Ending |
|---|---|---|---|
| DocumentLogline | Who reads itAgents, editors, you | Its jobThe premise in one or two sentences | EndingWithheld |
| DocumentQuery letter | Who reads itAn agent | Its jobEarn a request for pages | EndingWithheld |
| DocumentBlurb | Who reads itBook buyers | Its jobMake a reader pick it up | EndingWithheld |
| DocumentSynopsis | Who reads itAn agent or editor | Its jobProve the plot holds together | EndingRevealed |
A logline is the seed. The query letter grows it into a pitch with your word count, genre and comp titles, and the blurb is the back-cover version for readers. All three stop before the ending. The synopsis is the only one that finishes the story, which is why rhetorical questions (“Will she find love before it is too late?”) do not belong in it. For the pitch itself, see how to write a query letter.
What to include and what to cut
A useful test for any sentence: would the ending still make sense without it? If yes, it probably goes. Subplots survive only where they change the main plot, and a minor character who appears once can almost always become a role (“the innkeeper”) or disappear.
Keep
- Who the main character is at the start, and what they want
- The inciting incident that knocks their life off course
- Each major turning point, in order, with its cause
- The emotional reason behind every big decision
- The climax, the resolution and how the character has changed
- World rules, briefly, if the stakes depend on them
Cut
- Subplots that do not touch the ending
- Backstory that does not drive a motive
- Dialogue, apart from a rare line the plot turns on
- Statements about theme or what the book means
- Teaser questions and back-cover adjectives
- Commentary such as “in a shocking twist”
How to write a synopsis
The fastest route starts from an outline rather than the manuscript. If you wrote one before drafting, update it to match the finished book. If you did not, make a quick one now, one line per chapter. The guide to outlining a novel covers the methods.
- Pick the turning points
Go through the outline and mark the moments where the story changes direction: the inciting incident, the first commitment, reversals, the midpoint, the low point, the climax, the resolution. Aim for eight to a dozen. If you marked twenty, some of them are support.
- Write one sentence per turning point
Write each turn as one sentence in present tense. Then join them with causes, not sequence: “so”, “but” and “because” rather than “and then”. A synopsis that reads as a list of events usually means the causes are missing. If the novel alternates timelines or narrators, tell the synopsis in chronological order, or in two short blocks labeled by timeline, rather than mirroring every switch.
- Open with the character, not the setting
The first paragraph names the main character in capitals, places them in one clause of time and setting, and states what they want and what stands in the way. Two or three sentences is enough.
- Add the why and the feeling
Go back through and give each major decision its motive in a clause: she refuses because, he leaves because. A little emotion keeps it from reading like a police report, and it shows the agent the character arc as well as the plot.
- Write the ending in full
Say exactly how the central conflict resolves, who wins and who loses, and where the main character ends up, outside and in. Do not soften it or hint. The ending is the one thing the query letter cannot show, so it has to be here.
- Cut to the length asked for
Remove names first, then subplots, then adjectives. If the draft is still long, merge two turning points into one sentence.
- Test it on a cold reader
Give it to someone who has not read the book. If they can retell the story and explain the ending, it works. If they ask who someone is, cut that person or introduce them properly.
Synopsis example: Pride and Prejudice
Here is a complete synopsis of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice (1813), written for this guide at about 500 words, so it fits on one single-spaced page. The novel is in the public domain and widely read, so you can judge what was kept and what was cut.
PRIDE AND PREJUDICE · Synopsis
In rural Hertfordshire, ELIZABETH BENNET, twenty, is the second of five daughters in a family with no son. Their father's estate will pass to a male cousin, so their mother's one plan is to marry the girls off well. Elizabeth, quick-witted and proud of her judgment, means to marry only for love.
Wealthy CHARLES BINGLEY rents a nearby estate and falls for Elizabeth's gentle elder sister, JANE. His richer friend, FITZWILLIAM DARCY, snubs Elizabeth at a local ball as not handsome enough to dance with. She overhears and decides he is the proudest man alive, though Darcy, against his will, begins to admire her. Her dislike hardens when a charming officer, GEORGE WICKHAM, tells her Darcy cheated him of the church position Darcy's late father left him. She believes every word.
Elizabeth turns down a proposal from the pompous cousin who will inherit her home, and her closest friend marries him instead, for security. Then Bingley leaves for London, his sister writes that the party will not return, and Jane is quietly heartbroken.
In spring, visiting that friend in Kent, Elizabeth learns that Darcy steered Bingley away from Jane. That evening Darcy proposes, dwelling on how far beneath him her family is. Elizabeth refuses, accusing him of wrecking Jane's happiness and Wickham's prospects. Next morning he hands her a letter: he believed Jane indifferent to Bingley, and Wickham took money instead of the position, squandered it, then tried to elope with Darcy's fifteen-year-old sister for her fortune. Elizabeth weighs the facts and sees she has been blind, flattered by one man and stung by the other.
That summer, touring Derbyshire with her aunt and uncle, she visits Darcy's estate, Pemberley, believing him away. He returns early and is warm to her and courteous to the relatives he once looked down on. Her feelings shift. Then Jane writes: their reckless youngest sister, LYDIA, has run off with Wickham, who has no plan to marry her, and the scandal will ruin the family. Elizabeth tells Darcy, who leaves at once. She assumes she has lost him.
In London, Darcy secretly tracks the couple down, pays Wickham's debts and buys him a commission so that he will marry Lydia, then lets Elizabeth's uncle take the credit. The family believes the uncle paid, until Lydia lets slip that Darcy was at the wedding and Elizabeth's aunt tells her the rest.
Bingley returns and proposes to Jane. Then Darcy's aunt, LADY CATHERINE DE BOURGH, descends on the Bennets: she has heard that Elizabeth will marry Darcy and demands a promise that she never will. Elizabeth refuses. Lady Catherine reports the scene to Darcy, which gives him hope. On a walk, Elizabeth thanks him for saving Lydia. He says he did it for her and that his feelings have not changed. Elizabeth admits hers have, and accepts. Each owns the fault that nearly kept them apart, his pride and her prejudice. Elizabeth convinces her astonished father that she loves Darcy, and the two eldest Bennet sisters marry for love.
Why this example works
- It follows cause, not chapters. Darcy's letter changes Elizabeth's mind, the visit to Pemberley tests the change, Lydia's elopement raises the stakes, and Lady Catherine's interference gives Darcy the hope to ask again.
- It names only seven people. Mr. Collins, Charlotte Lucas, the Gardiners and Georgiana Darcy appear as roles (“the pompous cousin”, “her aunt and uncle”). Colonel Fitzwilliam, Mary and Kitty are cut entirely, along with Mr. Bennet's dry wit, because the ending does not need them.
- It gives every choice a motive. Elizabeth refuses the first proposal because of what she believes about Jane and Wickham, so the letter that overturns those beliefs carries weight.
- It ends on the resolution. The last paragraph tells exactly who marries whom and why, with no hint of a teaser.
Common synopsis mistakes
- Hiding the ending. “What happens next will surprise you” is the quickest way to tell an agent you wrote a blurb by mistake.
- And then, and then. A chain of events with no causes reads as a plot with no logic, even when the book has one.
- A cast list. Ten capitalized names on the first page leave the agent tracking people instead of the story.
- Every subplot gets a paragraph. Keep one only if it changes the ending.
- Explaining the theme. “A story about grief and forgiveness” tells the agent nothing that the events cannot show.
- Craft labels. “At the midpoint” and “in the climax” describe your outline, not your story. Say what happens.
- Imitating the novel's voice. Lyrical prose and invented terms slow the reader down. Plain sentences are the right register here.
Keep the synopsis beside the manuscript
A synopsis changes every time the book does, and querying tends to produce more than one version of it, so keep it where the chapters are. In Strokes, a project holds the manuscript as documents in a folder, with the synopsis and query letter beside them. Save the one-page and two-page cuts as separate documents. Version history keeps earlier drafts of each, and any of them comes back in one click. You can also add the synopsis and your outline to an AI Assistant chat and ask which turning points are missing or which sentences slip out of present tense, then check its answer against the book yourself. Export to Word or PDF covers agents who want an attachment, and standard manuscript format covers the pages that go with it.
For where the synopsis fits in the whole submission package, and how to find agents who will read it, see how to get a literary agent.
Frequently asked questions
How long is a novel synopsis?
The common default is one to two pages, roughly 500 to 1,000 words, single-spaced. Some agents ask for a single page and a few accept longer, so follow each agent's guidelines and keep a one-page and a two-page version ready.
Does a synopsis have to reveal the ending?
Yes. The synopsis exists to show that the plot holds together, and the ending is the proof. Agents expect spoilers. The query letter and the blurb stop before the ending, and the synopsis is the one document that finishes the story.
My novel is in first person. Should the synopsis be too?
No. Write a novel synopsis in third person and present tense whatever the novel's own point of view and tense. Memoir is the usual exception: a memoir synopsis is often written in first person.
What if an agent's guidelines do not ask for a synopsis?
Do not send one. Send exactly what each agent asks for. Write the synopsis anyway before you query, because some agents will request it with the full manuscript and editors may want it later.
Should I use character names in a synopsis?
Name the main characters and put each name in capitals the first time it appears. Refer to everyone else by role, such as her aunt or the innkeeper. Fewer names make the plot easier to follow.
