A synopsis is the document most writers dread and most agents rely on. Unlike a query letter, which teases, a synopsis must tell the whole story, including the ending. Its job is to prove that your novel has a complete arc, believable motivations, and a satisfying resolution. Agents read it to answer one question: does this writer know how to finish a story?

Keep the synopsis to one page, roughly 500 words, written in present tense and third person, even if your novel is first person or past tense. Cover the main character, the central conflict, the key turning points, and the ending, including spoilers. Do not include subplots unless they directly affect the main arc, and do not include backstory beyond what the reader needs to understand the stakes.

Open with the character, the situation, and the problem in the first paragraph. A common mistake is spending half the page on backstory before the story starts. Agents want to see the engine of the novel, not its biography. State what the character wants, what blocks them, and what happens if they fail, then walk through the major beats in order.

A synopsis that only lists events reads like a timeline. Weave in motivation and emotion: why the character makes each choice, what changes inside them, and how the ending resolves both the external plot and the internal journey. Name the characters once and use their names consistently; do not introduce minor characters by name if they appear only once.

Avoid the classic errors: leaving out the ending, which is the most common and most damaging; writing in the same voice as the novel instead of a neutral summary voice; and trying to include every subplot. If your synopsis is running long, cut a subplot, not a turning point. The arc matters more than the detail.

Before you send it, check: does it fit on one page, does it name the ending, does it follow the main character through a clear arc, and could a stranger understand the story from this alone? If the answer to all four is yes, your synopsis is ready to go out with your query.

Different agents ask for different lengths, so prepare more than one version. The one-page synopsis, around 500 words, is the most common request and the hardest to write, because it forces you to cut every subplot and keep only the spine of the story. A two-page version, around 1,000 words, lets you include one major subplot and a few more turning points. Some agents ask for a longer synopsis of up to five pages, which is closer to a chapter-by-chapter outline. Write the long version first, then cut it down: it is far easier to compress a complete synopsis than to expand a thin one.

Whatever the length, the principles stay the same. Present tense, third person, main character and central conflict up front, turning points in order, and the ending included. Do not use rhetorical questions, do not tease, and do not write in your novel's voice. A synopsis is a business document, and its job is to prove that you can structure a complete story. Writers who can write a good synopsis can usually write a good novel, because both depend on the same skill: knowing what the story is really about and leaving out everything else.

One final piece of advice: write your synopsis early, not just when an agent asks for it. A synopsis written at the outline stage forces you to test whether your story actually has a complete arc before you spend months drafting it. If you cannot summarize the ending, you do not yet know the ending, and that is useful information. Writers who synopsize early finish more novels, because they discover structural problems on page one instead of page three hundred.