A synopsis is not a teaser and it is not a blurb. It is a working summary of your whole novel, including the ending, written so a literary agent can judge whether the story holds together. Agents read dozens of these every week, so clarity beats cleverness every time. Your job is to make the plot easy to follow, the stakes easy to feel, and the ending easy to understand, all in a voice that sounds like your book without trying to reproduce every scene.

Start by naming your protagonist, their situation, and what they want, all in the first paragraph. If an agent has to read halfway down the page to work out who the story is about, you have already lost momentum. Give the character a name, a concrete goal, and a problem that stands in the way. For example, a teacher who discovers a forged will wants to expose the fraud before her family loses its home. That single sentence gives a reader a person, a desire, and a deadline to care about.

The middle of the synopsis should follow the chain of cause and effect that drives your novel. Do not list every chapter or every subplot. Instead, pick the turning points where a decision changes everything: the moment the protagonist commits, the moment the plan fails, the moment a secret comes out, and the moment the cost becomes personal. Write these in order, in present tense, and show how each event leads to the next. If a scene does not change what the character wants or what they risk, leave it out of the synopsis even if you love it in the book.

Reveal the ending. This is the part many writers resist, and it is the part agents most need. A synopsis that stops before the climax reads like an unfinished pitch, because the agent cannot tell whether you know how to land the story. State plainly how the central conflict resolves, what the protagonist sacrifices or gains, and what has changed for them by the final page. You do not need to explain every twist in the last chapter, but you must show that the ending grows out of the choices the character made earlier.

Keep the length proportionate to the request. Many agents ask for one or two pages, and some accept up to five for longer or more complex novels. As a general guide, a one-page synopsis suits a straightforward contemporary story, while a multi-viewpoint or heavily plotted novel may need more room. Whatever the length, aim for roughly one paragraph per major act or movement of the story, and cut any sentence that repeats information the reader already has. If you can remove a line without losing meaning, remove it.

Handle secondary characters with restraint. Name only the characters who change the plot, and introduce each one with a short identifying phrase the first time they appear, such as a rival colleague or an estranged brother. Avoid giving every minor figure a full backstory in the synopsis. The agent needs to know what each named character does to the protagonist's journey, not their entire history. Two or three well-chosen supporting characters are usually enough to carry a synopsis.

Match the tone of your novel without turning the synopsis into a performance. A funny book can have a synopsis with dry humour, and a tense thriller can read with urgency, but the summary itself should stay direct. Avoid rhetorical questions, exclamation marks, and phrases like you will not believe what happens next. Agents trust a synopsis that sounds confident and specific: name the choice, name the consequence, and move on to the next beat.

Before you send it, read the synopsis aloud and check it against three questions. Can a stranger retell your plot after one reading? Does every paragraph raise the stakes or change the direction? Does the ending feel earned rather than bolted on? If the answer to any of these is no, revise that section before you query. A clean, complete synopsis will not sell a weak novel, but it will make sure a strong one gets the fair reading it deserves.