How to Write a Synopsis for Literary Agents
A synopsis tells the whole story of your novel, including the ending, in one or two pages. Write it in the present tense and the third person, introduce only the characters the plot needs, and focus on what the main character wants, the choices they make and how it changes them. Follow each agent's guidelines on length and format, because they differ.
If the query letter is what makes an agent want to read your book, the synopsis is how they check the book delivers. Itâs a summary of the whole story, beginning to end, and most writers hate writing it more than anything else in the submission. Itâs still worth doing properly, because some agents read it before the sample pages.
What it is, and what it isnât
A synopsis is not a blurb. A blurb sells the book to a reader and stops before the ending. A synopsis tells an agent what happens, including the ending, so they can see whether the plot holds together. Keeping the twist secret is the most common mistake, and it reads as if you donât know how the book ends.
Itâs also not a chapter-by-chapter outline. An agent wants the shape of the story, not every scene.
How long
The most common request is one page, single-spaced, about 500 to 700 words. Some agents ask for two pages, and a few for longer. Always follow what the agentâs guidelines say. If they donât say, one page is safe.
How to write it
- Present tense, third person. âElizabeth meets Darcy at a ball and dislikes him at once.â Even if the book is in first person.
- Main character first. Start with who they are and what they want at the start of the story.
- Only the characters who matter. Four or five names at most. Everyone else is âher sisterâ or âa lawyerâ.
- Names in capitals on first mention. A common convention, so the agent can find whoâs who: âELIZABETH BENNET, the second of five daughtersâŠâ. Not every agent cares, but nobody minds.
- Cause and effect, not a list. âBecause she refuses him, he writes the letterâ is a story. âThen she refuses him. Then he writes a letterâ is a list.
- Show the change. By the end, how is the main character different? Thatâs what makes it a novel and not a series of events.
- Tell them the ending. Plainly. Who lives, who wins, what it costs.
Leave out subplots unless they change the main story, description, dialogue and themes stated as themes. If the synopsis is too long, cut minor characters first. Their scenes usually go with them.
Format
Unless the agent says otherwise: your name and the book title at the top, the word âSynopsisâ, then the text in the same font as your manuscript (Times New Roman 12pt is safe), single-spaced for a one-page synopsis with a blank line between paragraphs. If the guidelines ask for double spacing, they mean a longer synopsis. The standard manuscript format post covers the manuscript itself.
A way to start
Write one sentence for the beginning, one for each major turn, and one for the ending. Thatâs your skeleton. Then add the characterâs reason for each turn. Youâll be at about a page.
How Galley does it
Galley doesnât write your synopsis (and wonât, thereâs no AI in it). It does put it together with everything else an agent asks for. The submission package in the Toolkit is a cover page, a synopsis, your bio and your first three chapters, in the double-spaced manuscript format agents expect, as one Word file.
The synopsis has its own field on the bookâs Metadata page, under the blurb, because theyâre different documents: the blurb stays on your listing and the synopsis goes to agents. The bio comes from your profile. The submission docs have the details, Galley for querying writers covers the rest of the process, and the free query letter formatter helps with the letter that goes on top.
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