How to Write a Synopsis of a Novel

Your synopsis is just as important as your novel, maybe even more so. Your synopsis is the best way you have of selling your novel. It is what convinces the editor to take the time reading your work. If your synopsis doesn’t hit on certain points in a certain way, it won’t matter how great your novel is. The following steps outline what information you need to convey and the best way to convey it.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

1. Write the synopsis with the specific goal of convincing a very busy agent to spend his or her time reading your manuscript.

2. Begin your synopsis with a hook, a line that really grabs the editor’s attention and peaks his or her interest.

3. Keep it relatively short. Your synopsis shouldn’t be any longer than it absolutely has to be in order to avoid the risk of the editor not reading all of it. Try to keep it around two pages if possible.

4. Give only the most crucial information: important characters, how the novel concludes, the main points of action, setting, and tone. You should provide this information in a way that demonstrates your style and the style of the novel.

5. Be specific. Avoid ambiguities and vagueness. Do not leave the editor with questions. Do not end the synopsis on a cliffhanger or with important aspects of your novel unexplained.

6. Write your synopsis in the present tense and in the third person, regardless of the tense or point of view of the novel itself.