The synopsis can vary wildly from writer to writer. The most important thing to remember when writing your synopsis is that you must write it for the benefit of the reader, and not as a guideline to write your novel by. The main objective of a synopsis should be to relay the main plot points and to entice the reader to want to know more. So now we have the basic concept of what a synopsis is, here is a quick breakdown of what a synopsis is not.

Do not include teaser questions. Your synopsis must continue to engage the publisher after the inciting event has occurred or they will lose interest in the story very quickly. A publisher will read many, many synopses in a week and they have probably come across most ideas, so you must decide what is it about your story that is a twist on every other idea the publisher will see. I like to give a complete overview of every scene in the novel so the reader is taken by the hand and led through every plot twist and obstacle, even if this means spoiling the ending. The publisher needs to be reassured that you can weave a story together. They need to see how the story will develop so do not make the mistake of teasing them with ‘what ifs’.

Your synopsis must give the publisher more than a TV guide description. If you are over a certain age, you will remember the old TV guide that would inform you about the schedule of television programmes listed for a particular day, followed by a sentence describing what the programme was about. A publisher, however, wants to know more about your novel than a few words describing the plot. They want to be convinced that your novel is going to be worth the hours of their time reading it.  So, in summary, a synopsis has to go into more depth and detail than a basic logline.

A synopsis is not a collection of reviews from readers praising the content of the novel, similar to what you may find inside the jacket or on the back cover of novels. This is just a promotional tool and a great accompaniment to the synopsis, but not a replacement for one. Publishers do not want to read random excerpts from your novel and they certainly do not want to read the plot ending with a teasing question. Example: Will they ever get out there alive? When you are creating the synopsis, the key is to engage the publisher with a strong and interesting plot. Of course, it is important to convey the mood and atmosphere of the story. However, your main goal is to combine the plot and the characters and get to the meat and bones of the story quickly.  

So in conclusion, what is an ideal length for a synopsis. Publishers tend to prefer a synopsis to be between 250-400 words. Normally three good paragraphs, which I split as follows.

Paragraph 1 – Briefly set down and describe your story’s main characters, the conflict or obstacle they have to overcome and the inciting event that moves the story forward.

Paragraph 2 – This is part of the synopsis where you flesh out the story by describing the actions the protagonist must take, and also who or what is preventing them (the antagonist) achieving their outcome. You also need to include the main twists to the plot. There is no need to describe actual scenes, just keep your focus on the storyline.

Paragraph 3 – Describe how the characters have changed since the beginning of the story, whether for better or worse, and how the story ends.