Where the term comes from
Merriam-Webster dates the first known use of the word to 1603. Wikipedia defines a synopsis as a brief summary of the major points of a subject or written work or story, given as prose or as a table. In book publishing the word has a narrower meaning. Jane Friedman describes it as a document that conveys the whole narrative arc, shows what happens and who changes, and reveals the ending, so that an agent or editor can quickly judge whether to read the manuscript. She suggests one or two single-spaced pages, about 500 to 1,000 words, unless the submission guidelines ask for more. She also notes that some agents use the word for the short story description inside a query letter, which is a different document.
An example
Odile Varga has finished a novel about a lighthouse keeper's daughter who learns that the lamp has been signalling to a smuggling fleet. Her first synopsis opens with the history of the coast, names eleven characters and stops at the end of act one with a line telling the agent to read the book to find out what happens. An agent cannot judge a story whose ending is held back. Her second draft begins with Mairin, who wants to keep the light and her father's post. It follows her discovery of the smugglers, her choice to burn the logbook that would have cleared her father, and the last night, when she lets the lamp go dark. Three other characters appear, each more than once, and the final paragraph gives the ending plainly. It fits on one page.
Common mistakes
- Holding back the ending as if the synopsis were a back-cover blurb.
- Listing events one after another without the character's emotions and reactions, so it reads like a manual.
- Naming every character and subplot instead of those that change the protagonist's decisions.
- Explaining the theme or what the story means instead of telling the story.
- Packing in backstory or flashbacks that do not bear on what happens.
How to check your manuscript
Write the synopsis from your scene list, not from memory. Start with the protagonist and what they want, follow each change that forces a decision, and end with how it resolves. Then test it with a rule of thumb from Friedman: if the ending would not make sense without a character or plot point, it belongs in the synopsis, and if it would, it can go. Gaps you cannot fill in a sentence often point to a weak stretch of the book. For related terms, see logline, story beat and three-act structure, and for planning, a plot outline template.
In Musael, the plan board keeps acts, chapters and scenes on a board or a list with notes on each scene, which gives you the raw material for a synopsis in order.