What is a synopsis, you ask? A synopsis (as far as querying goes) is a 1-2 page detailed summary of your novel. I know, I know. "But my book is 100k words long! How do I summarize that in 1-2 pages?" It sounds hard, but I promise there's a manageable way to pull this off.
Funny enough, I never thought the synopsis was all that difficult until I saw people on Twitter/X complaining that it was the worst part of querying. Hearing that (over and over again) made me question if I actually know what I'm doing, but I recently got some affirmation that my synopsis for my current querying book was well done. With that said, I want to share my simple method for writing a synopsis.
First off - some guidelines:
-Regardless of how you wrote your book, it should be present tense and in 3rd person (omniscient) point of view.
-Some people say to double space it, but 100% ignore that. If it's not single spaced, you're not going to have enough space to write a quality synopsis.
-Make sure to include ALL the spoilers! Agents only read this if they're willing to have the story spoiled (or they already read the story).
-Leave out minor characters, subplots, and dialogue
Okay, now onto how I write mine. I open my document on my computer and my notes app on my phone. I create a bullet list of all the chapters, then very briefly summarize what happens in each chapter as succinctly as possible (in complete sentences). When I'm done I copy the list to my computer (or email it to myself) and fix the formatting so it's in paragraphs. I do it this way so I don't have to switch back and forth between tabs while I'm making my list. Then I read through it again to look for extraneous details I can cut.
Some agents specifically ask for no more than a page, so I usually have two versions of my synopsis (It always feels gutting to slice it down to one page, and it makes me feel better to have a slightly longer version to send to those who don't mind!).
A few more tips:
-If you have critique partners, have them help you with this! Someone less attached to the story will be better at picking out details that aren't crucial for understanding the story's progression
-If you're someone that plots an outline ahead of time, the outline can be useful when writing the synopsis, too. Usually it won't include all the details you added into the story, which can help you figure out what to leave out
-Don't wait until you're asked for a synopsis to provide one. Your life will be much easier if you prepare it before you start sending queries!
That's all for now! But try not to let the synopsis scare you so much anymore. You've got this!