For novelists with a finished draft
AI Synopsis Generator for Your Novel
Drop your finished manuscript and get a one-page novel synopsis for agents, in present tense, with every twist and the ending told.
Free to start. No card needed.
How to write a novel synopsis yourself
Start with a list, not prose. In a Bath Novel Award roundup1 of ten agents' advice, agent Jenny Savill suggests numbering 1 to 10 down the page. Put the first major event at 1 and the ending at 10, then fill in the big turns between, in order. Expand each into what happens, how your protagonist reacts and what they decide, which Jane Friedman2 sums up as incident plus reaction equals decision. Send flowing paragraphs, not a list: agent Susan Armstrong says character or chapter breakdowns make "a very stilted read."
Write in third person and present tense, whatever your novel uses. Name as few characters as you can: novelist Susan Dennard's one-page method3 names three, usually the protagonist, the antagonist and a love interest or sidekick. Everyone else gets a role, like "the princess" for Leia in her Star Wars example. Write each name in all capitals the first time it appears, a common habit that former agent Nathan Bransford4 calls optional. Keep a subplot only if the ending would not make sense without it, Friedman's test for what stays.
Leave out dialogue, rhetorical questions, explanations of theme and phrases like "in the climax." Be concrete: Bransford swaps "Nathan's fear of intimacy rears its head" for "Nathan leaves three of his crush's texts on read." Formats differ, so check each agency: Paper Literary5 wants one page as a Word attachment, Donald Maass Literary one to two pages pasted into the email. Friedman notes that a synopsis can reveal plot flaws, so fix any it shows you before you query; the plot hole finder quotes the lines that contradict each other.
How it works
How does River write your synopsis?
This synopsis generator works from your whole story. Drop your finished manuscript, or paste a summary of each chapter, ending included. River reads it in order, from the first page to the last, and notes one line per chapter on what happens and what changes. It writes the synopsis from those notes, never from a sample or the first few chapters, so your middle and ending get as much weight as the opening.
The synopsis keeps to the conventions above: third person, present tense, and each name in capitals the first time, with an age or role. River names three characters where the story allows, never more than five, and calls everyone else by role. Each turn shows how your protagonist reacts and what they decide, every twist is told, and the last paragraph says plainly how the book ends. It adds no event or motive your pages don't support.
Under the synopsis, your doc lists the chapter spine River worked from, the subplots and characters it cut, and the word count. Check each line against your book, and swap a thread back in if the ending needs it. Comments flag what the manuscript leaves unclear, such as a timeline that doesn't add up. If your draft stops before the ending, River writes up to that point and asks how the book ends instead of inventing one. For your query, the query letter generator works from the same manuscript.
How it works
From manuscript to synopsis in four steps
Drop your manuscript
Drop the manuscript as a Word file or PDF, or paste chapter summaries. Over about 85,000 words? Use a PDF.
River reads it all
It notes one line per chapter on what happens and what changes, from first page to last.
Get your synopsis
The synopsis lands in your doc with the chapter spine, a left-out list and its word count.
Check and send
Check it against your book, ask River for changes, then paste or attach just the synopsis, as each agent asks.
Synopsis
BITTER WATER · Thriller · 91,000 words
JUNE ALVAREZ, 29, tests the drinking water for Coldspring, Arizona, a desert town running out of it. When a seven-year-old is hospitalized with lead poisoning, June finds two years of reports her lab never produced, all signed by RAY DECKER, the utility director who trained her.
Ray tells her to let it go. June retests the wells at night and takes the results to her sister, NINA ALVAREZ, the mayor, who promises to handle it quietly. Then Ray is found dead at the reservoir, and the sheriff calls it an accident within a day.
Ray's logbook shows he never faked anything. He was gathering proof, and the forged signatures lead to Nina, who has hidden the lead for two years to protect a deal selling the town's water rights.
Three named characters, present tense, every twist told.
What you'll get
A one-page synopsis with every twist and the ending told
- A one-page synopsis, ending included
- Present tense, main characters in capitals
- A chapter-by-chapter spine to check it against
Before and after
Ninety thousand words in. One page out, ending and all.
BITTER_WATER_draft4.pdf · 31 chapters · 91,400 words Chapter 1 opens: "The first thing June tasted in Coldspring was metal."
JUNE ALVAREZ, 29, tests the drinking water for Coldspring, Arizona, a desert town running out of it. When a seven-year-old is hospitalized with lead poisoning, June finds two years of reports her lab never produced, all signed by RAY DECKER, the utility director who trained her. June gives the evidence to a state investigator. Nina resigns, testifies against the developer, and is charged over the falsified reports. The state takes over the water system and builds a new treatment plant. Months later, June runs the utility from Ray's old office. She fills a glass at the tap, tests it, and drinks.
The ending sits in the last paragraph, because agents ask for it.
What lands in your doc
What lands in your synopsis doc
- A one-page synopsis of about 500 words, or two pages when an agent asks for more
- Third person and present tense, even when your novel is told in first person or past tense
- Main characters in capitals the first time they appear, and minor characters named by role
- Every twist told, with the ending stated plainly in the last paragraph, never teased as a question
- The chapter-by-chapter spine River wrote from, so you can check the synopsis against your book
- A short list of the subplots and characters it cut, ready to swap back in
- Comments where your manuscript is unclear, such as a name spelled two ways or a timeline slip
Questions authors ask
Common questions
What is a novel synopsis?
A novel synopsis is a one- or two-page summary of your whole plot, ending included, written for an agent or editor rather than for readers. Unlike a query or back-cover blurb, it gives away the outcome. Agents mostly use it as a reference: Nathan Bransford4 calls the query letter far more important, and Jane Friedman notes that some agents never read synopses at all.
How long should a novel synopsis be?
Usually one or two pages, but follow each agent's guidelines, because they differ. Paper Literary asks for one page and Donald Maass Literary for one to two. Nathan Bransford's default runs one and a half to two and a half single-spaced pages. Jane Friedman2 suggests one or two single-spaced pages, about 500 to 1,000 words, as your starting point. River writes one page unless you choose Two pages.
Should a synopsis give away the ending?
Yes. An agent reads the synopsis to see that your story pays off, so tell every twist and the ending. In the Bath Novel Award roundup1, four of ten agents asked outright for spoilers or twists, and two more for the resolution. Some read your pages first to come to the story fresh, but none asked writers to hold the ending back. River states yours in the last paragraph.
What tense and point of view should a synopsis use?
Third person and present tense, even when the novel is told in first person or past tense, a rule Jane Friedman and Nathan Bransford both give. For memoir they differ: Friedman recommends first person and Bransford usually prefers third, though both accept either. River converts for you, so "I ran for the truck" becomes "June runs for the truck."
Can I use AI to write my synopsis?
It depends on the agent, so read each agency's guidelines before you send anything AI helped write. Paper Literary5, for one, says it is not looking to represent work "created or edited with generative artificial intelligence." For an agent with a rule like that, write the synopsis yourself. The synopsis template lays out the structure, with an annotated example to check yours against.
How do I write a synopsis with River?
Drop your finished manuscript in the box at the top of this page, or paste a summary of each chapter, and choose one page or two. River reads the whole book, then writes the synopsis into your free River workspace, with the chapter spine and a list of what it cut underneath. Check it against your book, ask for any changes, then send it the way each agent asks.
Is the synopsis generator free?
Yes, it is free to start. Your synopsis opens in a River workspace, where you can edit it, share it or ask River to change it, such as making it two pages. Paid plans add more AI use and access to the most advanced models.
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