For novelists with a finished draft
AI Synopsis Generator for Your Novel
Drop your manuscript and get a one-page synopsis in present tense, with every turn and the ending, ready for your submission package.
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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 the 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.
Why it works
How do you write a synopsis for a novel?
A synopsis generator turns your finished novel into the one- or two-page summary agents ask for: your whole story in third person and present tense, ending included. Its job is to prove the plot holds together, not to show off your sentences. Drop your manuscript, or paste a summary of each chapter, and River reads it in order, notes what happens in each chapter, then writes the synopsis from those notes. It does not skim the opening chapters and guess at the rest.
Agents differ on length but agree on almost everything else. Jane Friedman recommends one or two single-spaced pages by default, main characters' names in capitals the first time they appear, and no dialogue or theme talk. Susan Dennard's one-page method names only three characters and insists you tell the ending. River follows those conventions, refers to minor characters by their role, and tells events in story order, so each turn clearly causes the next.
Under the synopsis, your doc lists the chapter spine River worked from and the subplots it left out. You can check every line against your book and swap a thread back in. Comments mark anything the manuscript leaves unclear, such as a timeline that does not add up. If your draft has no ending yet, River writes up to where it stops and asks you how the book ends, instead of inventing one. Querying too? The query letter generator works from the same upload.
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
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
Compare it with your book, fix anything that reads wrong, then paste it into the agent's form.
What agents ask for, and where they disagree
No single length is correct, so each agent's guidelines win. Paper Literary asks for a one-page synopsis with the first three chapters, and Donald Maass Literary asks for one to two pages. Nathan Bransford puts his sweet spot at one and a half to two and a half single-spaced pages. River writes one page, about 500 words, unless you tap Two pages. That gives roughly 900 to 1,000 words, with room for a subplot the ending depends on. When a form gives you a text box, the word count is what matters.
Plenty of writers hate giving away their twist, but the synopsis is the one place you must. Four of the ten agents in the Bath Novel Award roundup asked outright for the spoilers or twists, and two more asked for the resolution. Two said they sometimes read the pages without it, to keep the story fresh. A query or back-cover blurb stops before the outcome. A synopsis proves the ending pays off what the opening promised, which is why River never turns the final paragraph into a question or a cliffhanger.
Keep the synopsis in proportion. Nathan Bransford calls the query far more important, and Jane Friedman notes that some agents never read synopses at all. Writing one is still useful, because it often exposes a sagging middle or a thread that never resolves. The plot hole finder quotes the lines that contradict each other, and the AI book editor gives notes on structure before you send anything. Rather write it by hand? Use the synopsis template.
Questions authors ask
Common questions
How long should a novel synopsis be?
Follow each agent's guidelines, because they differ. Paper Literary asks for one page and Donald Maass Literary for one to two. Jane Friedman treats one or two single-spaced pages, about 500 to 1,000 words, as a sensible default. River writes one page unless you tap Two pages, and the doc shows the word count.
Should a synopsis give away the ending?
Yes. The synopsis exists to show that your whole story works, so it tells every twist and how the book ends. Susan Dennard's rule is "You must tell the ending!", and several agents in the Bath Novel Award roundup asked outright for every spoiler. River never hides your ending, and it never writes one you have not written.
What tense and point of view should a synopsis use?
Third person and present tense, even if your novel is told in first person or past tense. Jericho Writers, Nathan Bransford and Jane Friedman all give the same rule. Jane Friedman allows first person for memoir. River converts for you, so "I ran for the truck" becomes "June runs for the truck".
How many characters should I name?
As few as the story allows. Susan Dennard's one-page method names just three, and Jericho Writers puts the limit at four or five. That usually means your protagonist, your antagonist and one ally or love interest. River names three where it can, sets each in capitals the first time, and calls everyone else by role, like "the sheriff".
What if my book isn't finished?
A synopsis for agents has to include the ending, so it works best once the draft is complete. If your manuscript or summary stops early, River writes up to that point, says where it stopped, and asks you how the book ends rather than making something up. For a book still in progress, the book outline generator is the better start.
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 a reader. A query or back-cover blurb sells the setup and stops before the outcome; the synopsis proves the story holds together. Agencies such as Paper Literary ask for both.
Your next step
More for your book
Hand River the page you dread
Drop your manuscript, check the synopsis against its chapter spine, then keep going with your query.