Summaries and How to Write Them

Posted by SarahBella in State of the Fandom with Sarahbella | 1 comment

How many stories have you passed over due to a poorly written summary?  I know I’ve probably bypassed hundreds of stories in favor of ones with better written summaries.  The summary is the first impression, the first opportunity to suck a reader in to your story.

This is only meant to serve as a general guide, not a hard and fast rule book.  The things written below are opinion, and only suggestions.

There are several key parts to a good summary.

• Do not include the phrase, “I suck at writing summaries, but read this anyway, k?”  or any variation thereof.  It makes people question what the story will be like if you can’t even describe it and are professing to not be ‘good’ at writing things.

• Don’t use just a snippet of the story to serve as the entire summary.  The snippet still needs an introduction and an explanation.  They work great as a hook, but a little more detail is a good thing.

• Your summary should usually not include text speak, emoticons, etc. unless it specifically related to the story – i.e. if Stark and Zoey meet in an internet chat room, then text speak is appropriate.

• Don’t just write things like “OOC, ExB, OFC, AU/AH.”  Most people who aren’t active writers, or are new to the fandom don’t know what those terms mean.  Take a few extra seconds to write out, “Out of character, Edward x Bella, original fictional character, alternate universe/all-human.”  Your readers will appreciate your effort.

• Don’t make excuses for your story.  It makes people think there is something wrong with it.  Let them read for themselves and decide.  I see people do this a lot when they’ve chosen an uncommon or unpopular pairing.  If you are worried that the pairing will deter people from reading, focus on the plot more than the characters when you write the summary.  Write from third person perspective and refer to the characters in generally terms ‘a man’, ‘ a woman’, ‘the waitress’.  You don’t need to continually say ‘Bella and Aro’.

And now the ‘do’s.

• What is your story about?  If a friend were to ask you what your story was about, in 200 words or less, what would you say – and “It’s kind of hard to explain,” is not an option.  Try thinking in terms of the general theme of the story.  Is it a love story?  What do your characters do for a living?  Has Rose ‘saved’ Dimitri from the clutches of the evil Striogi?

• Include the names of the main characters.  You don’t need to list every character who makes an appearance, but the characters who are featured in the story should also be featured in the summary.  For people who only read certain pairings, or are looking for a new pairing to read, this can be a vital piece of information.

• Always, always, always be sure to include appropriate warnings in your summary.  If the story includes slash, incest, rape, violence or any number of other sensitive subjects, it’s only fair to give people warning to steer clear if those subjects make them uncomfortable.

• Your summary should always be pg-13 (for most fan fiction archives, including MVF).  Most archives are all ages and there will potentially be children and underage teens reading stories there.  Reading a story summary that is NC-17 is no different from reading an NC-17 story

• Another very simple thing you can do to improve your summary is to use complex sentences.  They flow more naturally and give a sense of your writing style.  The summary will read more like an introduction to the story if it’s written in a similar style to the story.

• A summary doesn’t need to be a long, complex piece of writing.  The fewer words you need to convey how great your story is, the more likely it is that the reader will still be interested by the time they finish the summary.  Set the scene for your story; hook the readers with a question or situation that can only be resolved by reading the story.

• The summary is your chance to sell your story.  Take advantage of that time to tell people about the most intriguing parts of the story, without giving away the surprise ending.

An example of a well written summary from ‘Lost and Found’, by Saluki:

Bella and Edward have been married for four years.  What happens when Bella realizes she doesn’t know who she is without Edward?  A story of losing your fear and finding yourself.

Contains lemons and adult language

The entire summary is less than forty words, but includes all the crucial details (characters, warnings, background for the story) and she doesn’t give anything away.

So, take a peek at your current summaries (I know I did!) and see if they can be improved.   Sometimes, it makes the difference between twenty-five reads on a story, and twenty-five reviews.

♥SB