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 Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2008 6:43 am
~ Notice from Umi Pryde ~ This topic has been moved and will not be used, as members have already began discussions on summary writing, as our Workshop Subforum's Summary Writing Discussion Thread.
The Original Topic title: Summaries This is the Original Post that began this topic: Quote: Do any of you have trouble creating good summaries? I have a heck of a time...sometimes it's easy, but most of the time, it's really, really hard.... Just curious if any of you have any tips and tricks for creating them.
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Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2008 6:46 pm
Know what your story will be about for starters - some people don't seem to and just have something random up that once I read the story I feel like I was lied to about what the story was about.
make it a few sentences on what you wrote - no one knows it better than you. Just do't make it too long. Keep it short and honest.
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Posted: Sat Jan 12, 2008 6:34 pm
I have more trouble comming up with titles than summaries. But if you have a good title, you can reference to it in the summary.
EDIT: I got rid of the rest of my post because I reread it and I didn't think it made sense.
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Posted: Sat Jan 19, 2008 1:08 pm
yeah i do sometimes its hard to figure out what will make the readers want to look at your story without giving them too much information. Meh i usually just use a funny yet random line from the story. blaugh 3nodding dramallama
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Posted: Sun Feb 03, 2008 9:33 am
Normally I'd use a quote or a line from the story for mine. It kinda takes the work out of it and it usually looks good in the end.
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Posted: Sun Feb 03, 2008 6:19 pm
hmm... I've tried multiple ways... I say whatever you're most comfortable with. Sometimes a scene in the story will capture their attention, sometimes summarizing the main point gets it across.
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Posted: Sun Feb 03, 2008 10:17 pm
The way that I usually go about it is taking a good look at what I have planned and then fitting it to the genre, style, etc.
If your fanfic is a really mysterious one, use a metaphor or an analogy to hint at what happens. If it's an adventure/action sort of fanfic, perhaps a quote from a very busy part of the text or a basic summary. If it's a humorous fanfic, then make it funny. If it's a short one-shot, then a short, one sentence summary usually works. If it's a really powerful, thought-provoking piece, short, potent summaries are best as well.
Questions are excellent as long as they're not the stereotypical "Will they make it out alive?" or "Will she accept his love?" sort of thing.
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Posted: Wed Apr 09, 2008 2:34 pm
I'm with Griffeness here. My problem usually involves making the summary sound really interesting, but at the same time, I don't want to give too much away. I've written a few stories, but I only ever put one on FF.net, and the summary was so near impossible to write without giving away something, that I left it for almost a month before actually figuring out what I was going to say. I think as long as their descriptive enough to hook the reader, that's all that matters. I hate using questions in mine, since they seem so cliche most of the time. Sometimes using quotes from the story works out great. A dramatic line, hooks the readers, and gives nothing away as far as plot, hopefully.
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Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2008 11:25 am
I have a bit of a different process for coming up with mine.
More often than not I'll get this totally off the wall idea that I MUST use for a story, so I write that idea down and go from there.
When it's time to post, I go back to that original idea that I wrote down (as long as I actually stuck with it) and use a piece of that as my summary.
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Posted: Sun Jun 22, 2008 11:20 pm
I see summaries as advertisement, and since I want to get readers I need to put down something that'll attract their attention. Why would someone want to read my story and not some other jerk's?
I don't like putting it that way, but summaries are meant to sell your stories. I'm constantly rewriting one of my fanfiction, and while one of my reviewers have complained about it, he's read and reviewed every revision. He's pretty pissed about my latest announcement that I'm revising yet again, but then he put me under 'Alerts' so he'll know when I'm putting up the new version.
*shrug*
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Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 9:46 pm
Well, as far as summaries goes... it depends. Sometimes I like to have a little fun with my 255 words: see how much intrigue and/or interest I can create with them. You know, play up what the story is by making it sound larger than life? Hmm... take something about... maybe a cat and a dog learning to put their differences aside and find friendship. "Neko was top cat on the farm: nobody dared cross her path without looking down in respect. But, there was always one who didn’t see it her way… Samuel. He never gave an inch, even in the face of her fiercest stares. Yet, when it came right down to it… why did they have to fight? Couldn’t things be worked out quietly? K+ for minor violence." That's probably over 255 words, but I was gaging it with word... aheh. Yeah, that's probably pretty lame, but that's the general idea I use. You take what might be ordinary, and try to hook the reader. Make them wonder what makes your story so different, and just what could some of the cryptic wording be hiding?
As Kiyu217 does, quoting a small section of your story can be a good hook: make the potential reader wonder just what lead to it, or where it's going to go. The main problem with using that style is timing. Deciding which quote would best represent the general tone and flow of your story, along with being catchy enough to stand out amidst 50 other stories. Heh, it's a daunting task, but one that can be strangely alluring: pushing your writing abilities just to get someone to take more than a glance at your story... I wonder if published authors get that same rush when someone picks up their book and reads the back synopsis? But, now I'm just daydreaming... *sigh* Music to soothe the soul just loosens up ideas, you know? But I digress.
Sometimes... you just feel it: a small glimpse of what you've worked long and hard to create shining through the dirt, that twinkle of something special among the ordinary. You just... know what to say, even without stopping to think what you're doing. I probably sound like some sort of bloody moron for this, but... sometimes it feels like I'm only transcribing things that have taken place unseen to me, you know? Like I'm being allowed to see into their world, and tell the stories from their view... even the summaries of what's to come don't always feel my own. *sigh* Now I KNOW I sound like a moron for that, but I'd rather look stupid and say what I think, than pretend to be smart and hide behind yet another mask.
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Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2008 1:14 pm
I also have trouble with summaries, because ideally with a summary, you want to have give the reader an idea of what they are getting into when they read your story, entice them to follow through with the reading, even if it's a long story, and kind of intrigue them all at the same time.
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Posted: Wed Jul 09, 2008 8:04 am
I am horrible at summaries... Mostly because I run out of space before I can actually finish my thought. Sometimes I just take a good quote from the story and use that.
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Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2008 8:13 pm
Oh, yeah. Most of my plots are quite complicated, so I have to say a lot in the summary (stares straight at "Lucky Eyes"). I couldn't come up with a gem to this little epic I aforementioned. Seriously, look up "Lucky Eyes: The Chaos Messengers" and laugh your heads off at the summary.
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Posted: Fri Nov 21, 2008 3:31 pm
I don't usually have much trouble coming up with a summary, because whenever I start writing a fanfic, I do so with a very specific idea in mind. So all I do is pretty much a copy-paste of that initial idea. Even if the story is of epic length, all that I need to talk about is the beginning that spawned it all.
What always makes me pause are the warnings that (may) follow. For instance, I'm never sure whether advertising the pairings or main characters will make the readers turn away or if, on the other hand, it will lure them in. What do you guys think about those?
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