Imagine you're in your favorite bookstore. You find a book that has an interesting cover or is by your favorite author. You pick it up to read the summary and it goes something like this: "fluffy one-shot for v-day i know its short. set during marauders era Bella/Barty Jr. pairing read and review I suck at summaries."
If a book had a summary like that, would you read it? Personally, I wouldn't. Summaries are vital for an author's work. If the summary's bad, you wouldn't bother reading the book. A good summary piques the reader's interest, making them want to read more.
So how does one write a good summary?First you need to understand what a summary is. According to
dictionary.com, a summary is defined four ways.
1. a comprehensive and usually brief abstract, recapitulation, or compendium of previously stated facts or statements.
2. brief and comprehensive; concise.
3. direct and prompt; unceremoniously fast: to treat someone with summary dispatch.
4. (of legal proceedings, jurisdiction, etc.) conducted without, or exempt from, the various steps and delays of a formal trial.Obviously, the last definition doesn't apply to literary summaries. The former three do however. A good summary is a mix of all three definitions.
For example. Let's look at the back of
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. The summary on the back of the paperback US edition reads:
For twelve long years, the dread fortress of Azkaban held an infamous prisoner named Sirius Black. Convicted of killing thirteen people with a single curse, he was said to be the heir apparent to the Dark Lord, Voldemort.
Now he has escaped, leaving only two clues as to where he might be headed: Harry Potter's defeat of You-Know-Who was Black's downfall as well. And the Azkaban guards heard Black muttering in his sleep. "He's at Hogwarts...he's at Hogwarts."
Harry Potter isn't safe, not even within the walls of his magical school, surrounded by his friends. Because on top of it all, there may well be a traitor in their midst."Now let's break that down and see how all three definitions to see how they work into the summary.1. a comprehensive and usually brief abstract, recapitulation, or compendium of previously stated facts or statements.Basically, a brief review of facts stated in the earlier books, a little background for those who haven't read the first two books. In the summary of
HP and the PoA, we have the statement that the Dark Lord is Voldemort and that Harry isn't safe at Hogwarts. We also get a reiteration on Azkaban being the wizarding world's dark, gloomy prison, and that Harry brought down Voldemort when he was a mere infant.
2. brief and comprehensive; concise.
3. direct and prompt; unceremoniously fastYou notice that the summary for a 22 chapter, 430 page novel is only three short paragraphs, yet covers the majority of the plot. It covers Sirius breaking out, tracking Harry, and even hints at Peter Pettigrew in it.
It is also very direct from the beginning. Very little description save for the first sentence, which sets the mood for the summary and fits the mood of the book. Summaries need to reflect the mood of the story they are summarizing. Sounds simple and a bit common sense, but if you look at some fanfiction summaries, there's no mood to them. They simply state the pairing, warnings, rating and if it's a chaptered or one shot, and if it's complete or not. Most places like
FF.net already list most, if not all of those pieces of information already.
When posting a fic, note what you have already stated in the header information (if on LJ, IJ and others) or what the website lists below the summary, and do not repeat that information in your summary if you can help it. It's like reading the same paragraph twice. There's no need to do so.
So how does this apply to my fanfiction?Fan fiction's unique. Fic authors base their characters on characters others have created. This can lead to authors not knowing exactly what to put as their summary. Relax, summaries are not as hard to write as they seem! Let's break it down one more time into the parts of the definition.
1. a comprehensive and usually brief abstract, recapitulation, or compendium of previously stated facts or statements.In short, this is the part where you state where in the canon your story takes place, and if it does not comply with later bits of canon. An example could be the following:
"Five years after the Battle of Hogwarts, Hermione Granger finds herself starting to fall for the arch-enemy of her school years, Draco Malfoy."
This snippet of summary tells us that the story takes place of
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, but does not comply with the canon epilogue.
For Works in Progress, it's a tad trickier. One can use the same summary for the whole story, or the author can make shorter summaries for each chapter, with, of course, a little background information preceding the new summary.
2. brief and comprehensive; concise.
3. direct and prompt; unceremoniously fast: to treat someone with summary dispatch.This is trickier for most people. I know I've been stumped. "How much should I disclose in the summary that doesn't give away the ending?" It can be a delicate line to walk on. While each story and author are different, a good rule to follow is to let potential readers know what the main plot is
1/2 or even up to 3/4 of the way to the climax, and give one very tiny hint to the twist of the plot that takes place at the climax. It is that little hint that piques the reader's interest to read the story.
Continuing the example from the section above:
"Five years after the Battle of Hogwarts, Hermione Granger finds herself starting to fall for the arch-enemy of her school years, Draco Malfoy. After a chance meeting, sparks fly as Draco seems to be following Hermione. Can the two keep their budding relationship from falling apart as an old flame is added to the mix?"
This summary tells you that it's plot is the relationship between Hermione and Draco as they fall into love with each other, only to have everything threatened by an old boyfriend or girlfriend of either. The reader is intrigued to find out who the 'old flame' that threatens everything is, thus they continue to read the fic.
Eight easy rules for good summary writing•
Know where you're posting your fic. As I stated earlier, some places list things like fic status, warnings, chapters, word count, rating, genre. Some LJ communities are for certain pairings. This leads to #2:
•
Avoid posting repeats of header information. The header is there for a reason. No need to repeat it all in your summary.
•
Your Summary represents your story. Not everyone will read your fic, but more will read your summary and/or header info on it to judge if they want to read your fic. That being said:
•
Keep netslang and/or l33t speak to a minimum Not everyone understands it. Also, it doesn't look as professional. Your fics represent you as a writer, don't they?
•
Try to use good grammar. Yes. Periods at the end of sentences. Semi colons, colons! It breaks up the different parts and makes it easier to read.
(i.e. "slash RH/DD/RL/SS/SB drabble oneshot" is easier to read when it's "slash; RH/DD/RL/SS/SB; drabble; one-shot")•
Let potential readers know what the main plot is 1/2 or even up to 3/4 of the way to the climax, and give one very tiny hint to the twist of the plot that takes place at the climax.•
Refrain from putting R&R. Putting "Read & Review" just makes you sound desperate. If the summary's good, people will read the fic. If they like it or dislike it, they'll review. Try something like "Reviews are appreciated." in Author notes, and try to do those at the bottom of the page where the reader will see it when they
finish reading. Again, some places you put that at the top.
•
Never, and I mean NEVER put "I suck at summaries. Anyways, pls read!" or something to that effect. That just points out that yes, you do not summarize very well, or indicates to the readers that you're a bit lazy, pending the wording of how you say it. Again, the 'please read' bit leads people to think you're desperate for readers. It turns people off of the story and is just plain not a good summary.
That concludes Belladoragirl's Guide to Writing Better Fic Summaries. I hope anyone that completed reading this guide finds it to be helpful. Better summaries make for more readers and more reviews!
working![[info]](http://www.insanejournal.com/img/community.gif){kind=small}
remus_news! If you have an item you think we should link to please send us an email at remusnews@gmail.com. 
fiction_alley has news that Fiction Alley is tempoarily down![[info]](http://www.insanejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
hexennacht is looking for someone to play Remus here.
vikingcarrot
tired