Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Purpura Lipstick]

I am glad I am not the only one like that.  My friend wanted me to start writing one of my story ideas and maybe a title would come to me... I told her I had to have a title before I could start.  May not be the final title, but had to have one.

[mare]

Usually titles come to me right away except for this last one. I struggled with that one a lot! lol

The summaries are the hardest part for me because you have to figure out a way in a few short sentences how to some up an entire story and it's even harder when you have no idea where that story is actually going to go. That's why I tend to keep mine vague. I tend to change my mind while writing lol

[julilly]

I prefer something simple, intriguing. The summaries that are turn offs are the ones with way too much detail. You know what ones I mean, the ones with like two paragraphs and is almost like a short story in itself. Short, simple and too the point. Vagueness is also sometimes way better cause then it can get me curious.

I agree. I think people get confused between summary and synopsis.

[A-RokzStalker]

I hate the word summary.

What everyone else refers to as a summary, I refer to as an attention getter. Because to me, a summary is summarizing the story. That's not what you want. You just want to get the readers' attention so that they'll read the story.

While I do think it needs to be short, I do think it needs a little detail about the story. Personally, I generally won't read stories when the description is vague (unless I know the author personally, so yes, I'll be reading yours, Julie, LOL), because when I'm looking for a fic to read, I'm usually trying to find a particular kind of fic. So if I can't see what the general plot is about, then I bypass it because there are a million others I can check out instead.

[mare]

^ see, that's true for me too to an extent. I have zero attention span as you all know by now lol so, if the summary is too vague I won't even bother clicking on the link to read further. I always have keywords in my head as to whether or not I want to actually read a story. If those words are present, I know if I want to skip or click.

[RokofAges75]

I do like some general expectation of what I'm getting into when I click on a story.  I would never buy a book in a bookstore without reading the summary on the back or the jacket.  But with fanfics, since they're free LOL, I'm okay with vague summaries that leave me wanting to find out what the story's about.  If it turns out not to be my cup of tea, I can just click out of it, and no harm done (and no money wasted LOL).

[Carter-Orange]

I like a short summary, kind of like the example posted   I've seen some where they've almost written the whole story as the summary and I'm put off by that.

I saw on one site where the author had included parts of her chapters in the actual summary and I just thought "why?"

[mare]

^ yeah. I have seen some of those too and thought the same thing lol It's to much info. Like a movie trailer that gives the entire plot away!

[carterkid]

Is this too vague for all of you? 'This is wrong...I shouldn't be here,I shouldn't be doing this.I'm [name here] and before I go ahead with the rest
of this story,let me go back to the begining.Where it all started.'


I don't know which of the guys I'm using yet that's why I left the name out.

[Pengi]

Is this too vague for all of you? 'This is wrong...I shouldn't be here,I shouldn't be doing this.I'm [name here] and before I go ahead with the rest
of this story,let me go back to the begining.Where it all started.'


I don't know which of the guys I'm using yet that's why I left the name out.

I think it's intriguing.

[mare]

It's intriguing but I would need something more to click on it.

[julilly]

I think it's going in the right direction, but I at this point find it a little vague. I'd need a little bit more to click.

[Carter-Orange]

Sounds interesting to me

[FrickingKaos]

Hm maybe that's why I got such a response for Figured You Out...the summary is short and to the point. I should try that more lol! My summary was "he thought she was just a fan, but he would come to see that this was the worst mistake of his life". I usually have trouble with summaries. This so far is my favorite one I have written

[Mariah]

Summaries always tend to piss me off a little. I never know if I'm giving too much away or not giving away enough to intrigue the reader. Sometimes they come really easily for me and sometimes they don't.

Titles are always the easiest for me... I tend to come up with them sometimes before I even come up with the story. I base a lot of my stories around music, so sometimes I'll use a line from a song or the title of the song. Then I develop the story from there.

You're right actually. I sometimes think its my summaries that depend on if someone is going to read or not. To be honest I don't know.

I prefer short and vague with just a hint of intrigue. Not mentioning any names but I see a lot of stories summaries with like these sentences not just paragraphs that just give the whole story away. Then there's always a question at the end. Not really appealing. Julie's was awesome though I agree with mare.