Absolute Chaos Discussion Boards
Fic Talk => General Discussion => Topic started by: RokofAges75 on July 13, 2010, 08:19:04 PM
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What makes a good summary to you?
As a reader, do you prefer detailed summaries that give you a good idea what the story's going to be about, or vague summaries that leave you wanting to know? What kind of summary makes you actually click on a story to give it a try?
As a writer, what kind of summaries do you usually write?
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I like summaries that leave me wondering what is going to happen, intriguing me. I think I write those kind too.
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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.
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I agree pretty much with both Lore and Rose. I am turned off by the long summaries. If the summary is more than a paragraph I bypass the story completely because I already know for me the person is too wordy lol
The things that draw me in are the simple ones that don't totally give away what the story is about but gives enough detail to let me know it's the kind of thing I would want to read.
That's what I try to do when I write a summary, but it's easier said than done. lol
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She had a dream. He had a secret. They had a deal. In exchange for her silence, he’d make her dream come true. But at what cost?
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Good summary Julie.
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She had a dream. He had a secret. They had a deal. In exchange for her silence, he’d make her dream come true. But at what cost?
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Good summary Julie.
Agreed :)
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I tend to write wordy summaries that describe the character more than the actual story (see the summary for The Time Watcher for example). I do feel that shorter summaries are more effective/better, though. I get intrigued by summaries that seem random, but obviously have something important to do with the story. Cos then I wanna know WHAT it has to do with the story.
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She had a dream. He had a secret. They had a deal. In exchange for her silence, he’d make her dream come true. But at what cost?
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Good summary Julie.
Agreed!
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I tend to write wordy summaries that describe the character more than the actual story (see the summary for The Time Watcher for example). I do feel that shorter summaries are more effective/better, though. I get intrigued by summaries that seem random, but obviously have something important to do with the story. Cos then I wanna know WHAT it has to do with the story.
Yours isn't that bad. Have you seen some of the other summaries that go and basically tell the entire plot? Those ones are the ones that suck lol. Cause then it's like, what's the point. Yours drew me in, because it described Nick, totally had a point, and had me wondering why.
Summaries are hard to do. About as hard as titles. The key is to catch people's interest enough to make them click, and it's not easy lol.
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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.
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She had a dream. He had a secret. They had a deal. In exchange for her silence, he’d make her dream come true. But at what cost?
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Good summary Julie.
Thank you!! That was the first of five different summaries I had written for this story (ask Rose LOL), and the only reason I wrote four more is because I thought this one was too vague. I'm glad people seem to like it! I hoped it would be intriguing, but at the same time, I figured people would want a better idea of what the story was about LOL.
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Thank you!! That was the first of five different summaries I had written for this story (ask Rose LOL), and the only reason I wrote four more is because I thought this one was too vague. I'm glad people seem to like it! I hoped it would be intriguing, but at the same time, I figured people would want a better idea of what the story was about LOL.
I told you that you shouldn't be second guessing. Not that I'm not guilty of that....lmao.
Sometimes vague is good cause it makes us click to find out exactly that. :)
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I kinda go both ways with the summaries. As a reader, I like a general idea of what I'm getting into when I click on the story, but a short, intriguing summary works too. Sometimes it's fun to not have a clue and click on a story just to see what the summary even means. I don't like the super long summaries that tell half the story or the whole back story leading up to that point.
As a writer, I think most of my summaries are the shorter, vague kind because I don't like to give too much away. Sometimes, like with BMS, Undead, and 00Carter, I get longer with it.
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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.
I'm the same way with summaries; once in awhile they do come really easily, but usually it takes several revisions to get the perfect one.
Titles are the same way for me - sometimes the title comes to me right away, and I don't even consider anything else, and other times it takes me days to get even a working title I like. I can't start writing a story without a title, so it's frustrating.
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Definitely, I can't write on a story until I have at least a good, solid title. So agree with you on that one lol
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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.
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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
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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.
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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.
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^ 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.
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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).
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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?"
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^ 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!
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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.
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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.
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It's intriguing but I would need something more to click on it.
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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.
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Sounds interesting to me :)
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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
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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.
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Thanks! I know I responded to this topic back in the summer, but I agree with you and most everyone who has responded - short and vague with just a hint of intrigue is usually what I prefer, too. From the writer side of things, I don't like to give too much away about the plot of the story - one, because I like to keep it to myself, and two, because sometimes I'm afraid people won't want to read it if they know what it's going to be about upfront LOL. Sometimes I feel the need to lure them in and get them hooked, then spring the real plot on them.
From the reader side, I like the intrigue, too, and a summary that's vague enough to sound like it might be interesting will at least get me to click and check it out, whereas a summary that's detailed enough to make me think I won't enjoy it will not get me to click at all.
One recent summary I actually really liked once I read the whole thing was this one, for "Suddenly I See" by BiancaRJ:
She's a foreign post graduate student at NYU and she's ready to take the greatest career opportunity of her life.
He's returning to the group he left almost 8 years ago as a new chance is given to him.
She's carefree and outspoken
He's focused on work and very, very serious.
She knew she would easily fit in.
He knew he would have a hard time adjusting to the new dynamic of the group.
She wanted to be taken seriously as an entertainment reporter.
He has always been very cautious when it comes to the media.
They would probably end up hating each other.
This is not their love story.
But suddenly he'll see why the hell she means so much to him.
I really liked it cause of the part I bolded; it started out like so many of the typical romance summaries do, and then she threw that twist on it, and that actually got me to click on the story, cause I thought it was clever. So sometimes long summaries work too. :)
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See, I think that bolded line is very clever but I think the summary itself is entirely too long. I think if she managed to cut down half of the facts she has on there it would be just as effective.
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I saw that summary too, Julie and I agree with both you and Mare. I did find the bolded part intriguing but it was a bit long for me.
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Yeah, probably just three sets of facts would get the same idea across, but I also think it just LOOKS long because it's so spaced out, one sentence per line. If it were condensed into a paragraph, it wouldn't seem AS long. That said, there's something to be said for character development - working those details into the story instead of spelling them out in the summary (which I think she did). Still, just the cleverness of that one line was enough to make ME click on a KEVIN ROMANCE to check it out. Can I tell you how many Kevin romances I've read before? Um, ZERO. So props to Bianca LOL.
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LOL yes, definite props to her.
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I suck at summaries. I think my two stories on here have summaries that are just one sentence each haha
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There's a great amount of thought that goes into summaries in general. I just look at it as a teaser trailer. Someone told me once. Its harder than writing the story.
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I think it's much harder than writing a story. To find the exact, right thing to say to have someone click on your story or read a novel without throwing it in the garbage can be really stressful, especially the second scenerio. lol
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It really is! And sometimes it's hard when you're just starting a story and don't know exactly where you're going with it yet, cause I feel like to write a summary, you need to know what the story is really about, even if you don't include all that in the summary itself. I'm a planner/outliner, and even I find that tough with certain ideas. I really struggled with that Curtain Call summary because all I really had was a premise... a premise I didn't want to give away... and not a real clear idea on where it was all going yet. I'm happy with how it turned out, though.
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Oh, I know what you mean. I agree, I think it's really important to have some idea of where you are going with the story in order to give a decent summary but if you kind of know at least the general idea, you could probably get through it with no problems.
Just no matter what, no one should use the I suck at summaries line for their summaries! lol
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LOL no, that's a cop-out; I hate that! At least come up with a vague one-liner. Vague is the way to go if you don't have more than a general idea of where it's going, anyway LOL.
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I have a hard time with summaries, but I think I'm getting better with them. I usually just keep writing out different ones until I find the one that fits.
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LOL no, that's a cop-out; I hate that! At least come up with a vague one-liner. Vague is the way to go if you don't have more than a general idea of where it's going, anyway LOL.
I'm the queen of vague but sometimes that can be really confusing. I don't wanna mess with peoples' heads.
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What makes a good summary to you?
What kind of summary makes you actually click on a story to give it a try?
As a writer, what kind of summaries do you usually write?
There is definitely an art to it, and it's one I still have a long way to go at myself.
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.
Yeah, I've noticed that I tend to gloss over any summary that's more than one paragraph, or looks like a wall of text.
The things that draw me in are the simple ones that don't totally give away what the story is about but gives enough detail to let me know it's the kind of thing I would want to read.
That's what often happens with long-winded summaries, one of the reasons I avoid them, aside from the fact that Text-O-Wall usually screams to me "Author doesn't know what s/he's doing."
She had a dream. He had a secret. They had a deal. In exchange for her silence, he’d make her dream come true. But at what cost?
I agree, that is an excellent summary. It establishes tension, conflict, and important thematic elements, without the Information Dump.
It makes a couple promises: secrets, and how far people will go to keep them; and dreams, and how far people will go to fulfill them. As long as the story delivers on these two promises, then that summary was probably the best possible choice for it.
I tend to write wordy summaries that describe the character more than the actual story (see the summary for The Time Watcher for example). I do feel that shorter summaries are more effective/better, though.
That is a different approach than I've seen in most summaries, but some care must be taken with the description to make sure people don't glance at it and think "Mary Sue / Marty Stu" without reading any further.
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.
They tend to be hit and miss for me, as well. There are still some I wrote years ago that I'm still a little iffy on, yet I can't seem to come up with anything better, so I just stuck with them.
And sometimes it's hard when you're just starting a story and don't know exactly where you're going with it yet, cause I feel like to write a summary, you need to know what the story is really about, even if you don't include all that in the summary itself.
Wow, and I thought it was tough coming up with summaries for finished stories! :o (Though I guess that brings up the completely different issue of deciding whether or not to wait until a story is complete before releasing any of it.)
Though the Fictionpress site rubs me the wrong way in most regards, there was one thing about starting there that I think set me on the path to writing presentable summaries. There's a 188 character limit on story summaries there, so all of my original summaries are written with this very practical restriction, forcing some brevity and focus on someone as wordy as myself. My point is not really about the exact number, so much as it about how placing a cap forces you to stay on-point. With the exception of the Book of Hondo, all the summaries I've ever written are 188 characters or shorter, for better or worse.
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I think having a word limit for anything is the best practice you could get as a writer because it really challenges you to figuree out what's important and what's just excess baggage! I always used to use a word limit for my challenges but too many people had a problem with it. lol In the real world though, most people set a word limit when it comes to submitting things.
I love that fiction press sets a character limit on their summaries!