summaries

[sixbeforelunch]

So here's a question I've often wondered about. What makes for a good fic summary? Is there anything that can get you to click when you might otherwise not have been inclined to?

Conversely, what types of summaries do you like least? Are there summaries that will make you skip a work even if it's tagged with all of your favorite ships and tropes?

Comments

[sixbeforelunch]

Oh this is a good idea. Here are ten summaries that I've clicked on recently:

Nurse Ogawa is surprised to find that Lwaxana Troi is not nearly the dragon her reputation makes her out to be.

Lore and Lal were lying on the floor together, both androids fixated on Spot.

Riker volunteers to retrieve newly-minted Ambassador Troi from Pacifica after the conference collapses around her.
OR
Riker and Lwaxana trapped in a shuttle. Threats, telepathy, and gratuitous space profanity.

The God of Thunder declares war on the Internet. Jane and Darcy try to make sure that no one dies.

Being the leader of a resistance cell was no fun at all, particularly when it was combined with childcare.

Captain Jean-Luc Picard is self-conscious about his crew's feelings towards him during the night shift.

"Where did it come from?"
"I am Groot," Groot declares.
"Who would just hand you a baby?!"

While exploring an abandoned city on a dead world, Jack begins to suffer from progressive amnesia. As his memories of the past slip away, the rest of his team must find the cause - before the man they know vanishes entirely.

In which Jake texts Amy mostly stupid, occasionally funny, sometimes sweet, and never sober things in the middle of the night (and she always ends up smiling).

What in the hell kind of name for an alias is Matches?

[cadenzamuse]

I am highly unlikely to read a work where the summary apologizes or says the story is bad. Not my job to help the author with self-esteem problems.

[yourlibrarian]

I am going to have to look up some of these because they have done their job:

Riker and Lwaxana trapped in a shuttle. Threats, telepathy, and gratuitous space profanity.

The God of Thunder declares war on the Internet. Jane and Darcy try to make sure that no one dies.

"Where did it come from?"
"I am Groot," Groot declares.
"Who would just hand you a baby?!"

Thank you for this deep-dive into science

[jesse_the_k]

...in the service of better writing and reading!

[dhampyresa]

My summaries tend to be short (2-3 sentences) and from within the story world -- less "Canon-divergent AU where Shuri has to fight Kilmonger because T'Challa is MIA" and more "Shuri thought her estranged cousin killing her brother and taking over her country was a bad as it was going to get. That was before the gods decided to get invested." or something.

I dislike summaries that are quotes from the fic.

[espresso_addict]

Joining in this fun game; here are ten that got me reading...

Like a country girl 'just a little pregnant'...

In which John is a ghost haunting the skull on Sherlock's mantlepiece.

If ever a people deserved tasering, it’s Holmeses.

Five billion years in the future, two characters toast the end of the world. One-shot.

They're good, sturdy, solid bones. They would have lasted Booth another forty years easily.

"Look on every exit as an entrance somewhere else." - Tom Stoppard, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead
A series of entrances and exits, although not necessarily in that order.

Tony as a dinosaur turns out to be a carnivore and to have poison-spitting glands. Tony Stark decides to take a tour of alternate universes.

Olivia is more perceptive than Count Orsino.

“My dear Mr. Baggins, you cannot possibly imagine I have brought you across the boundaries of the sundered world, bending every law of gods and men, over land and over sea and through the fathomless heights, for your health? Well, I did, of course I did, and I’d do it again. But it was not for your own good only that I brought you here. I have been on this world a very long time, Mr. Baggins, and if there is one thing that I have learned about the Wise and the Great, it’s that they benefit from the company of hobbits, and it’s the wisest and greatest who have most need of them.”

The Doctor and Clara show Belle the universe, one library at a time.

Re: Thank you for this deep-dive into science

[yourlibrarian]

:)

[yourlibrarian]

> If ever a people deserved tasering, it’s Holmeses.

Truth

> Five billion years in the future, two characters toast the end of the world. One-shot.

Appropriate

> "Look on every exit as an entrance somewhere else." - Tom Stoppard, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead
A series of entrances and exits, although not necessarily in that order.

Intriguing!

[espresso_addict]

I recced the 3rd one here; it's Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead, obviously.

Summaries survey

[arizonapoppy]

My list is somewhat skewed, because a lot of my history lately is fic that I've subscribed to because my friends wrote it, but here are the last ten that I read out of the blue. In analyzing why I picked each one, I think the primary reason I click on a fic is because of the pairing and the tags, and the summary is a distant third. I am not really sure what would make me *not* click on a story? I read some pretty rare rarepairs, so beggars can't be choosy, and I pretty much ignore the summary and click through on principle for those. In other fandoms, there is a glut of fics so I go based on whether the premise grabs me.

1. With that, the image widened and Zeb could see that Kallus was holding something in his arms, and as the Lasat inspected the image, he gradually began to realize that it was a baby – a Lasat kit.

"Zeb...help me."

"Oh, karabast."
<<< this one I chose because I am a sucker for accidental baby-acquisition, and I was curious about the pairing involved

2. Following the events of Ezra's sacrifice over Lothal, he wakes on a strange planet with only hazy memories and a blue-skinned Chiss named Thrawn. Though neither are able to remember the details of their crash landing, they must trust in one another if they ever hope to get back to civilization.
<<< this one I picked because I liked the author and I was interested in the topic already (continuation after the show's close)

3. Part Two of the "Not to Yield" series. Caleb Jarrus, the fifteen-year-old Padawan of Ezra Bridger isn't perfect, but he's trying to be. This story details the struggle in Caleb's life as he tries to become the Jedi he was meant to be. It's probably best read after "Not to Yield." Not that it wouldn't stand on its own, but I recommend reading "Not to Yield" first.
<<< this one I picked because I had read the previous story, and it's for a pairing that I like

4. He was secrecy and shadows. She was blasters and battle. Neither could win this war without the other.
<<<< this one I picked because I am subscribed to the author and I liked the pairing

5. Iden couldn't pinpoint the moment it began. It was small things that built up throughout their lives.
<<<< Again, one I picked because of the pairing

6. Governor Tarkin contemplates whether to give in to his aide’s wishes and have something sweet with his tea.
<<<< Picked because it was for a rarepair and sounded titillating

7. Tarkin caters to a subordinate’s needs.
<<<< Picked because it was for a rarepair and sounded titillating

8. "Mr…" Her lips pursed, as if she had had a particularly distasteful task to do, such as scrubbing the blood out of her robes, and then she looked up at him in eagle-eyed clarity. “Palpatine. The things you are asking for are restricted. Few Jedi would ever have access to such …seditious material.”
<<<< Picked because it was for a rarepair that interested me

9.

Ben Solo meets his online arch rival, Rey Sanderson in a Waffle House on the third night of Dragon*Con.

The fact that two people attending Dragon*Con end up at the same Waffle House isn't terribly surprising, given that there's really only one within walking distance of the convention and at 2:30 AM after three straight days of partying and con-going, there are very few places that make more sense for drunk nerds to end up.

The fact that they – that is, Ben Solo (aka the r/StarKiller mod known as KyloRen) and Rey Sanderson (aka reddit user ReyOfLight, the eternal and yet un-bannable thorn in his side) end up at the same Waffle House at the exact same time is really just a comedy of errors.

(A Play To Win Waffle House AU in which instead of being professional gamers, Ben and Rey are just your average nerds who hate each other online until a fateful encounter during Dragon*Con brings them closer than they ever thought possible.)
<<<< Picked this because it sounded hilarious

10. Will a gentleman's secrets change John and Margaret's world forever? A plot-twisted, tropey, fluffy, smutty North and South continuation.
<<<< Picked mainly for the pairing, but premise was intriguing

[typerare]

ooh, this is something that i can answer!

enticing summaries:

- a short quote from the fic that demonstrates that the author can write well

- if it's witty and not melodramatic, i'm in

summaries that make me flee:

- no actual summary, and the work has about nine hundred tags

- the summary has an easily answered question like "will they get together?" or "what will happen?"

[typerare]

oh, yes. i always assume that the author is correct and that those stories are not going to be worth my time.

[thenewbuzwuzz]

My main observation is that summaries rarely seem to be the deciding factor. Seems like maybe I go off recs more than I thought (or maybe that's mainly for the stories that I bookmark and never end up reading?), and I choose a lot of fic because of familiar authors. Or snappy titles! These choices were more summary-based:

"Just a couple vampires enjoying the holidays, vampire-style."

"How dare they?"

"The OT3 of Champions."

"It’s almost a year and a half since Sunnydale fell into a crater. Now retired from slaying, Buffy’s been voluntold to go to Wesley Wyndham-Price’s memorial service, where she finds a few familiar enemies. Everything’s so surreal anyway, Buffy decides she might as well just give into it and see if lunch with Drusilla and Harmony might be one of the better things she does that year. The day keeps getting weirder, but the year might just be unsurpassable by the end of it."

"A bit of self-indulgence in the form of a character-study vignette about Spike's love for Buffy. Written right after the musical episode, it probably will contradict all upcoming canon, but c'est la guerre."

"Buffy gets a glimpse of different aspects of Spike's personality, and finds that the things she thought she knew about him -- and how she feels about him -- might not be everything she believed."

"What if Spike had actually saved Dawn, and thus saved Buffy, in The Gift? Does being a reluctant hero change your status with the people who are reluctant to admit your heroics? And would Buffy know it if the ending of her story was supposed to be different? Short novel/long novella length."

"The monks turn the Key into something they feel certain, after some rather brief magical research, that Buffy will protect with her life: her loofah."

Re: Summaries survey

[amalthia]

Hi, I don't suppose you have links for story 1 and 3? I tried googling "not to yield" and couldn't find the story.

[satsuma]

Oh I’ve read that last one! (Unpretty’s fic, right?)

Re: Summaries survey

[arizonapoppy]

Here we have the power of the summary! You are looking for:

The Colder the Winter, the Warmer the Spring

and

The Not To Yield Series

[sixbeforelunch]

Yes! It's not a great example in this context because I followed a link from Tumblr without seeing the summary, but it's still a good summary. Good fic too. :)

[sixbeforelunch]

https://archiveofourown.org/works/17190173

https://archiveofourown.org/works/2740829

https://archiveofourown.org/works/2201094

(Sorry for the lack of formatting. I'm on my phone.)

[yourlibrarian]

No worries, I read both already (very enjoyable) and have downloaded the podfic to listen to later today.

I find that summaries actually work much better than title and author at AO3. Since I download and then return to leave feedback, I find that sometimes a work exists but it simply will not come up with a title and author. Usually it does, but oddly sometimes it doesn't, which is when I tend to plug in a line from the summary.

[yourlibrarian]

and the work has about nine hundred tags

900 tags for a 10,000 word fic at that. I have literally seen stories with more tags than content.

the summary has an easily answered question like "will they get together?"

Indeed -- if only that question actually had suspense to it once in a while.

And I agree that having a fic excerpt in the summary is one of the better hints that I'll want to read the author's writing.

Re: Summaries survey

[yourlibrarian]

Yeah, when it comes to rare pairs or small fandoms, finding works at all trumps whatever the summaries might suggest. There are a few pairings I would definitely click on regardless of what the summaries suggest just because I'd want to see how it was addressed.

At the same time I am thinking of one pairing that I would be glad to read and which, in fact, begs a in-depth exploration given the canon. Yet I have tried story after story and have yet to find one I've enjoyed (or even been able to finish). The common element seems to be a summary and first page that is a lot of exposition and no snappy dialogue at all.

> Ben Solo meets his online arch rival, Rey Sanderson in a Waffle House on the third night of Dragon*Con.

Actually I thought the summary should have stopped right there, that's all I needed to hear. It immediately made me think of Kyloki which I wish had more episodes.

[yourlibrarian]

At least 50% of my reading is rec based, and this is 95% for anything outside my main fandoms or pairings. However I think most recs do tend to include at least part if not all of the summary for that work, so I think that still has some bearing.

Also, while finding an author or artist one enjoys means one's likely to look up their other works, I find that summaries still are important to me. This is particularly true if, say, that author (or vidder) creates work in other fandoms or for characters I'm not so interested in. I'm lucky enough to have lots of choices since I'm in large fandoms so I do need to be convinced to try out something outside my main choices.

What you said about titles was intriguing though because I very rarely remember a story's title (and given all the fic searches going on everywhere, I'm clearly not alone). Plus if one searches at someplace big like AO3 it's clear that there are many stories using the exact same title across fandoms (or sometimes even the same ones). I have sometimes been pleased when reading a story to click with what the chosen title was, but right now I can only remember one story title that helped me remember the fic. It was a line from the Beatles Come Together and other lines from Beatles songs were used as chapter titles in a lengthy fic, generally quite aptly. Overall I think I'm more likely to be grabbed by the summary than title and at least some authors I've worked with as a beta hated having to choose titles, so I daresay the average writer would rather be challenged by the summary ;) But I could be wrong about that!

That last summary made me laugh.

Re: Summaries survey

[amalthia]

Thanks! those summaries sound interesting. :)

[amalthia]

Typos in the summary don't inspire much confidence either, however it's more forgivable than a short word count and tons of tags.

[lazaefair]

Okay, this is a SUPER interesting thing to model summaries on. Because jokes have a bit of a formalized structure, too - see comedian Jimmy Carr:

The release of tension in jokes. If you think all jokes work in exactly the same way, it’s two stories. In the first story, you force the audience to make an assumption that turns out to be erroneous. The second part of the story it’s the sudden revelation of a previously concealed fact that they’re working that way.

The best kind of fic experience is one where the summary draws you in with an interesting premise and a demonstration of writing skill, and then takes you on a roller coaster ride, right? That's why we're willing to read ten thousand h/c or bed-sharing or huddle-for-warmth or A/B/O fics because every writer gives you a different take on each trope. Maybe good summaries aren't exactly like jokes in that there's not as much of a requirement for an explicit twist, but the audience is still looking to be entertained and surprised.