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

[china_shop]

I am often lured by something funny and/or something perfectly in character. I'm good with excerpts or literal summaries. :-)

[sodium_amytal]

I want a summary, that, well, summarizes the story. Shorter fics can get away with a snippet of dialogue/narration or something more esoteric (like a dictionary definition of a relevant word). But with longer stories, I want summaries like you'd find on the back of a novel. That's what I do with my own works, at least; since I don't write pairings/fandoms that draw a large crowd, anyone from outside the fandom I can draw in with an intriguing summary is great for me.

Summaries alone won't make me skip a work (unless the story just doesn't hit that 'gotta read' urge), but a lackluster summary won't convince me to read one, if that makes sense.

[princessofgeeks]

The best advice I ever had was, the summary should describe the conflict in the story.

The one thing that will make me not read, even for an author or pairing I usually like, is describing the story as a character study. That implies to me that there is little to no action, and the thing I like least in fiction (pro or fan) is tons of interior rumination and little action.

This may be just me.

[sodium_amytal]

Oof, there's a mood. A+ for articulating this much better than I could.

[sixbeforelunch]

the summary should describe the conflict in the story.

Oh, I like that!

I totally agree on character studies. Vignette is also a word that makes me side-eye. Both of them seem to imply a lot of naval gazing and not much else.

[arcanetrivia]

Describing something as a character study wouldn't necessarily turn me off, but it would probably depend on the character. Aside from that, tho, "describe the conflict in the story" sounds like good advice.

[slashmarks]

I think it was melannen who said an effective summary should be like a joke set up so the reader will click to get the punch line. That doesn't necessarily mean that it should be funny; but it should make the reader want to know how the set up is satisfied.

Personally, I almost exclusively care about prose style, so snippet summaries are the most likely to get me to click fic that's got an interesting/good voice and the least likely to get me to click fic I won't like. But my preferences are kind of off-center for fandom, I think - I rarely read based on pairing or plot. I tend to try to compromise and pick a snippet from the fic that gives the set up as well as my writing voice.

[melannen]

I was just coming in here to try to remember how I'd phrased that before!

Yeah, the best summaries in my experience a) tell you what the story is about, but b) very concisely (like, 2-3 sentences AT MOST) and c) leave you wanting to know what happens next.

The joke setup is sort of the best way I could come up with to conceptualize that. (Also good models: elevator pitch, movie logline - you don't want the summary on the back of the book, you want the summary in the TV channel guide.)

Absolute worst kind: a song lyric or poem quote. Tells you nothing about what the story is about, *or* the voice or writing style. Second worst: A summary that's actually an author's note.

[alchemistdoctor]

mottlemoth gave me some excellent advice when I came panicking to her about summaries; I'm going to paraphrase because I didn't, unfortunately, save the response:

Fic readers don't need a book-style back cover. A lot of them are here for the tropes. They know the characters, and if you've not gone AU, they probably know the main story. They're here for how you write the story.

So when fic readers are looking for a story, they want to know what they're going to be reading. Tell them that.

That changed my idea from "Draw them into the story" to "Just like. Tell them about the thing you wrote." Which is A) easier and B) simple. Suddenly my panic about writing summaries was gone.

And she was totally right! I read summaries looking for the basic story. What trope? What storyline? Mutual pining? Bedsharing? Fake relationship? I'm in.

[sixbeforelunch]

That is excellent advice!

[espresso_addict]

I often click based on voice; not necessarily a direct quotation, some of the best clickbait for me is a cleverly phrased summary. Not actually the summary in this case, but "The Death of a Soul, A Blowjob Beneath a Table, and the Rain of Toads That Followed" made me click on Harry/Draco, a pairing I'd previously avoided.

The thing that puts me off most is spelling/grammar mistakes, or lack of summary altogether, though usually tag forests will have already put me off such works.

[sixbeforelunch]

some of the best clickbait for me is a cleverly phrased summary.

I never thought of it like that before, but yes, a clever summary goes a long way toward getting me to click.

[donutsweeper]

Something like a random song lyric or poetry snippet as the summary is going to definitely discourage me from clicking on it unless I've been recced the story or really know the author or something. Random dialog from the story itself is also going to give me pause. A good summary (or even just a mediocre one) gives me something to go on- a sense of what the plot is, the genre/themes, will it be funny, romantic, break my heart, be an adventure, etc.

I need a reason to click and I like to be given an expectation on what I will get if I do.

[fucktheg0ds]

Personally, I like a very basic summary, like 1-2 sentences about what the character or characters do in the fic. The summary doesn't necessarily have to refer to the tropes, as that's what tags are for.

I'm not usually a fan of snippet summaries because then you have to read the same paragraph twice, which seems redundant.

And I definitely don't like summaries that are like "What will happen when X?" They give you a good idea of the maturity of the writing.

[doranwen]

And I definitely don't like summaries that are like "What will happen when X?" They give you a good idea of the maturity of the writing.

THIS. I usually see those on ff.n - and I give them a wide berth.

[megpie71]

The usual thing I wind up doing for my summaries is either a single line from the story (possibly slightly altered to remove punchlines/spoilers) or a brief, literal, summary of the story. So either a tagline, or a "this is what I was aiming for". I have no idea how it works for my readers - presumably it works for some people and doesn't for others. I freely admit I am lousy at summaries.

Lyrics or poetry quotes as colophons can work as a summary in the right circumstances. I'm sure I'll run across something, someday, where it did. So far I haven't, but this may be because I'm not looking in the right places or at the right authors. The thing is: when you're using someone else's words to describe your story, you have to have your story matching very closely with the feeling of the quote you're using - if it's even slightly off, it's not going to work.

The kinds of summaries which don't get me reading: the ones I saw a lot of on ff.net where it's "I wrote this on a sugar high/I don't really like this/I won't post new chapters until I get reviews/I thought this idea sounded really neat so I wrote it" - basically, author notes as summaries don't work. Particularly not self-deprecating ones - I mean, if you thought it was so bad you weren't sure about posting it, you need an editor, not an ego-boost comments section.

Also, on a purely stylistic note: please put your author notes at the end of your fic, where I can read them afterwards if I want to, or skip over them if I don't. Please do not put them at the beginning of the fic, and if you're using a service like AO3, where there is a specified field for author notes, please do not put your author notes in the main text body of your story as the first five to six paragraphs on the page! (I suspect the fic which was doing this had been transferred to AO3 from FF.net by means of straight copy & paste, with minimal attention paid to more than the bare basics of filling in the compulsory fields on the posting form).

[coyoteclaw11]

God,,, self deprecating author's notes in summaries are the worst. Like... just put "Do Not Read This Fic It Sucks" and move on at that point. It's okay to doubt your writing, but you don't make that your reader's first impression of it. Just give them the fic and let them form their own opinions. It's still kinda :/ in the author's notes too, but w/e I tend to skip over author's notes unless they provide background for the fic (ofc this shouldn't be too lengthy, but if they have some worldbuilding they want you to start the fic clear on, I don't mind that. Especially when I rly don't feel like trying to put the pieces together myself).

I wonder who did lyric/poem summaries so unbelievably well that it sparked this trend... I've literally never found one that I've wanted to read without a bunch of tags I'm interested in... I do like poem/song excepts as titles/chapter titles. I think that one works really well to add to the story without taking anything away from it.

[doranwen]

Not sure what I look for specifically - I read a lot of small fandoms so in those you look at every single fic, no matter what the summary is, just in case the fic will end up halfway decent. You don't have the luxury of fics to pick and choose from.

For the big fandoms, hmm - I guess it would be ones that give me an idea of what's in the story, what the themes are, etc. On AO3 the tags tell me a lot, ff.n a bit less but they at least do have the chars listed so I have an idea of the possible pairings and whatnot (I am picky about those), though if that's cued in the summary I find it helpful too. A lot of what I am concerned about with reading fics is visible in the tags/fic settings on either site (for instance, whether it's porn or not), so summaries aren't as important to me. I'm not consistent in how I do my summaries either - sometimes they're a brief synopsis of the main idea, sometimes they're a line taken from the fic… So I try not to be judgmental about which kind is chosen.

As for what I don't care for, any summary riddled with spelling/grammatical errors (because that usually indicates the story is about as bad, and that's one thing I can't wade through—it was bad enough reading one fic where the author absolutely adored ellipses and used them every other sentence). I tend to get a bit side-eye-y when it comes to ones that say "summery" instead of "summary", or that don't seem to realize that capital letters exist, or that sound like a really bad kids' book report "hook". Beyond that, I'm pretty good at using the back-button, so I'm willing to give a lot of fics a chance as long as they're not focusing on pairings I can't stand, or don't have some really unusual kink that I can't handle.

[amaresu]

One of my professors in college said that the thesis statement of your paper was a like a bumper sticker on the back of a car. Short and to the point. He even called out thesis statements the paper's bumper sticker. Good teacher.

Your summary should be similar. The core of the fic and why someone should be reading it. Simple, straight forward, tells you what you need to know in as few words as possible, with no spelling or grammatical errors. Because if you don't care enough to get your summary right why would I believe you cared enough to do things right in your fic?

I will almost never click on a fic that has a summary that is a song lyric or poem quote. Not only may I not recognize what it's from I may have a widely different connection to that piece than the author and be coming from a drastically different place. You don't know how other people interpret things, don't leave your summary up to chance.

I will never read a fic where the author in anyway puts down the fic. Whether it's to apologies because they wrote it while [insert thing here] or that they think it's bad or even that they just suck at summaries. If you can't put the effort in then I won't either. If you can't believe in your work than I'm going to take you at your word and shrug my shoulders because if the authors thinks it's bad it really must be.

[starwatcher]

.
"Bumper sticker for the fic." Thank you for this idea! Somewhere along the line, I learned/fixated on the idea that a summary should be short and, hopefully, provide a 'hook' or 'tease' about what the story contains. But I've seen that many people write / expect longer summaries, and wondered if I should make adjustments. But my method works for me, and I'm happy to have the confirmation. <g>

I kind of feel the same way about summaries that sound dismissive of the story. OTOH, I think some people are under the impression that they shouldn't "toot their own horn", and swing too far the other way. A lot of times I'll look at the first couple of paragraphs before I decide if I should opt out. Many times the writing is as unsatisfying as the summary indicated, but I've been pleasantly surprised often enough to give anything a chance if I find the idea remotely interesting.
.

[vicki_rae]

Ideally the summary should briefly tell me what it's about and give me an idea about the tone of the work. Or the summary plus the tags but not in a tag forest.

Automatic back button for an author who says they're not tagging for something because the tag would be a spoiler.

Things I don't want are summaries that only makes sense after reading the fic, no songs, no poems, this is a crap story, I suck at summaries, this is a first draft I might fix later.

If it's tagged with a bunch of dark tags, tell me about them. Tell me if the ending is ambiguous, or sad, or unhappy. Always tell me if a main character dies.

If the main pairing ends up together but just at the end, tag interim relationships.

[saffronbunbaker]

I llike summaries that are sort of like a tease about what it's about and a pun or two is never wrong. (and I liked princessofgeeks comment that a summary should be a description of the conflict)

I have seen summaries that describes everything that will happen in a fic, including the resoliution to the conflict, and while those are not that common, it they sound interesting enough I'll still read them, despite some hesitation.

what I DON'T like and don't read is when the summary has sloppy formatting; a wall of text, no use of capital letters or incorrect spelling of the characters names.

additionally, if the summary is an author telling everyone how this is their first fic and thanks everyone who helped them write this etc. but don't say anything about what the fic is about and its variation of having the authors notes in place of the summary and have the actuall summary in place of chapter 1, get an automatic pass from me


as with fics that say things like 'omg this is so bad' or 'this is crap don't read this'

[arinna]

To me, a good summary is a summary that makes me want to know more. Sometimes that's a description of the fic, sometimes it's a blurb of dialogue; sometimes it's short, sometimes it's long; sometimes it's detailed, sometimes it's vague -- but every good summary is one that makes me think "oh, what's this about? let me see" and I think writing a good summary comes down to asking yourself that if YOU read it, would it make you want to click through and read the fic? Or would you just scroll on by it?

As for not so good summaries...

I really hate summaries that aren't summaries at all -- summaries that say "lol i'm bad at summaries, just read the fic" or that have nothing but a quote (not from the fic but from a random book or song lyric or something) or summaries that are totally blank, nothing there at all. I skip over those fics every single time because not only do they tell me absolutely nothing about the story, they don't even try.

I also never read fics where the author insults other fics or other authors who write in the same fandom/about the same ship in the summary (or the tags or author's note) like I've seen some do on occasion. It's a turn off when authors insult their own work, but when they put down other fic writers it just comes off as snide and petty and doesn't make me want to read their work at all.

[coyoteclaw11]

I've never come across authors insulting other people in their fics. That's super unnecessary wtf...

[cimorene]

Beyond the content of the summary, people often take their cue from the way others in their fandom write summaries. Particularly unfortunate summary-style trends usually replicate some genre's overly-cliched back-of-a-book styles.

Most recently there's been a huge proliferation of the cringe-inducing:

- summaries ending in things like "... Will they make it work? Or will [the conflict] defeat them?"

- summaries styled like the narration of a bad movie trailer and beginning with "In a world where [X]..."

[yourlibrarian]

In trying to remember what the last few stories I clicked on (and proceded to download) were, it occurred to me that this would be an easy test of what we actually click on vs what we think we do.

For anyone who uses AO3, just go into your History and see what the summaries say. Here are my last 10 items that I downloaded. I'm open to hearing how others would characterize these:

"Merlin never thought getting Arthur drunk on his stag night would be anything but hilariously embarrassing for Arthur. What he never expects is a drunken confession that makes him rethink the last ten years of his and Arthur's friendship, the amount of alcohol a person should be allowed to drink, and the wedding that's taking place in less than twenty-four hours."

"Arthur's anniversary really isn't his favorite time of year for obvious reasons, but Merlin is going to fix that. Provided this pesky little cold of his doesn't get in the way, of course."

"Bond is MI6’s latest reaper — a conveyer of souls from this world to the afterlife — and he's not overly happy about his new working conditions. Q has been with the Secret Intelligence Service since the beginning, and he’s so lonely that he wants to die — except for the fact that he’s already dead and has been for a hundred years or so. M has no idea what to do with either of them and to add to all the stress, someone’s just blown up her office."

"It’s not exactly a secret that Bond and Q are dating. Most people in the agency give Bond the shovel talk; everyone who doesn’t gives Q the “are you sure you know what you’re doing?” talk. Q and Bond ignore them all and have a lovely time, right up until an exploding pen explodes."

""I like reading," Arthur said, tipping all of the little sugar packets out of their holder on the table and lining them up, soldiers in an advancing army across the formica and coffee-stains. "I just don't understand why I can't write.""

"Canon AU -- Merlin's death is only the beginning; with no-one to protect the kingdom, Camelot falls to an enemy sorcerer and Arthur is forced to serve in the court that he once ruled. When an escape attempt goes horribly wrong, Arthur is rescued by someone he never expected to see again -- and it's their destiny to put things right."

"Modern AU with magic. Arthur is relatively sure that Bear Gryllis has never had to deal with anything like the world’s most aggravating baby dragon when he was out surviving in the wilderness. Merlin thinks that Arthur has taken the whole “magic reveal” thing pretty damn well, which might have something to do with Merlin saving Arthur’s life just now when the helicopter crashed. The dragon thinks they’re both idiots."

"Toys have only a few duties in life — to love their child, to look after each other, and to play along, no matter what happens. Merlin is the newest Camelot Collectable in Johnny’s collection, and in between navigating the hoover, an invading army and the Thing under the bed, he falls in love with the other half of his limited edition run."

“Merlin.” Arthur’s voice is—well, still tinged with amusement, but ever so slightly more serious, more urgent, like he’s having to constrain himself to stay in the realm of lighthearted teasing. “Really, tell me.”

"Merlin’s heart is beating a little quicker. He can feel the same war within himself that he hears in Arthur’s voice, a possibility swimming to the surface that he could—they could—take this out of the realm of lighthearted teasing. If they so choose.

Or they could just keep going, laugh it off; that’s still an option, and if they do it now it would be fine. They’d move on, take the next bend in conversational road, easy. If that’s what they want.

It’s not what Merlin wants."

"Anon, who is feeling poorly, requests a story on the kinkmeme with Merlin, Arthur, forced marriages, knights, and the promise of internet cookies should their request be fulfilled. Anon author, who is a bit of an asshole really, obliges in their own idiosyncratic asshole way. There's rodents of unusual size, magic that only behaves sometimes, epic love, and violins, but not necessarily all in that order."

[yourlibrarian]

I should mention that I skipped several items in my "most recent 10" list because the summaries were fairly unimportant in my selection, due to being sequels to stories I'd already read and liked, or because they had been WIPs and I was downloading the latest updates. But otherwise this is a representative selection.

The interesting thing to me is that a number of these works are by the same authors, which means that writers routinely vary the way they do summaries depending on the work. Also, I rather wonder if summaries don't vary depending on either the type of work it is or the fandom it comes from? (For example, comedic fandoms would seem much more likely to use humor, right?)

#1: A bit of a plot summary with a humorous tone.
#2: Kind of the same.
#3: Definitely a sort of plot set up.
#4: Very much like #2
#5: The excerpted dialogue model, which I've noticed is often a kind of suspense style as well -- what about this conversation makes you want to read more?
#6: Plot summary
#7: Bit of a suspenseful plot summary with some humor.
#8: Plot summary
#9: Writing excerpt that serves as an overall trope summary
#10: Origin story for the work using humor.

[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.

[typerare]

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

[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.

[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?"

[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.

[goodbyebird]

A well-chosen snippet that makes me curious, and showcases the writer's prose/character voices. (I'm a prose hoe, you can get away with a lot if you make my brain light up)

Something funny works as well.

[jiokra]

I like summaries that describe the premise but nothing more, so I have the general idea of what the story is about without getting spoiled. I look up the summaries for movies and tv shows, the kind that pop up on a tv guide or the blurb on a google search, and try to emulate them for my fics when possible. They're usually two or three succinct sentences that describe the premise and use language that fit the mood of the movie/tv show.

For example, Meet the Parents, just two sentence with a bunch packed in: A young man's first visit to his girlfriend's parents' house turns out to be more nightmarish than he could ever have imagined. Hoping to use the weekend as a chance to propose to his girlfriend, he only succeeds in incurring the wrath of his prospective father-in-law and almost destroys their home in the process.

The only summaries that irritate me enough to not read a fic is for a 50k+ fic with a summary like Merlin evades, Arthur suspects, and at this rate, they'll never finish the quest. I can accept that for a fic that is less than 1000 words or else the summary might wind up longer than the fic. lol

[coyoteclaw11]

dfghjkkfdfgh 50k+ fics with summaries that tell you nothing are the worst. Like. Pls,,,, tell me what happens. Did you just write 50k+ of plotless fic??? That's not something I'm rly willing to risk...

[coyoteclaw11]

I like summaries that give me a good idea of what I'm getting into! What's the setup? What's the vibe? Especially with fics involving a journey (physical/emotional/etc.), stating where they started and like... giving an idea of the journey they're about to go on is good! I also sometimes like summaries that leave me with a "gasp what does that mean!!" feeling without being "no seriously wtf is that even supposed to mean..."

Some fic summaries from my Ao3 bookmarks:

• After the Scratch, Dave (almost) remembers John.
  - Like Forgetting the Words by elwing_alcyone
  
  
• When Tamaki’s quiet life is interrupted by a curse that turns his very power against him, Mirio leaves their village in his quest to find a cure. Fearing for Mirio's safety in a world full of monstrous creatures, Tamaki ventures into the darkness to pursue him.
  But the biggest trial of all may be to keep from becoming a monster himself.
  - Heliophagus by silvercistern, SpectrumArcadia (Underlined the real interest-catcher here)
  
  
• Draco swore his revenge on Harry for Lucius's imprisonment, and Harry all but laughed at him. But Draco is planning more than schoolyard pranks this time. The old rivalry turns deadly when Draco abducts Harry for Voldemort. It's the perfect plan, guaranteeing revenge, power, and prestige, all in one blow. But when Draco's world turns upside down, the fight to save himself and Harry begins, and the battle will take them both through hell and back. If they come back.
  - Eclipse by Mijan
  
  
• When you have the tendency to shut your door twenty-six times, it's hard for people to come in. But sometimes, especially in the case of a certain blue-eyed, half-Italian neighbor, it's hard to keep them out.
  - Emerson by reeology
  
  
• Merlin is thirteen and in love when he kisses Arthur for the first time. His skin is always too tight, there’s constantly the taste of chlorine in his mouth, and a lot of things—too many things—are left unsaid. It’s very complicated and very confusing, not helped at all by the fact that Arthur doesn't seem to know what he wants either. Early teenage awakenings, unrequited love, pining, coming of age, and feelings. Lots of feelings.
  - Small Weird Love by Emjayelle

Summaries that are quotes from the fic itself are good when done properly!! It's rly has to be like... pivotal to the fic tho or give you a really good idea of what's going to happen w/o completely spoiling it. (This is a rly popular one. An alternative is to include a quote and a prompt/basic description of the setup. Those work rly well together.)

What don't I like? Poetic summaries.... quoting a song/poem with absolutely nothing about the premise of the fic. Reeeeeaaally barebones summaries like "It was going to be a long day" which don't really tell you much of anything.... That said none of them really matter at all if the fics have stellar tagging. If your summary tells me nothing, but you've got a decent set of tags that give me a good idea, then I'm a happy reader ^^ You just have to give me something to go off of in either of those areas. ((I passed over sooooo many fics on FF.net where there's no tagging because of their uninformative summaries...))

[yourlibrarian]

What's the setup? What's the vibe?

Well put.

An alternative is to include a quote and a prompt/basic description of the setup.

Yes, that's a good way to cover your bases.

I passed over sooooo many fics on FF.net where there's no tagging because of their uninformative summaries...

When the summary is unhelpful the tags can be a good alternative. But I have found I am more likely to skip stories when I see their tags. Especially for kink-fic or PWPs, I get using very specific tags -- you're finding your audience. But I daresay I have skipped right over stories I might otherwise have liked because you are telling me way too much about the sex scenes (which I'm probably not going to read anyway).