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

[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]

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"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.
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