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?

[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?!"

[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.

[satsuma]

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

[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. :)