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

[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.