Belladoragirl's Guide to Writing Better Fic Summaries

[belladoragirl]

Imagine you're in your favorite bookstore. You find a book that has an interesting cover or is by your favorite author. You pick it up to read the summary and it goes something like this: "fluffy one-shot for v-day i know its short. set during marauders era Bella/Barty Jr. pairing read and review I suck at summaries

Comments

[poisonavery]

Haha don't forget to mention that song lyrics =/= summaries. Oi. >.<

I too always wonder about the summaries for each chapter v. summaries for whole fic. Sometimes I think that if you write summaries for each part, it could draw in more readers. Maybe it didn't sound interesting at first but when they see the next installment's summary, it's like, hm, I wonder what happened? But then I think that it could come off as too desparate or even pretentious. I don't know.
Plus I know I would get weird and try to make all the summaries somehow have the same "theme", if that makes sense. *obviously overthinks every aspect of fic*

SORRY I'M BAD AT COMMENTS PLZ R&R THX!

[belladoragirl]

LOL. Lovely icon. Yes. People need to realize that prompts =/= summaries. Song lyrics can be a prompt. Not a summary. :)

[dedra]

Excellent synopsis on summaries and how to. Putting this in my memories so I can refer back to it as well as reccing it down the line. Sometimes a refresher is the best hammer to hit the nail with.

Love your layout! (LOL--same as mine)

[belladoragirl]

Sometimes everyone needs a refresher and thanks. :)

[slytherin_lycan]

rock on .. you know my thoughts ... lol

[slashpervert]

Good list. And not entirely about summaries, but I would personally love to add that people should bother to title their stories! I can't believe the number of people who not only won't give a summary but don't even go to the trouble of giving it a title and still expect me to read it.

[belladoragirl]

That is another annoyance. Titles can be telling too. And lack there of...laziness or no imagination is implied. At least, it is to me.

[belladoragirl]

You're welcome!