So you want to write a summary that doesn't suck...

[silvercaladan]

So you’ve taken the fall. You’ve posted your first attempts at fanfic on fanfiction.net, or dipped your toe into the much smaller lj circle. But you’re not getting reviews! Obviously, no one likes your story, right?

WrongThey just aren’t reading it

Comments

[saturniia]

Fair enough, but I'd argue that maybe the pairing could go at the top of the story's first chapter with the disclaimer, rather than right in the summary. That way, people get drawn into clicking on the story's link, but are given the opportunity to back out before any nasty surprises occur if they decide that Medulla/Boomer preslash is not to their liking.

I think reading a fanfic is a little more like purchasing a perfume than reading a novel, mainly because when reading a fanfic, you already know the characters. You know what you did or did not see in the movie, and while you may be open to new interpretations or pairings (for example, I didn't even consider Bash Slash until I read Star's "Smoke" in the Mighty Ducks fandom), you also know what you definitely do not want to read. In the perfume metaphor, the characters are scents.

Now, I may think that a perfume in the Filene's makeup counter section has a fine name when I see that name printed on a poster, but if I walk up to the counter and smell vanilla, I (personally) won't buy the scent. It has nothing to do with vanilla, itself. I like the scent of vanilla. I just don't want it on my skin. Or maybe I like the scent of roses, but the perfume also has grapefruit in it and I hate the way grapefruit smells, especially with roses. I wouldn't buy that one either.

My point is that spending time on a fanfic is like spending money on a fragrance. A name and description may draw me in, but if, on my first impression, I don't like the scent, I won't buy it that day.

So, I agree with Silver. No pairings are necessary in the title. However, author's discretion should be used when listing pairings in the in-chapter description (disclaimer, warnings, sometimes a reiteration of the summary/tagline or a brief plot summary). Maybe Sky High is a fandom where one wouldn't have to worry so much about it, but in larger fandoms or fandoms with more polarized fan bases(Buffy, The Mighty Ducks, Roswell, and Harry Potter, just to name a few) it's a good idea to let the reader know what he or she is getting into so they won't feel cheated into spending time reading a story with a setup they Just Don't Like.

[silvercaladan]

Aaah, you have converted me, darling. Well done.

Pairings should be listed somewhere, but not in the original tie-in. Perhaps at the end of the first chapter, so that the reader has more of a chance to be drawn in?

[liliaeth]

Oh they shouldn't be in the title, or in the summary, it's something that needs to be in the notes though, at the top of the first chapter.