How will this question be answered?

[thornsmoke]

Summaries can tell you a lot about a fanfic. (For instance, many of the ones I come across tell me that there will be a lot of typos.) My complaint stems from being told too much.

Example: AU. Xemnas is an aging professional skateboarder hooked on drugs. Olette is the sweet but determined reporter looking for a story. Discovering his secret may be

Comments

[nashie_chan]

The unusual pairing gives this pseudo-story points. The damn question then takes the points away. Questions like that almost always kill a story because you can basically tell the format of the story automatically: guy meets girl, guy and girl fall in love, betrayal and misunderstandings occur, five chapters of angst and "I still love him/her!", and then a smutty epilogue. The end.

Some of the best summaries are witty, maybe using a catchy quote from the story, and are forthright. One of the best summary I have ever read on the Pit for KH was for Quillsinger's My Girlfriend, Who Lives in Canada. Even if you didn't get the title reference, the summary plays on the opening line from Pride and Prejudice. And I dare say that this is one of the better AU Axel/Roxas stories on the Pit...but anyhoo...

I MUST JOIN THIS COMMUNITY YOU SPEAK OF!!! Up, up, and away! *disappears*

[thornsmoke]

And you just encapsulated my frustration with that format. That is the plot implied by the question -- I just couldn't put the words together to phrase it.

Sounds like an interesting fic. Rec it at khrecs? :D -shameless-

[demishock]

Avenue Q, yaaaaay... Pride and Prejudice, also yaaaaay... I might just have to go read that, even though I dislike the pairing... Thanks for the semi-rec!

[nashie_chan]

Your icon, ftw!

[cici_chan]

I've never been a fan of summaries that start with "X CHARACTER is an adjective noun verbing a plot device. Oppositely, Y CHARACTER is an adjective noun verbing another plot device. Will their love survive the test of time?"

I mean, sometimes they're intriguing, but most of the time, they're not. I avoid them like the plague.

Er, in conclusion: IAWTP.

[thornsmoke]

Well, it gets the point across quick enough. And sometimes it's fascinating in a horrifying kind of way.

That formula would make for an excellent insta-summary generator, though!

[cici_chan]

Haha, yes, it would! XD

[ashura_sama]

Indeed, summaries that try to create suspense where there is none just make me *facepalm*. Sometimes it's better to just give away the plot and leave the reader wondering how exactly you're going to pull it off. I mean, look at our canon. If Nomura can make a game about a story the ending of which we all know, we should also be able to do more or less the same with fanfic, provided we're talented enough.

Another pet peeve of mine is when FF.net authors write something along the lines of "surprise pairing" in the summary but use character filters for both halves of the pairing.

[lazzchan]

Me being the weirdo I am, I'd make Olette spill the secret, have Xemans go into a downspiral, and no one is saved.

but that's just me being weird

But I agree, cause fanfic and fandom in general already have cliches, and not just in KH, but all over. Deviating from the normal is what makes life fun. :)

[thornsmoke]

Naah. Weird would be if aliens suddenly attacked the planet, rendering the whole question moot. And that'd be my option, so.

[lazzchan]

XDDD

That's a fabulous option. XD

[demishock]

Very much in agreement. If the summary itself wasn't telling enough, the addition of the pairing in parenthesis at the end certainly gives it completely away. @__@

Oh, a rec comm... *dies of joy* You just made my afternoon!