we're halfway there

[musesfool]

\o/

My spn_summergen is off to beta! I rule!

After some rough patches, and a couple of false starts, I really like it. Now I just hope that 1. luzdeestrellas likes it, and 2. the recipient likes it. I also have to figure out a decent summary. I generally choose a summary that is more thematic than plot-related, and I often choose something that amuses me or is fitting on a

Comments

[macteague]

It may not be the standard thing people look for, but I use the summary to get an idea of the mood of the story - Is it going to be horrifically depressing, fluffy, is it largely relationship-based or plot-based.

I like to have an idea of the scenario going in, I guess. I'm more likely to read a story with a descriptive summary first, and then come back and read the stories whose summaries don't tell me much about them.

I think I've thought more about bad summaries than good. *grin* Misspelled words, interesting grammar and/or capitalization, and anything that starts with "this is really bad, but" (or "If you don't review I won't write more") goes right off the reading list!

[musesfool]

Misspelled words, interesting grammar and/or capitalization, and anything that starts with "this is really bad, but" (or "If you don't review I won't write more") goes right off the reading list!

Heh. Yes. Those are the easy ones. I also tend not to read stories where the summary is too long and meandering and full of philosophy. Or summaries that are lame questions. I can list all sorts of bad summaries, but I can't seem to get a handle on how to write a good one, except I know it when I see it.

Sometimes I look at my stories that people have tagged on delicious and I am like, "That's what I should have used for my summary!"

[ratcreature]

Ideally I want a summary to make me curious like a good book blurb. Or if the author can't manage that, I want it to actually be a summary. Well, not to spoil the main plot twist, but for example in an AU to tell me what the premise is, or to tell me it is a h/c story with Sam taking care of Dean and so on. I dislike the random line kind of summary that is just some quote from the story, unless that quote actually works like the previous options.

A good summary can entice me to read pairings and genres I usually avoid, but a bad summary that comes with a story that has enough other labels for me to guess I'll enjoy it, won't make me skip that story.

[musesfool]

I dislike the random line kind of summary that is just some quote from the story, unless that quote actually works like the previous options.

See, I think for those of us who use that method, we mostly *do* think the one line quote from the story works that way. At least, I mostly try to do that. It might not be a summary in the sense of "X and Y specifically happen" but it attempts to give the reader an idea of what they're going to get going in.

a bad summary that comes with a story that has enough other labels for me to guess I'll enjoy it, won't make me skip that story.

Oh, me neither. But sometimes I wonder about the really bland or generic summaries or whether my own are too oblique or uninteresting.

[ratcreature]

There are exceptions, especially if the line works as exposition, but for the most part these random one line summaries never do anything for me, especially not dialog snippets, I hate that in particular. The only thing worse is poetry quotes, wtf is up with that? That seems quite desperate to me.

[musesfool]

Sometimes the poetry quote suits. I don't do it much anymore, but to me it's better than, "Remus pines for Sirius, angst ensues." It can be pretentious, though, so I get why it's a turnoff.

I love the dialogue quotes, though, especially if it's a funny line or seems like something weird is going on, because it makes me want to know the context.

[callmesandy]

Oh, I hate the world today, can't I talk about the things that make me not click?

a) telling me it doesn't matter if I know the canon or not. Well, I read fanfic because I like the canon, so, thanks for letting me know not to read!

b) wacky fonts. seriously.

c) complaining about canon in the summary - like, "fixing s6 for you" - even if I hated s6, see number 1. Entice me to read your story, don't make me think it's a thinly disguised rant.

anyway, i'd rather have a blurb or enticement than an actual summary - it better indicates whether I will actually enjoy the story. I tend to use a short excerpt these days which hopefully conveys tone and what's happening along with the pairing, setting, etc.

[musesfool]

Well, wacky fonts on anything will make me not click. I don't get why people hard code that stuff in. Don't they realize it just turns people off? Formatting is so... just plain black legibly sized text on a white background. Why is that so hard?

I tend to use a short excerpt these days which hopefully conveys tone and what's happening along with the pairing, setting, etc.

*nod*

That's what I try to do. I don't know that I'm always successful.

[callmesandy]

Though, to be fair, I have a friend who prefers light text on a darker background for her own reading ease. Which is why we have style=mine. But feeling the need to impose your style and wacky fonts outside that always peeves me off.

[vee_fic]

You're done already! I hate you. I have a good long slog yet to go.

I have written a lot of summaries that totally screw up the rules, and I almost never summarize with an idea of the plot. I do provide reader-expectation cues (e.g., I'll say if it's an AU, but in the case of "Clangs" I wouldn't say why), but I tend to prefer that the reader have to work a little bit. That's one of the reasons I started separating out the "What is it?" function of a summary and the tagline/advertising function of a summary and putting them both, separately, into my headers.

[musesfool]

I do provide reader-expectation cues (e.g., I'll say if it's an AU, but in the case of "Clangs" I wouldn't say why), but I tend to prefer that the reader have to work a little bit.

Yeah, I mean, I'll give an AU or a "tag to episode 7" or whatever, and I do label with pairings when there is one, but the problem with my stories is that I often can't say "what it is" necessarily. Mostly because in a lot of my stories, nothing happens. "Sirius makes Remus the perfect cup of tea and they clean the kitchen." "River acts crazy and Mal deals with her." "Sam and Dean investigate a case that is only important insofar as it resonates with their family situation."

The one line from the story thing works better for me, or, I should say, makes me happier as a writer, since I am not sure it actually works for drawing readers in, but sometimes I have stories that don't provide me with a line or an "In which" that I can use and then I am disgruntled.

[vee_fic]

That's not what I really mean by "what it is" -- all of your examples are "what happens." When I say "what is it," I mean, what kind of genre cues you need; what kind of mood I want you to take into it. So, for a story in SGA that was about characters being trapped in a cave, I called it "A deathmarch. An extremely deep drama."

The tongue-in-cheek to match the fandom, the specific words to give a sense that it was going to be more of a argue-over-applesauce story, in adventure format, than a shoot-big-guns story. But the story itself is not a deathmarch (I hope!) and it's not actually a drama of emotional or existential depth. It just takes place underground.

[musesfool]

so summaries that tease, that dangle the carrot in front of my face, really work for me. If that makes sense.

It does make sense. I like those summaries too, but I think they're hard, sometimes, because sometimes you can't give away anything, so there's no carrot to dangle, you know? Or what I think is important about the story isn't what readers think is important. Or there's just no way to make a story sound good. I dunno. A story will usually provide me with a line I can use as a summary, and I generally know it when I see it as I'm writing. But sometimes, when that doesn't happen, I flail around and wish someone else would do it.