The Importance of a Good Summary

A summary’s job is to convince potential readers to give your story a shot.

Unless you have a gaggle of adoring fans who devour everything you write, your story’s summary is the only thing that will make people want to read your fic. No matter how unique your story is, the synopsis is the gateway, and it has to be just as good as—if not better than—what’s beyond.

That’s a lot of pressure to put on 50 words or less, so here are some DOs and DON’Ts for writing your summaries.

DO:

– DO keep it brief. Imagine that you have less than thirty seconds to explain to someone why they should read your story.

– DO start by identifying your main character or characters. They become your readers’ body and mind within the story, so you need to introduce them quickly.

• If you’re writing about an OC, don’t mention their name. An unfamiliar name may turn off potential readers, but a description of who or what your OC is may entice people to read on. Make it brief and interesting. 

→ e.g. A young witch isn’t unique enough in this fandom to catch anyone’s eye, but a con artist or even a widow would do the job so long as that aspect of the character is relevant to the plot. 

• Don’t focus on superficial details like physical appearances and don’t make the character out to be a total badass. 

→ e.g. “Mary grew up in California. She is the epitome of a normal teen witch: 5‘6”, blond hair, blue eyes. But when her parents move to the UK, she has to adapt to a new school: Hogwarts.” This doesn’t tell us anything about who the character is, why we should be intrigued, or how we can relate to her.

→ e.g. “Alex is easily the best student at Hogwarts. Even the professors know it! But when the next Dark Lord rises, Alex has to find a solution to stay at school.” This summary gives a better idea of who the character is but not enough to make him relatable or intriguing.

• Broach one of your OC’s weaknesses, something that will affect the plot.

→ e.g. “Hogwarts’ top student works hard to be the best wizard at school, but when the castle closes its doors to half-bloods and Muggle-borns, he has to risk a deadly game of subterfuge to finish his education.” Notice: 

a) the lack of a name, 

b) something we can all relate to (working hard to be good at something), and 

c) stakes: what he’ll lose if he fails.

– DO include the conflict your characters will face and the actions they may take.

• Are your characters going to face off with a villain? Run away from an abusive home? Meet the love of their life only to have them taken away? If you have several plot points, pick the main one so that your summary doesn’t become confusing.

→ e.g. In the “Mary grew up in California” example, the conflict mentioned is too vague. Adapting to a new school can cover anything, which means that potential readers aren’t guaranteed to find something we may like in your story. 

“People have started to go missing. When a crime buff from California moves to Hogwarts, she decides to follow the clues, but the closer she gets, the more danger she’s in.” Notice: 

a) the lack of a name as well as something that makes the character unique,

b) the main plot point, set up in a way that indicates the genre without giving too much away, and

c) the promise of further conflict.

• Stories without conflict (i.e. slices of life, character studies, fluff, or humour) are easier to summarise because there’s less going on.

→ e.g. “On a summer afternoon, Harry and his friends enjoy a picnic by the Great Lake”, “Ron ponders what he knows about Professor Dumbledore”, “Peeves catnaps Mrs Norris, and Filch’s hilarious search ensues”.

• If the pairing is important to the story, include it in the summary as well as in the tags. Remember that a romance story should not be without conflict unless it’s a slice of life.

→ e.g. “Voldemort has been defeated, but once again the Golden Trio’s lives become entangled in a web of confusion, love, and danger. Many daring adventures await.”

a) People read romances for the pairing. If you don’t at least allude to who gets with whom, you won’t get very far. 

b) See the bullet point about conflict being too vague.

→ e.g. “A cryptozoologist moves to Scotland to prove the existence of the Loch Ness Monster. She joins the team of an eccentric blonde who wears turnips as earrings, but the closer she gets to Luna Lovegood, the more inexplicable things she witnesses.” 

a) The OC/Luna relationship is heavily implied and will be even more so with a genre and pairing tag. 

b) We can tell from the summary that the conflict will revolve around a Muggle discovering magic and possibly the Loch Ness Monster.

– DO focus on what makes your story unique. Figure out what sets your story apart from others like it either in terms of plot or character.

• Getting this right means doing research and reading stories that are similar to yours.

→ e.g. Carry On by Rainbow Rowell has the same general premise as Harry Potter, but she sets it apart in her synopsis by making her central character the “worst Chosen One who’s ever been chosen”.

– DO make your summary read a bit like a rollercoaster.

• An easy formula for this is: incident – solution – bigger or worsening incident.

→ e.g. “When Luna accidentally wakes a cave monster, she seeks help from Harry and his friends, but Hagrid’s love for dangerous creatures gets in the way of saving the school.” 

– DO pay attention to spelling, grammar, and punctuation. If you can’t write a summary without riddling it with SPaG mistakes, potential readers will assume that the entire story is of the same quality.

– DO include extra information, but only if there’s room for it (without surpassing 50 words). By this, I mean “drabble”, “one-shot”, “AU”, “complete”, as well as trigger warnings. These things can be helpful in a summary, but they aren’t necessary and can easily be put in an Author’s Note.

DO NOT:

– DO NOT give too much detail. The purpose of the summary is to whet the reader’s appetite, not to spoil the meal.

• Avoid spoilers, don’t explain every detail about your OC, and don’t describe everything in your alternate universe.

→ e.g. Returning to our Alex example, we don’t need to say in the summary how the new Dark Lord rose to power. Nor do we need to mention that Alex bakes with the house-elves to relax or explain how he’ll fake his identity to get back into Hogwarts. Readers will discover all of that once they start reading. Do not ruin the discovery.

– DO NOT ask questions.

• You can turn your summary into a question, but it has to be an interesting one that makes readers think and wonder.

→ e.g. “Hogwarts is in trouble again. Will Harry and his friends survive?” Readers will assume that the answer is ‘yes’ and will most likely be right, so it isn’t interesting.

→ e.g. “Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Minerva McGonagall, and Albus Dumbledore are alone in Grimmauld Place. Only one of them is dead. Who is it? And which of the others killed them?” The question has to incite curiosity.

– DO NOT use a quote from your story.

• I’ll admit that this can work, but it has to be one hell of a quote. The problem with this method is that it doesn’t tell potential readers anything about the story, so unless the quote is all kinds of brilliant, it won’t work.

→ e.g. “Remus’s skin stretched taut over muscle and bone, his heart beating fast, the rush of blood deafening in his ears. The restlessness had come out of nowhere, uncompelled and unexpected but impossible to ignore. The usual suspect hung above the city skyline, a waxing crescent visible even though the stars were not. Something was wrong.” It’s a good opening sentence (I wrote it, so I’m biased), but it doesn’t work as a summary because:

a) it’s too long. 5 words over the limit may not seem like much, especially when 50 words is only a recommendation, but as a summary, it will look like an unappealing block of text.

b) it gives no indication as to what the story is about. The mystery may attract certain readers, but there’s no guarantee that they’ll stick around because the plot may not appeal to them.

– DO NOT say “I suck at summaries”. Potential readers will assume that you suck at writing, too.

– DO NOT talk about yourself. Your summary should be about your story, not about your unusual sleep schedule that had you writing at 3 AM or the class assignment or weird dream that inspired you.

– DO NOT give your opinion on your story. You wrote it; your opinion is biased. No one is going to believe you if you say that your story is “incredibly unique” or “the best fanfic ever” or “my first, not bad”.

– DO NOT include negative information. “I just finished and wanted to post so excuse my spelling and grammar errors”, “No beta”, “Character bashing”, “OOC characters”, “not my proudest work”. Stating that you know that your story can be better but that you couldn’t be bothered putting in the extra effort is a sure way of convincing readers not to give you a chance.

– DO NOT say “full summary inside”. If you can’t fit your summary within the allowed character count, it’s too long. If you can but don’t want to, rethink your decision. Your synopsis is what incites potential readers to give your story a chance. They won’t waste the effort of clicking on your fic only to read a summary they may or may not like.

– DO NOT beg for reviews or for potential readers to give your story a chance. The only thing this will achieve is making you seem desperate (you may well be desperate, but your readers don’t need to know that).

– DO NOT include “I’m not sure if I should continue” because it suggests three things:

a) the lack of a plan for the story, which generally means plot holes and no update schedule, 

b) the threat of a story that will never get past the first few chapters, and 

c) a writer who’s unsure of themself.

– DO NOT substitute tags for a summary. Too many tags can convince a potential reader not to give your story a shot (this is more of an AO3 problem).

– DO NOT overuse a specific type of punctuation. Even if the use is correct, too much of it can be off-putting. This rule doesn’t apply to commas and full stops because they’re basic enough to become invisible.

– DO NOT use question marks (unless it’s a brilliant question), exclamation marks, or ellipses. Exclamation marks are often viewed as childish, and ellipses don’t convey the sense of mystery that the people who use them think they do.

PRACTICAL EXERCISES TO HELP IMPROVE YOUR SUMMARIES:

• Look at summaries on the browsing page. Study the ones that appeal to you. What is it that attracts your interest? Is it the mention of a character or pairing that you love? Does it have a turn of phrase that incites your curiosity? Does it indicate a genre you’re fond of?

• Do the same thing with summaries that you dislike. What’s wrong with them? Try to rewrite them.

• Fill in the blanks: “[character] must [verb] when [situation happens], but [obstacle].” This template will be the skeleton upon which you build your summary. You can also write “In which …” and complete that sentence.

• Ask your beta reader or a friend who has read the story to tell you how they would summarise it. Sometimes another eye can see better than yours, and there is nothing wrong with getting advice from a trusted source.

• Write a detailed summary of your entire story. Remove the spoilers. Condense it. Rewrite it using the tone and style used in the story.