Writing a summary/blurb

[LuciieSpirit]

So I take months writing stories, look at editing, promoting them and publishing them…

the only thing I seem to REALLY struggle with is writing the little summary/description.

Having written the whole book I find it hard to summarise.

Does anyone have any tips?

Thanks <3

[Tcr]

Well, I have the same problem with regards to my own, so I do understand.  Not going to lie, even with the advice from the thread I started a while back, it’s still a hard thing for me to do.  But, some of the advice has helped.

I’ve been working on trying to pick out important parts from the actual story and develop them into a workable summary.

For example, if your story is about intergalactic space pirates who raid the wrong colony and are consequently hunted because of it, it could, for example, read something like:

One wrong decision.  A raid on the wrong colony leads to the crew of the Fortune in possession of a weapon of mass destruction.  Capable of destroying any planet in the known universe, Captain Shey Charlton must resist the urge to play God while the Fortune has to outrun the entire might of a galaxy united, hunting them to the ends of the universe and back to reclaim it.  But each side of the allied forces have their own dark plans.  And the only ones in their paths are the unscrupulous raiders.

(...Damn, now I have another plot in my head that won’t go away… lol)

 I believe it was BW who said that the summary should interest you and make you want to read it as you, yourself, are the one you need to sell it first (paraphrasing of course...  And if I messed up the paraphrasing, that’s on me).

[CloverReef]

Yeah, summaries are tricky things. Ideally, you’d know the audience well where you’re posting or publishing. Or at least have an idea of the general demographic you want reading your story so you can play to them. Like, posting on an erotica site, you probably want to stress the erotica side of your story. 

But in general, as @Tcr (and @BronxWench?) said, make sure the summary describes something you want to read. Don’t focus on telling the passersby everything you think is important about the plot or the characters. They don’t need to know everything. They just need to know whether they wanna bother clicking on it. Pick out the most interesting points to draw them in. Touch on the romance (If there is any) and the main character’s conflict. I say the main character’s conflict rather than the main conflict of the plot because I tend to be attracted to summaries that are more personal. More character focused. What the elven warrior is struggling with will draw me in quicker than a world in peril, if that makes any sense. 

That’s how I try to think about it, but it’s by no means a one-size-fits-all thing. 

Edited August 31, 2017 by CloverReef

[BronxWench]

Honestly, I’d rather deal with editing than write a summary...or that dreaded two-three sentence marketing blurb. But I try to read it from the perspective of a reader: will it make me want to pick up the book, or did I yawn? I’m with @CloverReef in that keeping it personal works much better than trying to slip in a micro-infodump about the plot or the setting.

[SirGeneralSir]

I find just doing a quick thing can work best.

“A hero is late for dinner, hoards of zombies stand in his way but if he doesn't arrive soon, a darker fate awaits him at the hands of his mother/wife”

no thought into that little blurb, but hey sounds interesting and funny right?

[JayDee]

“Stop scrolling! Are you ready to read the best story you’ve ever read? Great! You can read this piece of shit until you find it. Rape, snuff, MAGA”.

[Desiderius Price]

You’ll probably write a hundred summaries until you get one that feels right…. only to write another hundred because you didn’t like the first one.  Or, is it just me?

[LuciieSpirit]

This is all great advice, thank you @Tcr @CloverReef@BronxWench@SirGeneralSir@JayDee@Desiderius Price <3

[SirGeneralSir]

all you “need” to do is just give a quick blurb of what the story is, like what I did.

you present a quick but not fully detailed snip of whats going on with the character or world, what may be standing in their way and how it really sucks or is something they are enjoying.

also works well with chapter titles

[InvidiaRed]

This is my Achille's heel. I’m not alone <3

[CloverReef]

8 hours ago, InvidiaRed said:

This is my Achille's heel. I’m not alone <3

lol definitely not alone. I’m sure there are writers out there who are 100% confident in their summary skills, but I have yet to meet one. 

Edited October 13, 2017 by CloverReef

[Desiderius Price]

On 10/13/2017 at 2:19 AM, CloverReef said:

lol definitely not alone. I’m sure there are writers out there who are 100% confident in their summary skills, but I have yet to meet one. 

Like most things, requires practice, and don’t be afraid to revise it!  Still not great at it, most of the time I muddle through it, because something is typically better than nothing.

[SirGeneralSir]

to me it just comes down to how the summary feels, how ever long you make it, confidence i dont think matters in that respect, either you have the right summary or you dont.

did it give you enough of a tease to get people interested? 

did it give enough of a description of the general plot?

did it communicate enough of a struggle for the characters?

will there be pizza at some point?

 

[Desiderius Price]

What’s right?  What’s wrong?  It probably depends on the intended audience, to some degree.  If there was a precise science to it, I’d have licked this ages ago, instead, I find it to be rather...fuzzy.  (No, I do not mean a fetish there)

[CloverReef]

Well, confidence matters to me because I think a lot of people already have decent summaries that successfully communicate to the reader what their story is about, but their self-doubt gets in the way. Or ‘successfully communicates’ isn’t good enough, they want their summaries to be awesome, to whet the readers’ appetites. Which is a totally legit desire. So that doubt becomes the problem a lot of the time more than the summary itself is. Or the ambition to get better gives them/us the motivation to learn more about techniques or learn more about their readers. 

 

 

[Desiderius Price]

I came up with a summary for my new story today (not the halloween, not yet posted)…. 

“Alyssia opts for extended service after the repair guy shows up to fix her A/C in his underwear.”

That ought to wet the appetite, I think.

 

[Desiderius Price]

On 8/31/2017 at 4:46 PM, JayDee said:

“Stop scrolling! Are you ready to read the best story you’ve ever read? Great! You can read this piece of shit until you find it. Rape, snuff, MAGA”.

Shit?  Sounds like a scat fan.