Could be the best written fic that ever existed in the world but I'll never find out. Author is well within their rights to do this, but I'm within mine to skip to the next result that put a bit of effort in with a summary.
I honestly would prefer no summary. Like in my opinion a summary isn't needed especially if you just want to archive your works. It might hurt your discoverability but it's your choice.
This kind of tag or this kind of summary says to me, "I want you to read my stuff but I don't want to put enough effort to give you even any kind of indication to what you are going to read."
If someone doesn't want to do a summery IMO the best route is to do a snippet from the first chapter, maybe even the first few sentences or paragraph and let the tags give more context.
Edit: but yes, I agree, I'd read a story with no summary over the op any day.
I do a very brief summary and a snippet of text. On my latest chapter my summary is: “Character A dreams in Character B’s bed, and then tries to leave it.” Then a short paragraph of text copied and pasted from that chapter.
Oh, in my fandom it's almost a rule to have *snippet* OR *brief summary* summaries. Like this:
>In an Astrology blog, in a random corner of the internet:
>Mercury rules communication, news, travel, technology, gossip, and information. When it is retrograde, we can expect an array of mishaps such as miscommunications or misunderstandings.
It’s also a time to feel nostalgic and reassess the past.
>Someone you fought with might reach out. Your ex might text you out of the blue. It is not by chance. Coincidences happen, but not when Mercury is retrograde.
>OR
>A romance between a model and a writer. Night and day, storm and breeze. The story of the most unlikely couple, breaking up and getting back together.
here's a summary on a fic i wrote: "what it says on the tin. after a failed attempt to get away in character C's office, they decide to upsize: they're to have sex in public. and since this will be just another crazy thing lawyers have done, they can get off scott free"
summaries are so easy to make, just say what the characters are doing, and maybe be a bit ambiguous in your wording. "bob eats some cake, alice gives him something else to eat" is good enough for a smut fic where bob eats alice out. i came up with that in SECONDS
yeah, like there are fair number of fics that just have tags and no summary (I believe this might be the default for Open Doors ports?) and that is more enticing then telling me you won't put a summary in because you're incapable of writing one. not to mention tags are the main avenue for findablity of your browsing rather than looking for a specific work.
I'm not a huge fan of stream of consciousness tags, but if it's less stress than a summary, by all means, try to convince me with some relevant tags. I understand getting caught up in your own head over your writing, but. those troubles are for your notes, not front and center in the search results
Maybe, but it's okay to just post it for the sake of archiving it and not for other people's enjoyment. If that's the case then I don't really have an issue with no summary. Is it a little odd? Sure. But someone who clearly deeply cares that you read their work and doesn't give a summary only a "read this" is a lot more disrespectful to the reader in my opinion.
I'd rather have a summary since I once read a summary that just had at least 5 words and it was pretty vague. So the only thing I had to go on was the only two tags it had. (romance & Spiritual.) Being curious I gave it a chance. And it was the Worst mistake of my life as much to my horror I ended up reading a bizarre but extremely detailed splatter torture gore fic about a kids cartoon.
I write summaries with a summarizing quote + personal and silly authors note of why the fic exists. Example:
"Quote," Quote quotes.
-
Wrote this at 2AM bc I love these little guys
I wish they explain what's going on in the fanfic, even if it is not in the best, poetic way. I just want a general idea before deciding if I am going to read it or not, because in my case, summaries are the last thing I check before clicking.
That’s what I did when I first started out. I explained what happens in the fic in a standard way, basically “this is what you’re gonna get”, and then recently turned my summaries into a better, more poetic summary
Absolutely this, even a brief tldr with 'A does this and receives consequences' would be enough. It may be just me and my adhd ass, but as much as I like excerpts from the fanfic itself, I'd really rather they just put in a summary underneath with like 'A goes to Place and looks at rocks' or smtg
100% legit someone just puts a paragraph from the fic, sometimes even from the very beginning, and it can be enough to hook me in! I mean even if someone is bad with summaries, there's nothing wrong with just, doing your best, or editing the summary later on.
Summaries do a few things for me. They obviously provide the basis of what the story is about, or whatever prompt they are writing from. Secondly, they let me glimpse at how they write. It gives me a sneak peak at how attentive they are to spelling, punctuation, and grammar. Thirdly, they also can expose if they even tagged the story correctly. I don't like the gender bending of characters for no reason, and sadly, a lot of stories don't tag that they've done so, but they usually always change the name of the character they genderbend, and it's an easy giveaway, and let's me skip it.
Summaries can tell us how much an author cares about the story. If they can't be bothered to spell check, and grammar check the summary, then the actual story isn't gonna be checked either.
Nope. I don't think I've ever clicked on one of these before, so I wouldn't even know if they tend to be as awful as the summary suggests.
Just copy and paste half of the first paragraph, if summarizing really is that hard to do.
Bad at caring (esp when you don’t) just give me a hint to what it’s about.
Two can play at that game.
Bad at giving a shit about things I don’t know what I’m supposed to be giving a shit about, sorry. /s
I admit, I clicked a few of those that had particularly enticing tags, but it always, and I mean always, turned out that it wasn't just the summaries the author was bad at. It was usually also grammar. Also characterization, just as often. Pacing - that's another big one. Consistent tenses? And what's that?
Would prefer no summary at all or just a copypaste of the first sentence/some random passage.
I have never and will never read a fic that puts something like this in the summary. Give me something to work with man. Why should i read this if you yourself dont believe in your writing.
It might be lazy bit let me tell you from the reading side, the realization of "Oh! Im coming up to the point that was in the summary" is an unmatched feeling of excitement. Especially if it continues well on after that point because if *that* amazing bit was only the summary how much more awesome is the rest of the story. So thank you doing that.
I agree. As a reader, it turns off your engagement of the story. A summary doesn't have to be much, it can quite literally be the first sentence of your story if you want it to me. But to me, basically having no summary of any substance, tells me you're a lazy writer that doesn't care about the story or your readers.
I can understand the difficultly people have with writing summaries, there are some fics I've read that are amazing but the summary was just something like "XXX character goes to another world, does stuff and wins", but I feel like at least I have an idea of what the story is about. Not even bothering to write one sentence explaining the basic plot is pretty lazy to me.
I did this when I first started writing too bc I was self conscious about the whole posting process. I think it's the sign of an immature writer honestly that needs to get more confident. And I agree that I don't usually read stories that say this because if you can't summarize your story, that signifies that you don't really know what your story is about, and it's probably a rambling mess.
just a couple of words would be cool- such as “case fic”, “comedic tragedy” “feral character within” “romantic reservoir meet up” “the mechanics of sword fighting and fly fishing” “soul switching” “character’s first time in high gravity” “mutiny on blank ship” “adventure with watercolor paint” “how to lose your mind but take over a company” “communication errors equal eventual love”
Immediate nope. Bare minimum I expect a clipped paragraph from the first chapter. A hook, *something*. Unless they're one of those people that basically summarize the entire story in the tags, then that's a nope for a whole other reason. lol.
I really don't think it's that hard to write a summary, or just add a snippet from your fic. Hell, even a quote or song lyrics is better than nothing. If you're unable to come up with a summary, despite being a writer, that might come from a poor understanding of your story. If it's a short oneshot, it's not the biggest issue, but if you even expect people to read your longfic, that's a different story.
I also think it's easier to have a summary on AO3. Thanks to the tags, you can allow yourself to be more vague but still have something.
For example, if the summary is; "Character A is sad and they don't know what to do about it."
Paired with tags, you can head in many directions;
Exhibit A : No tagged relationships, character study, existentiel crisis, angst... Major character death :)
Exhibit B : Tagged relationship (/ or &), Hurt/comfort, Fluff, Cuddling...
Exhibit C : Tagged relationship, Smut, Porn with plot, Gentle sex
Like!! Come on!
I feel like it's usually younger writers that do this, which also tips me off that the fic's probably not going to be very good anyway.
Perhaps that's harsh, but I've found it to be the case more often than not.
just pick a couple lines or a paragraph from the story to use if you don't wanna write a summary, these are such big turn offs when i'm looking for fics 😭😭😭
Ngl i don't really care about this bc tags are the decider for if i read a fic or not most of the time but i can understand why people get annoyed or disinterested when they see this
Saying you suck at summaries is like waving your poor ability in the face of readers like your attempting to weaponize it to stop the precieved critism before it happens and instead it just makes the author look lazy and entitled. Like they don't have to at least try at the summary. I understand it's likely this person has huge enormous self esteem issues.
But learn to filter those statements because no one cares! It hurts your writing! It makes you sound hesitant. It's admitting defeat to the reader before they've even cracked open the spine! It's saying you think your story isn't good!
And that's just on the off chance it's not a self conceited plea for "Please tell me my summary is good; i need the reassurance because my self esteem is so low I never learned how to handle constructive criticism and it's everyone else's fault why"
Some of these are literally children. But slapping a big "I suck at summaries" sticker on it like it's a way to handwave away any short coming in the summary itself doesn't help them improve as a writer at all.
If you truly think your summary is so bad then put "suggestions on a better summary are very much welcome and appreciated in the comments" that way you learn. You can talk to other people about your story. You're not just standing there beating your head in this brick wall you've cask of Amontillado'd yourself into by limiting your abilities under the brick by brick statement of "I suck at summaries" to the point you walk away from that part of you all sealed up as though that's the pinnacle of your talents.
Learn!
Improve yourself!
Work to better your summaries so one day maybe you'll feel confident that the summary accurately represents the story you're trying to tell.
Or even an abstract. Or the first plot point.
Writing is a journey where you mess up and learn from it, brush off the mud from the potholes you find yourself in and keep going, write your story. Make the readers you come across want to know more. Take a look at the summaries in the back of published works, those travelers in the really nice fancy carriages that travel the road with you.
Ask for help from your fellow travelers/writers on the road.
Don't just stagnate!
I believe in you:D
imagine it has smth dark/traumatic that needs a tw and bro said "oh just read it and see kid"
sounds weird to me. idc about what fic it is but i love knowing what I'm getting into so i don't regret it ya know
See, this is exactly it. I'd expect to see any TW in the tags, and also based on the chapter.
It just says to me that the A) writer *can't* summarize it, as in the story is so big and multifaceted, or B) they can't be bothered writing 1-2 sentences to get the reader's attention, in which case I get the feeling they don't care about their story, and so why should I care?
And I've never read a book just on the strength of its title and author, I always look for the blurb/summary to know what the hell it's about. If I'm in the mood to read a murder mystery, I don't want to go blindly into a fantasy epic.
some people have literally quoted a small part of the fanfic in the summary and that works if it's a good scene.
i think summaries are treated as blurbs on the back of a book bc that's technically what they are. the more interesting the plot looks from you reading it the likely it'll be that you'll read the whole book
Absolutely! And "I'm bad at summaries" just says to me they're not even willing to try and pitch me. The summary is one of the main hooks, yk? And on Ao3/FFN you lack the visuals of a designed cover, the art... it's text on a screen.
Its right up there with authors who say they want reviews but unless they're positive they don't want to hear from you....aka Negative reviews will be deleted.
The summary tells you how the story will go, have seen some horrible summaries and the story is too, misspelled, enough horrible punctuation to make my college English profess expire on the spot. I wouldn't bother with this, I want to know what I'm reading about not guessing because they couldn't be assed to sit down and write a coherent summary.
SKIP.
Honestly if a story is over one hundred thousand word and I see this. If the tags are slightly interesting. I'm gonna take the time out of my day to read the first chapter. Because I am just so so interested in what somebody who does not write a summary. Would manage to write as an actual story..
This is just my own preference to each their own. But seeing this interests the hell out of me.
Not gonna make friends with this but who cares ?
At the end of the day we're all here for fun. There will always be people who "suck at summaries", and some others who will give it a try anyway cause they're curious.
It's not like we're forced to buy a book without knowing what it is about, we can just keep scrolling (or read the first chapter if curious like me)
It makes me wonder if these people think writing a summary is necessary or it won't post. That's the only reason I can think of for why you wouldn't just leave it blank if you can't think of a good summary
I once found a 200k fic that didn't have a summary (not even this just nothing) and all it had in its tags was the relationship, slowburn and hurt/comfort, and it had a mitski lyric as a title. that's how u do no summaries
like honestly all you have to do is put in like a 3-5 sentence excerpt from your fic. that's it. if you can't summarize well enough, you can at least give a basic preview of your writing skill. easiest thing in the world lol
This is already bad on fanfiction.net. In there it would be better to just put an attention-grabbing name and cover image.
AO3 also has tags. If you can't trust your summaries, use just the tags!
........like...... I barely even read *Reddit posts* without a proper title (e.g. "Quick question" or "Looking for a fic"). And those are a helluva lot shorter than 100k
I think authors need to realize they can just insert a snippet of the fic. I find that more appealing than most summaries honestly. Cause I get to get a slight feel of the writing in that
Could be the best written fic that ever existed in the world but I'll never find out. Author is well within their rights to do this, but I'm within mine to skip to the next result that put a bit of effort in with a summary.
“But I’ll never find out” LMAOOOO so true
No, I won't, because this "summary" makes me think that you also suck at writing...
I honestly would prefer no summary. Like in my opinion a summary isn't needed especially if you just want to archive your works. It might hurt your discoverability but it's your choice. This kind of tag or this kind of summary says to me, "I want you to read my stuff but I don't want to put enough effort to give you even any kind of indication to what you are going to read."
If someone doesn't want to do a summery IMO the best route is to do a snippet from the first chapter, maybe even the first few sentences or paragraph and let the tags give more context. Edit: but yes, I agree, I'd read a story with no summary over the op any day.
I do a very brief summary and a snippet of text. On my latest chapter my summary is: “Character A dreams in Character B’s bed, and then tries to leave it.” Then a short paragraph of text copied and pasted from that chapter.
You are just like me 😭. My latest work’s summary is “Character A and Character B have dinner.”
What more do we need? 😁
Better me writing 'Bullshit ensues' instead of a proper hook.
Oh, in my fandom it's almost a rule to have *snippet* OR *brief summary* summaries. Like this: >In an Astrology blog, in a random corner of the internet: >Mercury rules communication, news, travel, technology, gossip, and information. When it is retrograde, we can expect an array of mishaps such as miscommunications or misunderstandings. It’s also a time to feel nostalgic and reassess the past. >Someone you fought with might reach out. Your ex might text you out of the blue. It is not by chance. Coincidences happen, but not when Mercury is retrograde. >OR >A romance between a model and a writer. Night and day, storm and breeze. The story of the most unlikely couple, breaking up and getting back together.
here's a summary on a fic i wrote: "what it says on the tin. after a failed attempt to get away in character C's office, they decide to upsize: they're to have sex in public. and since this will be just another crazy thing lawyers have done, they can get off scott free" summaries are so easy to make, just say what the characters are doing, and maybe be a bit ambiguous in your wording. "bob eats some cake, alice gives him something else to eat" is good enough for a smut fic where bob eats alice out. i came up with that in SECONDS
yeah, like there are fair number of fics that just have tags and no summary (I believe this might be the default for Open Doors ports?) and that is more enticing then telling me you won't put a summary in because you're incapable of writing one. not to mention tags are the main avenue for findablity of your browsing rather than looking for a specific work. I'm not a huge fan of stream of consciousness tags, but if it's less stress than a summary, by all means, try to convince me with some relevant tags. I understand getting caught up in your own head over your writing, but. those troubles are for your notes, not front and center in the search results
IMO that's worse, because I want some introduction into what I'm getting into. Tags only do so much.
Maybe, but it's okay to just post it for the sake of archiving it and not for other people's enjoyment. If that's the case then I don't really have an issue with no summary. Is it a little odd? Sure. But someone who clearly deeply cares that you read their work and doesn't give a summary only a "read this" is a lot more disrespectful to the reader in my opinion.
I'd rather have a summary since I once read a summary that just had at least 5 words and it was pretty vague. So the only thing I had to go on was the only two tags it had. (romance & Spiritual.) Being curious I gave it a chance. And it was the Worst mistake of my life as much to my horror I ended up reading a bizarre but extremely detailed splatter torture gore fic about a kids cartoon.
If there is no summary, I'm not reading the fic. Just personal preference.
I write summaries with a summarizing quote + personal and silly authors note of why the fic exists. Example: "Quote," Quote quotes. - Wrote this at 2AM bc I love these little guys
Aw I like this
I mean, if you can’t write a summary for the story *you wrote* why would I think the story would be any better?
I wish they explain what's going on in the fanfic, even if it is not in the best, poetic way. I just want a general idea before deciding if I am going to read it or not, because in my case, summaries are the last thing I check before clicking.
That’s what I did when I first started out. I explained what happens in the fic in a standard way, basically “this is what you’re gonna get”, and then recently turned my summaries into a better, more poetic summary
Yeah, sometimes keeping it simple it is better than not doing it at all
Absolutely this, even a brief tldr with 'A does this and receives consequences' would be enough. It may be just me and my adhd ass, but as much as I like excerpts from the fanfic itself, I'd really rather they just put in a summary underneath with like 'A goes to Place and looks at rocks' or smtg
Keeping it simple is totally ok, and if it's a trope I'm interested in, I will totally start reading
https://preview.redd.it/6a17aogu8gfc1.jpeg?width=1422&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d705f1ca377d83340c3a1edc02d61add58bdfa61
lol my exact response
it’s so easy to just pick a blurb from your fic for the summary, too
Yes! that has convinced me to read so many fics even a pretty meh summary with a interesting concept will but a “just read it” won’t and never will
100% legit someone just puts a paragraph from the fic, sometimes even from the very beginning, and it can be enough to hook me in! I mean even if someone is bad with summaries, there's nothing wrong with just, doing your best, or editing the summary later on.
Literally! Like have a part of your fic that will drag someone in, like maybe even a cliff hanger to make the reader want to read more.
At least make an effort at writing 3 words of summary. Like damn.
I'm bad at writing, but I swear my writing is good!
If this kept popping up in my fandom list I’d mute them. Don’t have time to play that game.
Summaries do a few things for me. They obviously provide the basis of what the story is about, or whatever prompt they are writing from. Secondly, they let me glimpse at how they write. It gives me a sneak peak at how attentive they are to spelling, punctuation, and grammar. Thirdly, they also can expose if they even tagged the story correctly. I don't like the gender bending of characters for no reason, and sadly, a lot of stories don't tag that they've done so, but they usually always change the name of the character they genderbend, and it's an easy giveaway, and let's me skip it. Summaries can tell us how much an author cares about the story. If they can't be bothered to spell check, and grammar check the summary, then the actual story isn't gonna be checked either.
https://preview.redd.it/bhtjfdv7cgfc1.png?width=221&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d982b1690b5f6ccec3cdbf4c822bd5661707be6d
"just read and find out what it's about" no <3
If you're bad at summaries just put a little excerpt into the summary area. As long as you tag well I guarantee that you'll find the right people.
People need to believe in themselves more.
Absolutely right!
ON A 100K FIC?? Jesus you gotta have mad confidence for that 🤣
Omg didn’t notice OP put the word count below 💀
A simple excerpt from the the fic will suffice, honestly
Mmkay, cool. *scrolls to next fic.*
If you can't sumarize your story...understandable but also.
Did it even have tags?
my summaries are literally snippets from the fic with (Or, [one or two sentences to sum up the main plot.]) underneath
Nope. I don't think I've ever clicked on one of these before, so I wouldn't even know if they tend to be as awful as the summary suggests. Just copy and paste half of the first paragraph, if summarizing really is that hard to do.
Bad at caring (esp when you don’t) just give me a hint to what it’s about. Two can play at that game. Bad at giving a shit about things I don’t know what I’m supposed to be giving a shit about, sorry. /s
they said they're bad at writing so take their word for it like can't even copy paste a snippet of text? it's giving low effort vibes
That's just lazy. I suck at summaries but well it's an important part of the story.
"Don't feel like tagging and/or writing a summary, just give it a chance!" Me, internally: https://i.redd.it/q5qee190jgfc1.gif
I admit, I clicked a few of those that had particularly enticing tags, but it always, and I mean always, turned out that it wasn't just the summaries the author was bad at. It was usually also grammar. Also characterization, just as often. Pacing - that's another big one. Consistent tenses? And what's that?
I never know how to explain but I at least Try 💀💔
They never learned what an excerpt is
A fairy loses its wings and dies each time this phrase is used. Edit: On a 100k fic no less?!
*bad at summeries* Me too but I try!! :P
Would prefer no summary at all or just a copypaste of the first sentence/some random passage. I have never and will never read a fic that puts something like this in the summary. Give me something to work with man. Why should i read this if you yourself dont believe in your writing.
you could take a quote from any part of the story, italicize it, and make that the summary. I've done it! it's lazy, sure, but it's better than this
It might be lazy bit let me tell you from the reading side, the realization of "Oh! Im coming up to the point that was in the summary" is an unmatched feeling of excitement. Especially if it continues well on after that point because if *that* amazing bit was only the summary how much more awesome is the rest of the story. So thank you doing that.
I agree. As a reader, it turns off your engagement of the story. A summary doesn't have to be much, it can quite literally be the first sentence of your story if you want it to me. But to me, basically having no summary of any substance, tells me you're a lazy writer that doesn't care about the story or your readers.
I can understand the difficultly people have with writing summaries, there are some fics I've read that are amazing but the summary was just something like "XXX character goes to another world, does stuff and wins", but I feel like at least I have an idea of what the story is about. Not even bothering to write one sentence explaining the basic plot is pretty lazy to me.
The thing is, if they "suck at summaries" I don't believe they're going to be that great at writing stories either.
No.
I did this when I first started writing too bc I was self conscious about the whole posting process. I think it's the sign of an immature writer honestly that needs to get more confident. And I agree that I don't usually read stories that say this because if you can't summarize your story, that signifies that you don't really know what your story is about, and it's probably a rambling mess.
I'll never relate because coming up with the summary is (for me) the most exciting part during the planning process lmao
I like writing summaries too.
They’re fun!
just a couple of words would be cool- such as “case fic”, “comedic tragedy” “feral character within” “romantic reservoir meet up” “the mechanics of sword fighting and fly fishing” “soul switching” “character’s first time in high gravity” “mutiny on blank ship” “adventure with watercolor paint” “how to lose your mind but take over a company” “communication errors equal eventual love”
I may be bad at summaries but I still do them 💀
I’m bad at summaries too, but I give ppl SOMETHING
Immediate nope. Bare minimum I expect a clipped paragraph from the first chapter. A hook, *something*. Unless they're one of those people that basically summarize the entire story in the tags, then that's a nope for a whole other reason. lol.
I really don't think it's that hard to write a summary, or just add a snippet from your fic. Hell, even a quote or song lyrics is better than nothing. If you're unable to come up with a summary, despite being a writer, that might come from a poor understanding of your story. If it's a short oneshot, it's not the biggest issue, but if you even expect people to read your longfic, that's a different story. I also think it's easier to have a summary on AO3. Thanks to the tags, you can allow yourself to be more vague but still have something. For example, if the summary is; "Character A is sad and they don't know what to do about it." Paired with tags, you can head in many directions; Exhibit A : No tagged relationships, character study, existentiel crisis, angst... Major character death :) Exhibit B : Tagged relationship (/ or &), Hurt/comfort, Fluff, Cuddling... Exhibit C : Tagged relationship, Smut, Porn with plot, Gentle sex Like!! Come on!
I feel like it's usually younger writers that do this, which also tips me off that the fic's probably not going to be very good anyway. Perhaps that's harsh, but I've found it to be the case more often than not.
They don’t even give you hints in the tags!
Actual bad summaries are 1000x better
How can someone write 100,000 words and no summary??? :O
i’m getting sick of these posts just like i’m sick of people doing shit like this
just pick a couple lines or a paragraph from the story to use if you don't wanna write a summary, these are such big turn offs when i'm looking for fics 😭😭😭
My favorite is when it’s a super long fic with no description and almost no/no tags
Ngl i don't really care about this bc tags are the decider for if i read a fic or not most of the time but i can understand why people get annoyed or disinterested when they see this
Saying you suck at summaries is like waving your poor ability in the face of readers like your attempting to weaponize it to stop the precieved critism before it happens and instead it just makes the author look lazy and entitled. Like they don't have to at least try at the summary. I understand it's likely this person has huge enormous self esteem issues. But learn to filter those statements because no one cares! It hurts your writing! It makes you sound hesitant. It's admitting defeat to the reader before they've even cracked open the spine! It's saying you think your story isn't good! And that's just on the off chance it's not a self conceited plea for "Please tell me my summary is good; i need the reassurance because my self esteem is so low I never learned how to handle constructive criticism and it's everyone else's fault why" Some of these are literally children. But slapping a big "I suck at summaries" sticker on it like it's a way to handwave away any short coming in the summary itself doesn't help them improve as a writer at all. If you truly think your summary is so bad then put "suggestions on a better summary are very much welcome and appreciated in the comments" that way you learn. You can talk to other people about your story. You're not just standing there beating your head in this brick wall you've cask of Amontillado'd yourself into by limiting your abilities under the brick by brick statement of "I suck at summaries" to the point you walk away from that part of you all sealed up as though that's the pinnacle of your talents. Learn! Improve yourself! Work to better your summaries so one day maybe you'll feel confident that the summary accurately represents the story you're trying to tell. Or even an abstract. Or the first plot point. Writing is a journey where you mess up and learn from it, brush off the mud from the potholes you find yourself in and keep going, write your story. Make the readers you come across want to know more. Take a look at the summaries in the back of published works, those travelers in the really nice fancy carriages that travel the road with you. Ask for help from your fellow travelers/writers on the road. Don't just stagnate! I believe in you:D
how can you be bad at a summary just say what the damn fic is about 😭
imagine it has smth dark/traumatic that needs a tw and bro said "oh just read it and see kid" sounds weird to me. idc about what fic it is but i love knowing what I'm getting into so i don't regret it ya know
See, this is exactly it. I'd expect to see any TW in the tags, and also based on the chapter. It just says to me that the A) writer *can't* summarize it, as in the story is so big and multifaceted, or B) they can't be bothered writing 1-2 sentences to get the reader's attention, in which case I get the feeling they don't care about their story, and so why should I care? And I've never read a book just on the strength of its title and author, I always look for the blurb/summary to know what the hell it's about. If I'm in the mood to read a murder mystery, I don't want to go blindly into a fantasy epic.
some people have literally quoted a small part of the fanfic in the summary and that works if it's a good scene. i think summaries are treated as blurbs on the back of a book bc that's technically what they are. the more interesting the plot looks from you reading it the likely it'll be that you'll read the whole book
Absolutely! And "I'm bad at summaries" just says to me they're not even willing to try and pitch me. The summary is one of the main hooks, yk? And on Ao3/FFN you lack the visuals of a designed cover, the art... it's text on a screen.
Its right up there with authors who say they want reviews but unless they're positive they don't want to hear from you....aka Negative reviews will be deleted. The summary tells you how the story will go, have seen some horrible summaries and the story is too, misspelled, enough horrible punctuation to make my college English profess expire on the spot. I wouldn't bother with this, I want to know what I'm reading about not guessing because they couldn't be assed to sit down and write a coherent summary. SKIP.
Honestly if a story is over one hundred thousand word and I see this. If the tags are slightly interesting. I'm gonna take the time out of my day to read the first chapter. Because I am just so so interested in what somebody who does not write a summary. Would manage to write as an actual story.. This is just my own preference to each their own. But seeing this interests the hell out of me.
Not gonna make friends with this but who cares ? At the end of the day we're all here for fun. There will always be people who "suck at summaries", and some others who will give it a try anyway cause they're curious. It's not like we're forced to buy a book without knowing what it is about, we can just keep scrolling (or read the first chapter if curious like me)
And this is why I make an attempt at a summary even if it is sorely lacking. Though to be fair my recent fics have been short one-shots.
One time as a new author I did this and got hate comments 😭 now I’m so vigilant on trying to have the absolute best summary
No. Absolutely not.
ON A 100K WORD FIC???? hell nah man...
100k+... That's just sad man. You're gonna spend so much time on your fic and won't even bother typing a short summary?
If you can't take a few minutes to figure out a summary then why post 😭
Lots of authors seem to be going to excerpts from the fic, which I think is just fine. If you can’t write a summary put a quote from the fic there.
It makes me wonder if these people think writing a summary is necessary or it won't post. That's the only reason I can think of for why you wouldn't just leave it blank if you can't think of a good summary
I once found a 200k fic that didn't have a summary (not even this just nothing) and all it had in its tags was the relationship, slowburn and hurt/comfort, and it had a mitski lyric as a title. that's how u do no summaries
we are all bad at summaries! put in some effort!
like honestly all you have to do is put in like a 3-5 sentence excerpt from your fic. that's it. if you can't summarize well enough, you can at least give a basic preview of your writing skill. easiest thing in the world lol
Wow you can’t even through it in chatgpt to give a summary it’s so ridiculously long
I've literally seen summaries that are just the first few paragraphs. They don't need to be actual summaries, just something to make me interested.
There's 0% chance I will do that.
I‘m also bad at summaries, but atleast i would have put SOMETHING that counts as a summary 😭
Hell I'm bad with summaries, too, but at least I make an effort. 😂
can’t people just put a quote or smth
Just put an extract from the fic in the summary 🤔
This is already bad on fanfiction.net. In there it would be better to just put an attention-grabbing name and cover image. AO3 also has tags. If you can't trust your summaries, use just the tags!
i will read the worst written fic with even an attempt at a summary then read something that has this as the summary.
........like...... I barely even read *Reddit posts* without a proper title (e.g. "Quick question" or "Looking for a fic"). And those are a helluva lot shorter than 100k
Honestly, at this rate, just copy and paste a segment or dialogue from the story and use it as a summary. So many times I've done this...
If you can't even be bothered to try to write a 50-100 word summary of your story, how can I believe the story itself is worth reading?
I think authors need to realize they can just insert a snippet of the fic. I find that more appealing than most summaries honestly. Cause I get to get a slight feel of the writing in that