How to Write a Fictionpress Summary

(In case you didn’t see the title when you clicked on it)

Summaries are like the vanity license plates of Fictionpress. You have a limited space to state the entire meaning of your life...er, story. And if you think to hard about summarizing you life...er, story...in seven letters or twenty words, you may go nuts. To do my part to avoid any more crazies roaming Fictionpress, I present my own ideas on how to go about presenting your work.

5w’s, and H, and something of Interest

You know what I’m headed at- the who, what, when, where, why, and how. Now, I don’t expect you to use all six of those plus a seventh interesting tidbit (more of that later). You should use the three most important for you story. These can change from genre to genre as basic guidelines. In fantasy and science fiction, what and sometimes how are important. In historical fiction, when and where are important. In biography, who is important. In baseball, what is on second.

I’m very sorry, I couldn’t resist.

Now, look at the summary I used for this essay.

In this essay (where), I (who) explain how a summary can be made to draw in the most attention with the most information about your story (pretty long what). You can use up to 255 characters in a sumary! So about that interesting tidbit: it’s a cute something that doesn’t really have to do with who/what/when/where/why/how. Consider it as a ’Wait! There’s more!’ kind of message, or in this case an interesting fact that has to do with your story or essay. It can also include things like warnings (language, slash, gore), offers to return reviews, or information about length (one-shot, part 1 of a trilogy, etc). Try to get your three W’s into one sentence, the first, if it isn’t too clumsy. The interesting tidbit (or tidbits) come/s after.

Essay Summaries

See, I didn’t have to use that blocky summary for an essay. Essay summaries should only need to contain one thing: the point you’re trying to make. ‘In this essay, I explain why I am pro-life’. ‘This essay talks about my day at Franklin College’. ‘Child slavery is real and we need your help to stop it!’ You can always put a who/what/when/where/why or how in your title, as in this case ‘How to write a summary’. You can also use funny titles like ‘This is My Life- Help!’, ‘Civil Obedience and You’.

Back to Stories: Summaries Using Quotes

A good guideline from using quotes from your stories in the summary is; make sure they are relevant, they answer at least one of the W’s, and they appear in the first three chapters. Otherwise the reader is left wondering when that quote is coming in.

Final Cautions and Farewell

I have receive a lot of comments about the fact that people are sick of the 'I suck at summaries' summary. And...well, it's pretty obvious why. Also, don't have a 'mystery summary' like 'click and find out what this is about!'. I think I've said this somewhere before, but I'll say it again: you'll attract attention, but it might not be the attention you want. Try to fit the important parts of your story in the summary, while lots of people (including me) have more detail summaries of their stories in their profiles, not many people acutally read those. Lastly, if you change a hefty part of your plot or something, be sure to change your summary too. I mean, it should be obvious, but...

And the farewell bit. Adios, goodbye, godspeed, etc. Don't let the door bang you on the butt on your way out. And don't forget to leave a review.