5 TIPS ON SUMMARIES
Before we get to tips, let’s talk about the different types of summaries. In my opinion, there are three general types of summaries (on Wattpad).
The first kind, it’s short, and doesn’t give you much information. It gives you a general feel of the story (if it’s teen-fic, horror, action, etc), but not much more than that. It makes you curious to know what the story’s about. I like to call them ‘artsy’, because it’s not really the kind of summary you’re expecting, and they’re usually pretty unique.
Example:
Over Again by awesome4evah (me)
How they met: climbing down a rope ladder fifteen stories above the ground.
How long they dated: eight months.
How much he doesn't remember: one whole year.
How they fell apart: one car accident, and one big lie.
The second type usually gives you more information. It also focuses a lot on the main character. It’s often written in first person, but not always. It’s sort of like the main character telling someone what’s happening, with small comments thrown in. Usually, this is used in Humor, Romance and Teen Fiction.
Example:
Life After the Mistaken by _SecondJaineration_
It all happened a year ago.
A few weeks before the summer of 2012.
I had let my best friend of twelve years leave for spring break whilst being on bad terms.
Little did I know that, that would be the last time I'd speak to Mila Sanders.
Join in this tragic story that begins with two words,
Dear Mila.
The last type gives information, but makes it interesting. The difference between this type and the second type is that this type of summary is almost always written in third person, and focuses solely on telling the plot of the story. It doesn’t have the little comments thrown in. This kind of summary, I believe, is used the most often used for published books.
Example:
Orphala by HerDemons
Back then, when the world was still known as the supercontinent Pangaea, you might have heard about the continental drift. But what you didn't know was that when they broke apart, a piece of land now called Orphala has drifted off - lost and alone, surrounded only by water.
When Aaliyah's family moves to Italy, she in her misfortune gets lost out at sea and stumbles across Orphala, where humans aren't welcome. There the fairy tales come true with the magical land populated with dragons, unicorns, mermaids, and many more mythological creatures that seem to have popped out of one of her childhood story books. Yet one little fact turns this dream into a nightmare.
Orphala's on the brink of war with itself, one that can and will shatter the entire world.
And it's up to Aaliyah to stop it.
You can pick any type of summary you want. Different types of summaries appeal to different people, and for different reasons. These tips work with any of these types of summaries.
1) Don’t put in unnecessary information
This sound obvious, but a lot of summaries have a bunch of stuff we don’t need to know.
I promise you, we don’t need to know your character’s seven middle names just yet.
Keep it simple.
If the place where your MC lives doesn’t affect the plot, don’t mention it.
If the government of the future world your MC lives in doesn’t do much, don’t spend a paragraph describing what they do.
It’s especially easy to put in unnecessary information if you’re using Type Three, because it seems like everything’s important. You have to go through the events in your book, and pick out what the most important things are, and what would seem the most interesting.
2) Make it sound original
Again, it sounds obvious, but a lot of summaries sound very similar.
If you’re using a plot that’s been used a lot, at least try to make it sound different in your summary.
Focus on the unique things in your story, instead of the cliché elements.
For example, if you’re using the werewolf mates thing, you can mention it in your summary, of course. But don’t make it just about the MC finding her mate, or else it’ll sound really cliché. Like a lot of other werewolf books. You could instead focus more on the problems they have. Like, maybe the guy your MC is mates with is already engaged to her sister. Or engaged to a guy (somebody please write that it’d be hilarious).
3) Check your grammar and spelling
I think people underestimate how important this is.
I get typos, but you should double, maybe even triple, check your summary. Make sure you’ve spelled words right, but apostrophes in the right place, capitalized your ‘I’s and the first word of new sentences, all that stuff.
Your summary reflects your writing.
If your summary is riddled with spelling mistakes, and lowercase ‘I’s, I probably won’t click on your story. If a short, two paragraph summary already has half a dozen mistakes, then I’m scared to see how many mistakes your story might have.
If you’re not good at spelling and grammar, use Word or another computer application to spell check it, then put it through an editing website, like EditMinion. It only takes ten minutes. Maybe less.
4) If you’re going to put a scene from your book, do not make it the climax
If you want to put a scene from your book in the summary, go for it. But don’t make it the climax of the book. If I do happen to read your story, and get to the climax and it’s the part I read in the summary, I’ll feel ripped off, because I already read it. If you take a scene from your story to put in your summary, it’s best for that scene to be in the first third of so of the book.
If it’s any farther, it might reveal too much, and when you present it in the book, it won’t be a surprise. Sure the climax might be interesting and dramatic, and showcase your best writing, but we shouldn’t have already read it. Put some other interesting scene in the summary.
And if your climax is the only interesting scene in your book, then I’m sorry, but you really need to re-think your story.
5) Don’t start with anything you shouldn’t start a story with.
Which means, no weather, no alarm clocks, no ‘Hi! My names is {insert ten names here}’, and no landscape/science/history descriptions. Sure, you can say it’s set in the 1800s, or that New York is a big city, but don’t do a paragraph on it. It’s best to focus on plot, then on back story, or setting. After all, the plot is what’s going on, and we want to know what’s going on before we start reading a book. The setting might affect the plot, but it’s not the actual plot. It's not that we don't care (okay, maybe we don't care just yet), it's that we want to know what will happen to your main characters, not what already happened.
If anyone needs my help with their summary, I’ve started a summary help thread in the Improve Your Writing club. Just click on the External Link.
Next Tip: Writer's Block
~JJ :)
ADDITIONAL:
Examples of the types of summaries used in published books.
Type One:
About three things I was absolutely positive.
First, Edward was a vampire.
Second, there was a part of him- and I didn't know how dominant that part might be- that thirsted for my blood.
And third, I was unconditionally and irrevocably in love with him.
~Twilight, Stephenie Meyer
Type Two:
Starting over sucks.
When we moved to West Virginia right before my senior year, I'd pretty much resigned myself to thick accents, dodgy internet access, and a whole lot of boring.... until I spotted my hot neighbor, with his looming height and eerie green eyes. Things were looking up.
And then he opened his mouth.
Daemon is infuriating. Arrogant. Stab-worthy. We do not get along. At all. But when a stranger attacks me and Daemon literally freezes time with a wave of his hand, well, something...unexpected happens.
The hot alien living next door marks me.
You heard me. Alien. Turns out Daemon and his sister have a galaxy of enemies wanting to steal their abilities, and Daemon's touch has me lit up like the Vegas Strip. The only way I'm getting out of this alive is by sticking close to Daemon until my alien mojo fades.
If I don't kill him first, that is.
~Obsidian, Jennifer L. Armentrout
Type Three:
In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV.
Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen regards it as a death sentence when she steps forward to take her sister's place in the Games. But Katniss has been close to death before — and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that weigh survival against humanity and life against love.
~Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins