Sparkatale

Summaries are tricky. What I do, is vaguely describe the plot and shorten it if it seems too long. But making it interesting.. I don't really know. People have different ideas of what's interesting. So I'm not much help there. If I was any help at all.

U l h u | November 13, 2013

Thank you for the feedback! I guess summaries should be rather vague... though do you have any opinion on the length?

Liz uli | November 14, 2013

It can be as long as you want it to be. So long as it's not too long that it'll bore the readers. That can be a bit of problem.

U l h u | November 17, 2013

To write a summary, use your own words to express briefly the main idea and relevant details of the piece you have read. Your purpose in writing the summary is to give the basic ideas of the original reading. What was it about and what did the author want to communicate? While reading the original work, take note of what or who is the focus and ask the usual questions that reporters use: Who? What? When? Where? Why? How? Using these questions to examine what you are reading can help you to write the summary. Sometimes, the central idea of the piece is stated in the introduction or first paragraph, and the supporting ideas of this central idea are presented one by one in the following paragraphs. Always read the introductory paragraph thoughtfully and look for a thesis statement. Finding the thesis statement is like finding a key to a locked door. Frequently, however, the thesis, or central idea, is implied or suggested. Thus, you will have to work harder to figure out what the author wants readers to understand. Use any hints that may shed light on the meaning of the piece: pay attention to the title and any headings and to the opening and closing lines of paragraphs.

Talena Mae | November 13, 2013

I appreciate the advice, and it does seem very useful--in nonfiction writing. I was more going for story-summaries rather than essay analysis, but thanks for the tips anyways! Will keep in mind for future writing and assignments.

Liz uli | November 14, 2013

It can actually be applied in fiction I will use my story as an example: A woman who was raised by dragons suddenly finds her life turned upside down when she rescues a strange being who looks like her... but different. Now Trinari, her best friend a large red male dragon called Taimu'kn, Tai for short, and the man she saved (who) are on the run fighting for their lives as evil does everything in it's power to destroy them (why). You do not have to add all of the "who, what, when, where, why or how" as long as it is short, but has all the elements that will grip the viewer.

Talena Mae | November 14, 2013

I hate to necro an old thread, but I've seen a lot of authors on different sites have problems with this.  

We used to play a game on the NaNoWriMo forums called 20-word synopsis, which really caused me to develop a system for writing synopses.  I call it my four questions and I don’t even start writing a story until I can answer them and produce a one sentence synopsis.

Who is the story about?

Not so much their name, but what is their role in the story? An orphaned street urchin?  A bored housewife?  Evil necromancer who loves candy?  Start with a basic noun and adjective.

What do they want?

This is going to be the thing that moves the story forward.  This is what they are going to struggle and sacrifice for.

What is stopping them from achieving it?

Either the villain or natural forces or whatever the Protagonist is struggling against.  Often there is both an external conflict: overthrow the evil empire, and an internal conflict: must address a childhood trauma and overcome a debilitating fear of snakes to defeat the evil snake god.  If one is more important than the other, focus on that.  It’s up to you to decide if that secondary conflict should be added into your synopsis as an additional complication.

What is at stake?

This is the bad thing that will happen if the Protagonist fails.  This is why we should care about the story, what makes it interesting.

If you want to try and play the 20-word synopsis, try answering each question in five words or less.  For a book synopsis you’ve got a little more room, but this should help you focus on the important and interesting parts.

There is also an unofficial fifth question I like to answer before I start writing, though it never goes into the synopsis. 

How does the character change over the course of the story? 

There are a few cases where you actually don’t want the character to change, but most of the time they will.

J. A. Partridge | April 10, 2015