Naturally, even on fan-fiction sites much like this one, the first thing your audience will see is your– wait for it...

SUMMARY!

Yes, a summary. They're difficult, indeed, but not impossible. So, darling, don't look so scared, summarising is really not as hard as it's made out to be– trust me!

First of all, you need a summary. Oh, don't give me that sass! Sorry but there are no if's or but's about it: YOU. NEED. A. SUMMARY!

Letting your readers just jump into story with no guidance, no description is a cut above crazy. You don't take a book from a shelf, based on it's title. If everyone did that, the world would be chaos.

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It takes a while for the young students to settle down but eventually they've all clustered before their teacher, looking obedient as ever.

"Okay, children." Their teacher hushes, "Today for Story Time we're reading a new book, it's called: Fifty Shades of Grey. Let's start shall we?"

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We all come across our own struggles when it comes to summarising. Those who deny this– they're liars, because everyone (and I mean everyone) struggles with summarising. However, knowing this, it seems slightly more tempting to learn and teach the routine of it.

What you need to do is practice, practice for the moment someone asks: "What the hell is this story even about, anyway?", because, trust me, they will. And when they do, you must be ready to start up that internal monologue of yours and describe in confidence.

Be careful, though! No one will want to read a story that that runs along the lines of:

"Harry Styles is a total badass with pecks sent from heaven. He's like the Hulk but not so green, not including his slut-alluring green orbs though. He also has a really long penis, so long that he has to tuck it into his socks. Speaking of socks, he's also a really good fighter, like, the best, meaning that he'll sock anyone in the face if it comes to protecting his one true love, his only weakness, his boner garage– Bethany Alice Evans, also known as B.A.E. She's not like the others, well, maybe not including his many, many psychotic past relationships... Will Harry be changed by B.A.E? Will he untuck his socks after Netflix and Chill– or nah?"

Okay, perhaps I went a bit over the top, but you get the message. If your story runs along the border of gang leaders, spontaneous pregnancy scares, psychotic girlfriends, etcetera, etcetera– abandon ship, don't bother making the summary, start fresh, and take notes

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The Guide to an Award-winning Synopsis:


The by-far greatest mistake people will make is when they try to create a summary/synopsis, is to write the entire plot in the space of a few lines. When you write this way, you are giving your audience no more than a dry, watered down story. This is equivalent of an Olympic sport host describing a gymnast's performance as "A gold medal here, a broken arm there. A few flips from that team, then perhaps one or two somersaults just to finish off the day."

Annoying, isn't it?

Creating a summary is a little more complex than that. However, it can also be beneficial afterwards. It gives you a reason to see any undiscovered holes in your story before you put it out into the world of fan-fiction. So here's how to form the basics of a summary in under five minutes.

Step 1: Start with your plot basics. You need to know what your character is in for. Briefly plan your events and the order they come in. For example, in the very beginning, what is the incident that get's the story moving? What happens that sets the story on it's course? But, like we said, don't give away too much.

Step 2: You need to introduce your character. How is your character thrust upon change? Introduce this dilemma. For example: Your character has just lost their only friend in a fatal car accident, now your character must learn to survive the terrors of school by his/herself but along the way your character blooms in a way they couldn't have if not for the car crash in the first place. Though it could be complex, think about how your could introduce this.

Notes