#fic summaries

[mangotangerine]

Mangotangerine's Really Cool Guide to Fic Summaries

I finally got my shit together and made something coherent.

What is the purpose of a summary?

The purpose of a summary is to tell readers what they can expect out of your story. Similar to the blurb on the back of a book, this should be short and succinct. It should give the reader an idea of the themes, the characters, the primary conflict, and your writing style.

Regarding giving the reader an idea of your writing style - don't write the summary in an entirely different register than what the fic is. If your fic is a silly goofy chatfic but your summary reads as very serious gritty detective noir, you're setting an expectation you're not delivering on.

And vice versa! If you're writing a gritty detective noir and it's not silly goofy at all, make sure your summary matches the tone of your fic.

What to put in a summary

While the focus of your summary might shift depending on the story, the underlying structure is the same:

1) Who is the story about? 2) What is the context? 3) What is the inciting incident? 4) The Ultimate Question

Who is the story about? Who is your POV character, and who else plays a major role? Is there a romantic partner, rival, or friend? What’s their dynamic? Are they childhood friends with unresolved tension? Enemies forced to work together? Give the reader an idea of how these characters relate to each other and what kind of tension there might be.

What is the context? What’s your character’s situation at the beginning of the story? Are they running a bookshop? Avoiding responsibility? Recovering from trauma? What do they want, what motivates them, and what are they afraid of?

What is the inciting incident? What knocks over the first domino in their story that everything stems from? It doesn't have to be dramatic, maybe they stepped on a banana peel and broke their big toe or something, but it's whatever gets your character to move from the context they're in at the start, to the context they're in at the end.

The Ultimate Question: What is your story really exploring? What question sits at the heart of it? Will they fall in love? Can they survive the system? Will they ever forgive themselves? This gives the reader a reason to care about the journey. Not just what happens, but why it matters.

Example 1: Ship-fic

Character A runs a bookshop with his cat on a lovely street with tons of history, Character B opens up a tattoo shop just across the street. Character B is loud, brash, and causes chaos in Character A's normally peaceful little street. When Character A's cat gets out, he's frantic, and finds help where he least expects it. Unfortunately, the cat gets attached to his tatted up savior. Can Character A and Character B survive co-parenting a cat together, or will their bitter feud result in a cat custody battle and the end to both their businesses?

Example 2: Gen fic

Character A has lived his entire life never being the main character. Sidekick, apprentice, assistant manager—anything but the protagonist. He's content with that, until an estranged uncle dies and Character A inherits the cranky, old cat nobody knew he had. The longer he spends with the cat, the more he notices it's not like any other cat he's met. It's intelligent, it knows too much, and one day he wakes up to a note spelled out in inky kitty footprints—a carefully created message that reads, "Help. I've been turned into a cat." It's up to Character A to investigate the mystery of who the cat is and how to turn them back into a human.

The TLDR Summary Trope

In fanfiction, you will frequently find summaries that add what is essentially a tl;dr at the end, with a single sentence summing up the main themes.

For our first example, this could look like

(Summary Here) OR A story about how co-parenting a cat can bring two polar opposites together.

For our second example, this could look like

(Summary Here) OR A story about how Character A's uncle got turned into a cat and now Character A has to figure out how to bring him back.

It's an easy way to reinforce what the story is about at its core, but it isn't necessary at all.

[f1-disaster-bi]

🐝 - you make me feel safe

🐝 send me a fake fic title, and I’ll make up a summary for it!

After years of being the only person that he could trust, George found his skyhigh walls cracking under the way Lando smiled at him. George had settled here for a fresh start and to heal a broke heart, determined never to let anyone that close again, but Lando had easily wormed his way into George's life with sarcastic comments and soft laughter until George found himself smiling again. The idea of trusting someone was terrifying still, but with Lando, George felt safe.

[lbwings]

The Fic List

I have been thinking of stories for Sapphire and the Legion for a little bit. BUUUUTTT I'm horrible at writing them out or drawing a lot for it. So I thought to give something a little fun to read tonight here are the summaries for the concepts I have so far!

Enjoy!

(Below the cut because it is long.)

Outline

How we met: Kel-El and the Legion of Superheroes are working protection for an ambassador meeting to have Sapphire do an impressive feat for her employer.

I Was Hired: Cos (and a couple others) thought it would be interesting to get Kel someone to talk to regularly to help him ‘adjust’ so they hire the person he made a comment about on the last mission. But both her and Kel are annoyed when they figure out the Legion is trying to be ‘helpful’. She ends up evaluating Kel (and the Legion) agreeing only if Kel does to stay around. She agreed to help him learn current habits but mostly to teach him about leadership, battle strategy, and recovery efforts in order to be an effective leader instead of a weapon.

First We Play: Sapphire brings Kel some games to play, much to his annoyance. Her goal: getting him to see the whole field. She did not expect the entire crew to get involved.

Everything else: Kel starts asking about other parts of life. Eating, sleeping, how her powers work since he’s noticed they flux. Finding her alone later that night for a real explanation.

Who’s the Best Superman: Sapphire has a debate with Brainy about which Superman is the best. Brainy starts to see she’s more open-minded than he thought. He begins to wonder why when she engages with Imperiex she doesn’t stay in the fight long or what else she is thinking about.  

The Blunt Edge: Getting run through and kidnapped by Imperiex overloads Sapphire’s empathic fuel and damages her psyche. Despite needing to be rescued, her hunger for battle quickly rivals an Apocalyptic heritage.  Can her mind be healed after Imperiex’s poisonous touch or is he now a part of her?

Forging a Sword: Sapphire, and the rest of the Legion, come to terms with the aftermath of her kidnapping as she develops a new power. Her built and support equipment were destroyed.  

Hungry Friend: A friend of Sapphire’s comes to visit when he hears about the psy-wave fallout. He also came for a psionic meal from his ‘little woman’. With a reminder that if she wanted any new equipment she would have to go home for a while; even if it meant risking getting sold off.

Home for the Cattle Drive: Sapphire does have to go home after Brainy failed to rebuild her equipment to previous specs. While a warm welcome was given for the Queen’s favorite it is not long till the full title of Favorite Hunting Dog is discovered as the planet is holding an auction of their best ‘beasts’.

A New Beginning: With a brother dog and a betrothed the crew encourages a new look for Sapphire and maybe some new living arrangements for Kel.

Death of a Family: Kel-El was only getting used to having something in his shadow, a warmth around him, when it got snuffed out. He wasn’t sure if it was pain of losing his new friend or of watching Sapphire cry over her brother that caused his chest to hurt. But he wasn’t ready for when Sapphire disappeared in flash too.

Another Time, Another Home: Sapphire fights an enemy to get trapped in the 21st century when she has to protect a woman who turns out to be Lana Lang.

Your Past My Future: Clark and Sapphire bond after Lana calls to tell him she picked up an alien friend. Expect this time Clark is fully grown and Sapphire is the new girl in town. How will they spend their time together before someone else finds out?

                -Note: Includes adventures with Wonder Woman, Bats, and New Genesis for the injury and evolution/scaling. But also some nice time with Martha and the farm.

Days or Months: Sapphire finally gets a ride back to her time, to many people's pain, but the shock of going back to the 31st century after almost a year to find she disappeared only days ago brings its own dysmorphia.

Stolen, Again: While fighting Imperiex, on almost even keel, Sapphire and Imperiex are taken. This time to alternate timeline of many alternate versions. But the Kel-El in this time is a calm, focused, older leader that merely wanted to barrow the two of them for a moment. After they finish helping all the variants they can be sent home- if they survive. Can’t go back if we all die right?

Temporal Headaches: After making it home again, this time within minutes, Sapphire finally answers questions about her time jumps. While it might come across other versions getting the attention from Kel-El there’s no reason to throw a tantrum. Oh wait you’re a baby; good enough.

The Big Questions: After everything that happened Kel begins to take being betrothed more seriously but wonders why Sapphire isn’t as forward with it.

                -Note- Goes over her concerns about his timeline and why she needs an empathic anchor.

[deanwbigbang]

Fic Summaries are now available to view!

Claims open at noon on Saturday, September 23

Artist sign-ups

Beta sign-ups

Challenge Rules

Ask @deanwbigbang if you have any questions! 💚

[internetgiraffekid1673]

I'd also like to add as a reader, not a writer, that you can literally just write why you wrote the fic and that will tell me a lot.

Like. Let's say you wanted a domestic scene between two characters and couldn't find any. Put that in the summary box. You wondered what would happen if x reacted differently during that scene. Put that in the summary box. You wanted an AU premise where x happened at the start of the story instead of y. Put that in the summary box.

Literally. Just. Why did you write this? Well, that's probably why I'm going to enjoy reading it, so stick that in the box. It sounds stupid but it's really helpful as a reader.

me: *writes fic*

me: great! time to post to ao3-

ao3 summary box: *exists*

me: 

ao3 summary box:

me:

ao3 summary box: 

me:

[caffeinatedvigilantewriter]

So Billy is 17, doesn’t matter if he’s homeless or adopted, but the League or his family still don’t know that he Captain Marvel.

One day, he gets caught in a summon.

The summoning turns out to be a marriage contract. Billy is now married to the eldritch ghost king. Who was also not happy.

After sending the cultist to hell, the ghost king transforms into a teenager. Danny Fenton

Huh, he could work with this. Billy transforms as well.

They start working together to find a way to break off the marriage. There isn’t one. They are stuck together. And because both of them have enemies, they can’t exactly tell people that they’re married

Eventually, they learn to like each more than friends. One day, Marvel is in a meeting and someone asks him what he’s doing after work,

Marvel: oh! I’m watching that new horror movie with my husband :))

Leaguers: ….

Marvel: he was so excited to see it I couldn’t say no!

Leaguers: you’re married???

Marvel: … it was supposed to be a secret… shit…

Shenanigans

- marvel is getting his butt whipped by a new villain, Danny shows up as elderitch monster (“not my husband, bitch!”)

- JLA holiday party? Billy brings elderitch Danny

- Dani pops up:

Dani: hiya papa!!

Marvel: Dani! What are you doing here?

Dani: just stopping by to see my papa :))

Marvel: aww :))

Leaguers: aww….?

-when Billy identify is revealed;

Leaguer: I can’t believe you made up a fake husband!

Billy: oh Danny is real!

Leaguers: but he’s not your husband, right?

Billy: :))

Leaguers: ….right??

[ellstersmash]

things i learned today:

solas could've avoided this whole mess and probably had enough free time to take lavellan on a nice little date if he just took up archdemon hunting instead of all the rituals and the other dastardly deeds

lucanis won't romance rook if they go to minrathous but will romance neve because despite saying he's cool, he's not cool

everyone's nice and no one has slaves or anything because *checks forearm* the blight

all your companions get along with you and each other because also the blight

even though he's like, really manipulative and uses people all the time, solas accumulated but then gave up an entire army's worth of spies and agents because he decided he wasn't ready for a management position

red lyrium isn't really around because—and you are not gonna believe this—the blight

solas just lies. all the time, outright, to everyone. so I guess he was actually only super careful to not ever actively lie in Inquisition as like a fun little challenge to himself

tying the veil to his life force (you know, the guy who couldn't even take down an archdemon on his own and actually just got his ass beat so is not in great shape in the best ending) fully repaired the veil! \o/ don't ask how you wouldn't understand it it's not a big—

everyone near minrathous is cured of the blight! but @ everyone else you may be entitled to compensation 🥀

the only ritual solas has ever gotten or will ever get right is cleansing the idol into the ritual dagger. good thing too bc it was way more dangerous than this one. other than that, wrong about everything ever

elven magic is like not that big a deal, dude

the griffons are, unfortunately, long-term fucked

the elves don't see the crossroads differently anymore because uh.. because....... war

spite does not get involved in rookanis sexytimes. so perhaps him spreading his wings was actually just in preparation to leave bc ew they're kissing gross

NO ONE cares about the goddamn spirits

[writeouswriter]

People sorting ao3 solely by stats and only clicking on fics with a certain amount of kudos or comments, you will not survive the winter, nor the summer, nor at all, *brings out knife,* run

[jensownzoo]

The type that as a reader I find most helpful and engaging are the two-parters that come in the format of:

[Brief Excerpt]

or (as in literally typing the word "or")

[Single sentence that can either be plot summary, trope summary, hook, what-have-you]

The excerpt gives me a writing sample that I mostly use to weed out any styles that will be nails-on-chalkboard nopes. I don't really otherwise pay much attention to the content.

And the one sentence is the pitch. I've already been attracted to look at the summary by passing the gauntlet of fandom, blorbo or pairing, and tags. This bit is what will actually convince me to invest the time into reading it. And it really can be really simple. "Blorbo learns to feel their feelings." or "The overly plotted HOA takedown that no one asked for." is fine.

Types of AO3 Summary

Option 1 - The Excerpt:

The quickest, the easiest! Find a section of your fic that contains the main premise of said fic and also showcases your writing. Copy paste that into the summary box. BOOM! Done.

Best used for any fic, unless it's so short the excerpt would be the whole fic.

Option 2 - The No Frills:

Just a description of the fic. No need for drama. No need to complicate matters. Keep it simple, keep it safe.

Example: "A short character exploration of Blorbo's thoughts after Daisy leaves."

Best used for short fics, poems and fics where the style/format is more important than the plot. Or fics that tie directly into a scene/episode from canon or another fanfic.

Option 3 - The Hook:

Draw the reader's interest by giving them a set up with no conclusion. Introduce the main character(s), introduce the status quo, describe an inciting incident, leave a question in the reader's mind.

Example: "Blorbo is a barista at a coffee shop, struggling to pay their bills, but after handsome rockstar Obrolb walks into their coffee shop they find that they have to decide whether a chance at love is worth the cost of fame."

Best used for mid to long fic where there's a strong premise and follow through. Especially good for AUs. Can be expanded for more complex plots or used multiple times in one summary for multiple characters or subplots.

Option 4 - The Sitcom One-Liner:

"The one in which [over simplified description of one of the main plotlines]" This is essentially 'boil your plot down to the very simplest statement you can, oversimplify if possible. The more bizarre or unhelpful the better.

Example: "The one in which Blorbo learns to like cake".

Best used for fics with at least a little humour in them.

Option 5 - The Rule of Three:

Three is a magic number. Find three key moments in your fic and just list them. That's it. Often ends with 'not necessarily in that order' if used for comic effect. If it's an AU, establish that quickly (i.e. 'Star NHL player Blorbo…').

Example: "Blorbo makes a friend, falls in love, and almost burns to death, not necessarily in that order."

Best used for anything, really. Three is a magic number. The human brain loves things that come in threes.

Option 6 - The Trope Lure:

Why bother describing the plot? We all know AO3 readers are here for the tropes. Similar to The Sitcom One-Liner just using tropes instead of plot. Often followed by the phrase 'that nobody asked for'.

Example: "The Space western/ABO/Mail Order Bride fic that nobody asked for."

Often tacked on to the end of The Hook or The Excerpt as a tl;dr.

Best used for fic that plays its tropes straight with no shame or second guessing.

Option 7 - The Pre-emptive Strike:

(Not recommended) You just wrote this fic, the self doubt is consuming you. You feel the need to apologise profusely for your existence for no apparently reason. You feel cringe, you think the fic is cringe, you want everyone to know that you think the fic is cringe in case they don't like it and judge you for it.

Example: "So I fell in love with this pairing and had to write this. It's weird and terrible. Lol! I suck at summaries! Sorry!"

Best used for no fics ever. I cannot stress this enough.

(Seriously, I am begging you, don't do this. If you're planning to use this option, rethink it and do one of the others. I guarantee you more people will want to read your fic.)

Sometimes added on to any other summary as a strange disclaimer. (srsly. don't.)

Option 8 - The Unapology:

Embrace the mayhem, embrace the deep dark depths of your soul. The opposite of The Pre-emptive Strike. A combination of The No Frills and The Trope Lure that truly gives no fucks.

You have committed crimes and you are proud of them. You know what your USP is and you're going to make sure your target market finds you. Look upon my works, ye readers, and despair!

Example: "There aren't enough tentacle fics in this pairing, so I had to write one myself!"

Best used for fics with controversial/polarising tropes with all relevant details already clearly stated in the tags.

Option 9 - The Interrogation:

What if you wrote a summary entirely in questions? What if your readers had to read the fic to discover the answers? Who knows what will happen if you do this?

Example: "What happens when Blorbo McBlorbo gets his wish and Daisy doesn't make it to the plane on time? What happens when Obrolb finds out? How will this change Daisy and Blorbo's friendship?"

Best used for... I honestly don't know. This style of summary does not vibe with me. Mystery fic maybe? Sorry guys.

Option 10 - The Multipack:

Got a bunch of shorter fics in one work? No way of summarising them all without a wall of text larger than the Great Wall of China? This one is similar to The No Frills in that you're not describing the plots themselves and similar to The Trope Lure in that often broader genres and tropes are mentioned. What links those fics? Are they all in the same fandom? The same pairing? The same challenge? Just slap that right in the summary. A chapter list with 1-2 word trope/pairing summaries can be included or not.

Example: "A collection of Blorbo/Daisy/Obrolb fics based on Tumblr prompts. Chapter 1: Regency AU Chapter 2: Werewolves vs vampires Chapter 3: Ghost!Daisy Chapter 4: Space pirates!"

Best used for (obviously) works that are compilations of fic.

Option ? - The Void:

I said The Excerpt was the quickest and easiest summary to do. I lied, well... I didn't exactly lie. What is quicker and easier than not having a summary at all? After all, that's what the tags are for.

Example:

Best used for... nothing? Write a summary, guys. Please?

[19agbrown]

After Eddie moves to Texas

Buck: This year, I lost my dear partner, Eddie.

Eddie: *on facetime* Quit telling everyone I'm dead!

Buck: Sometimes, I can still hear his voice.

[macdennisnation]

this is your reminder to read the fic that has like 10 kudos! until someone gives it a chance, that’s where it will stay. the best shit you’ve never read is sitting on ao3 waiting for you to read it. kudos and bookmarks are awesome but they aren’t always indicative of something great.

[imclou]

can't believe fnaf brought me out of art hibernation man what a turn of events

[giraffenamjoon]

(Im)maturity Level (seungcheol x f!reader - THIRST Series #2)

The second fic in my ongoing THIRST Series: What if you accidentally (or purposely) sent nudes to your best friend (or perhaps worst enemy)?

Summary: When you try to send a stranger your nudes, Seungcheol takes matters into his own hands and sparks a fight. So you send them to him instead.

Genre: Smut PWP, friends to lovers, make up sex

Word Count: 9.2k

Tags/Warnings: References to nudes, arguing, make up sex, rough-ish sex (consensual), oral (m and f receiving), protected sex, marking/hickeys, dirty talk, jealousy, slight dom!seungcheol/switch! seungcheol, brat reader, both cheol and the reader are obnoxious pouty babies

Read on AO3: (Im)maturity Level (#2 in the THIRST Series)

Thanks for reading! Full upcoming list available on my Masterlist.

[abyssruler]

aether, like countless other knights and princes across the realm seeking glory, sets off on a journey to free the princess from the locked tower and slay the fearsome dragon guarding her.

meanwhile, neuvillette is tired of all these humans trespassing into his home and attempting to steal his wife.

[curioud-epic]

Epic au idea (Dimension travel, time-travel(?), and Telemachus-centric)

Would you both still love me, If I wasn't your son?

Cover & Prologue | In text form of the idea | Extras | Alternate Version

Telemachus wakes up in the past and in a world where he doesn't exist.

Prologue comic below

[caffeinatedvigilantewriter]

Ok so Amity gets lots of its funding by hosting a summer camp every year. They host it by the lake in the woods and the local high schools are counselors and head of cabins.

The camp is like a 150 year tradition and it got very popular especially among the rich from around the country.

They kept it going, closing down for 3 summers because of the ghost attacks (the town could have the attacks and the camp running. It would be too dangerous)

They opened it the next year, but with a lot more liability paperwork and that stuff.

This is also the year where Damian Wayne gets sent to the camp.

Bruce went, Dick went, Jason went, Tim went and even Cass went for a year and now it was his turn.

Damian did not want to go. There are no phones allowed, so he won’t be able to communicate with his family. He went anyway. Danny is his head of cabin.

All the senior class members are liminal. With the weird traits and all that shit. They know Danny is phantom but they don’t really talk about it

Shenanigans:

- Danny noticing the faint liminal scent on Damian and kind takes him under his wing to hopefully have Damian feed off of his ecto and get healthier. Damian thinks his head of cabin just gets really attached really easily.

- Sam running the gardens and using her undergrowth powers. Damian think she’s related to Posion Ivy, but evidently does not care when he find out she a vegan and just as passionate about the environment and animals as he is

- Tucker teaches the campers a coding class. 30 fourteen year olds hacking into places they should not hack into. Surprisingly, under Tuckers guidance, they all manage to successfully hack into the Pentagon without detection. Damian glanced at Tucker’s screen and saw that he was not hacking along with them but hacking an organization called the GIW

-Val and Danny teach hand to hand combat and weapons. After the camper learn to use all the weapons, Val and Danny assign one o them (crossbow, knife, bow and arrow, laser gun). Damian is great at all of them, and they let him pick whichever weapon he wants.

- Damian offhandedly mentions that a katana is his preferably weapon. The next week, Danny’s younger sister comes back from her travels with a katana for him.

- dash and kwan run the camp wide games. They have capture the flag and dodgeball (but they changed it to bow and arrow dodgeball to secretly help with the kids aim), but now they added a little tournament.

- each camper uses their weapon and are pitted against each other until there is one winner. Unsurprisingly, it’s Damian.

- the GIW crashes the camp in the middle of the night after getting a really strong ecto signal (Damian, plus Danny, plus the other liminal counselors). The counselors were at a separate location having a meeting or some other shit that doesn’t involve the campers.

-with Damian leading, the campers manage to fend them off. He and the other campers notice that they seemed to be targeting Damian.

-the counselors get back in time to help them.

-Damian doesn’t mention any of this to his family, and neither do the other campers. They all want to come back next year.

BONUS

Damian send weekly letters about what he’s doing at camp but in simple terms so that the Wayne’s think that camp just expanded their activities and Damian’s having fun

BONUS BONUS

Damian, after feeding off of Danny’s ecto for 2 months becomes visibly liminal. He grows a foot and a half taller, gets fangs, can hold his breath for longer, is quieter, eyes start glowing.

The Waynes are slightly suspicious, but they’ve all went to the camp and came back fine, so maybe he just had a growth spurt.

Maybe months later Constantine comes to the Watchtower and ask Damian how long he’s been dead. Damian answers.

“4 months, magician.”

The Waynes are now freaking out because they had no idea Damian died during summer camp.

Cue the rabbit hole into Amity Park, Phantom, Danny, and the GIW