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Post by T. Costa on May 25, 2008 22:32:54 GMT
The summary I thought up for my Aurikku oneshot I actually like. Critiques, anyone?
"A near-death experience gives Rikku just the perspective she needs on life: a rose-colored one. Aurikku, oneshot."
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Post by Neophyte Ronin on Jun 3, 2008 2:24:03 GMT
Yeah, that's got romance appeal to it... as well as having the double-edged sword of not specifying the rose's color (there are four colors in all: Red, Pink, White, and also Black). The general assumption is "red", so for most eyes, you have it made.
Also, you have both perfect sentence length and immediate eye-popping desire to read, because it describes a conflict that entails inner change. If I was more into FFX's characters, I would hang out in this story for a little bit. There are no indications about content, but if it's necessary, you have space enough; with only 112 symbols used (approximately), the passage has space to breathe, given the 255 character limit. Another interesting aspect is third-person narration--the correct method--that doesn't mention either the author or the reader. Most young authors forget how directly addressing the audience lacks professionalism.
Overall, a good summary thus far. I only gripe at mentioning BOTH characters; sort of gives the story away although we can infer Auron's appearance during a near-death experience... it's only appropriate. The fact that it features Auron and Rikku shapes the responses and expectations of the audience. To preserve the mystery, it might be better simply to omit the word "Aurikku" and allow a wary audience decipher the cryptic color reference instead. Actually, I'd say this summary--if the word "Aurikku" is removed for the sake of it being redundant--is an excellent summary, not just a good one.
A good summary is one that instantly sucks a person into the story even before they click the link. Perhaps it could even be the introductory sentence--the one brief passage that serves as a "hook" for the rest of the story--and then the story continues immediately upon clicking the link.
(Example: The Summary says: "Fire never fails. Everything else does."
If someone clicks the link, they get the next few sentences:
"But at the docks, even fire failed. Fire could not penetrate the surface of the water and locally ignite these wide-mouthed suckers that everyone wanted so badly. This rod... stupid thing! It refused to lure and pull one of these coveted, slimy, smelly creatures into the open air so he can torch it to a delightful crisp.
"No, Seifer HAD to reel it in!
"That meant Raijin had the home field advantage and that grinning jerk took it as far as he still had his two front teeth. Seifer occasionally eyed his muscle-bound meat-shield wearing the vest and goofy grin--the one where the razor should have been closer to the skin--and thought: ugh, whoever said this pastime is a sport ought to be buried underneath a gigantic pyramid and quickly forgotten!")
This case requires the author to place the legal disclaimer, title, author and other such data at the bottom of the fic's first page, rather than the top. It's supposed to continue from whatever was written in the summary, and that comes with a cap on what kind of punctuation and special symbols are available. Another drawback is an inability to specify crudity, language and other such content before someone clicks a link.
On the other hand, I use filters for scanning Mature, Teen, Everyone or Everyone+, etc., so if I see an 'M', I know I'm dealing with hard stuff. I don't want to know what KIND of hard stuff... just hard stuff in general. If someone goes down a path I don't like, either I click elsewhere for another story or continue on in case the story is actually written well.
The summary should draw someone into the story, not forecast (or in this case, broadcast) the nasty stuff. Stories that don't do this often surprise me, often positively.
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Post by T. Costa on Jun 3, 2008 5:51:11 GMT
Thanks! I'm quite proud of that summary. I pondered leaving the warnings for the actual story content, but I know that there are some pairings I find disgusting and I'd have a real problem if I got my teeth into a story and then hit a pairing that mentally disturbed me (for the most part these are only ones that feature bestiality or sex with prepubescent children - or rape - but they happen). I figure it's best to warn people so they don't get an experience THEY don't like. I ALWAYS put warnings for sexual stuff in my summaries, just because of the pure amount of minors that hang out on FFN. And most of my stories do have it. So we can infer from this knowledge (which not everyone would know, admittedly), and the "T" rating, that this is one of my few fluffy fics. Thanks, Ronin. You always give great, insightful crit of both the positive and the negative. I really value your insight.
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Post by Youko-Kokuryuuha on Jul 14, 2008 16:04:44 GMT
I actually dislike summaries that are uninformative. The type of reviews that say "a cross-over between [blank] and [blank], R&R".
Or worse, "one-shot" in caps and then the pairing.
It doesn't tell me anything about the story, which I think is stupid, because that's what the summary's for. D:
Another personal quirk of mine is that I look for spelling and grammar in the summary because it gives you a small insight into the writer's ability.
If the spelling is complete crap, and the author's put chat-speak in, I'll just scroll past it and move along.
Ooh, I look for vocab, too. :D
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Tempi-chan
Plate Dweller
I love deep fried food!
Posts: 32
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Post by Tempi-chan on Jul 15, 2008 0:19:20 GMT
Oh, I never though that R&R was a turn off. I removed that from my summary. This place is so informative. I love it.
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