WIP Challenge Checkin, Day 26, Tuesday

[jagnikjen]

I'm posting early as I'm going to be out of pocket later...

So how's your Tuesday going? Progress, no progress?

Writing, editing, beta reading, other fannish pursuits?

Post your status here.

Discussion question: Summaries – Do you like them or hate them? How do you come up with them, if you use them?

Comments

[pensnest]

Nearly 2,000 words, yay! And more in my head for the next bit. I feel *so* much better.

Summaries - I don't mind them, don't find them particularly difficult to do - but I don't know whether mine are effective or not! I put brief summaries on my website, with the idea that a summary there is dual purpose: it needs to entice a new reader into taking a look at the story, and it needs to remind an old reader which story that one is.

We should have Summary-Checkers like we have beta-readers!

[linaewen]

I did some editing of yesterday's work, and today I have managed to write 700 words so far. I'm at a good stopping place now (have to do some RL stuff, how dull!), so that when I pick up again, it will certainly flow easily. Yay! I'm hoping to put in quite a bit of time here and there today for writing, so I should be able to make some significant progress if all goes well.

I like summaries, simply because it makes it easier to choose what I'm going to read. However, I absolutely hate it when people announce in their summary that the summary sucks. That's an immediate clue to me that I don't want to read the rest of it. If you've gone to the effort of writing a story, why not give it the due it deserves? It's worth the effort to come up with a few words that summarize your story and serve to draw readers in. When coming up with my own, I try to keep it short but include enough info that readers will know which characters might be involved. I also try to make it sound interesting so that readers will think, "Hmmm! Wonder what that's about?" and proceed to read the story. ;-)

[jagnikjen]

Two thousand words is fantastic! Keep up the great work. :)

[jagnikjen]

Editing and new words--that's awesome!

I know what you mean about summaries. If a story doesn't even have one then, I'm not even clicking any further; or "this came to me in a dream". That's not even a summary, TYVM, that's an author's note or something. I want enough of a teaser to make me think, "Hey, that sounds interesting, let me check it out."

[jagnikjen]

I got to dabble a bit today, so YAY, but I'm heading out shortly to work a concession stand at Dallas Cowboys Stadium. :(

I love summaries. Or I've grown to love decent ones that actually tell you what the story's about. A good summary is going to make all the difference as to whether or not I decide to read that story.

Summaries should never include the words "this is my first fic" or "please, please leave me feedback". Those are turn-offs for me.

[littlebutfierce]

After getting my big WIP back from beta, I've now drafted a missing scene for it -- my beta confirmed that, yeah, the WIP needs to be two stories, & so I needed to draft an ending scene for the first one! I'm hoping to go through some more of her edits today. I did a bit of editing on a hard copy during my bus ride to & from work today, hooray!

I don't particularly like writing summaries (though I like it better than choosing a title!), but I generally feel okay w/keeping them short & sweet. Mostly I write in small fandoms, & as a reader I'll generally choose to read a fic (again, in small fandoms) based on the pairing or characters involved -- even if the summary isn't particularly great, I might at least give it a try anyway for that reason.

However, if the summary apologizes for the story ("This story kind of sucks," "I probably messed up the tenses but please read anyway"), then, no, I won't read. I know most of us fic writers feel nervous about stories from time to time; admitting it in such a dire way does not win you any readers!

[rebecca2525]

Yesterday I had a free evening, but unfortunately, my coding muse and my writing muse had a struggle. Result: 300 words.

I love summaries. Though the fic I write is often very short so it can be hard to find a summary that doesn't give too much away while not repeating the title.

[xpaperplanex]

I wrote an entire 7000 word one-shot today! *ded* I'm rather madly pleased with it too. The ending got a bit weird and existential. I'll see how it looks in the morning and if it needs revising. But I'm hoping my writing bug's finally caught again.

I abhor summaries. They're evil. But I have gotten better at them and I find keeping them short and to the point works best for me. And not saying that I suck at summaries because if I don't do that, then people might not notice.

[jagnikjen]

Two fics for the price of one. That's pretty cool. :)

[jagnikjen]

Fantastic! *fingers crossed* that the writing bug is back.

[jagnikjen]

Well, 300 words is better than no words. And sometimes being creative (or not) in other ways can be helpful. Your story is probably still churning in your subconscious, so you might be surprise by what comes out next time around.