(no subject)

[alexseanchai]

how do fic summaries augh

(turns out, after like the fifteenth 2K+ fic with the same central ship and the freeform tag "sitting these two clowns down to talk about their feelings", "excerpt from early in the fic" stops being a winning strategy)

Comments

[fred_mouse]

Personally, as a reader, rather fond of the excerpt from early in the fic approach as it gives me a reliable feel for the writer's style.

[alexseanchai]

which, on the one hand, yes!

…on the other hand—and I've had "manic Monday (you can fall apart)" pointed out as a specific example of the problem—if nothing about the excerpt in the summary field particularly distinguishes this fic from the fourteen others like it, that's a problem!

[fred_mouse]

See, that is a perfect example of what I like. Probably longer than I want a summary to be, but there are bits there that would do just what I want. Because I get so frustrated by 'summaries' which sound great, but are for a completely different story.

[silveradept]

While Friends is a terrible show, the naming conventions of its episodes ("The One Where Character Zed did F/had F happen to them") theoretically makes it easier to tell them apart and gives the audience a clue what to expect.

Maybe write one, chop off "The One Where" and see if it works as a summary?

[alexseanchai]

so "manic Monday (you can fall apart)" would be The One Where after Puppeteer 2, Adrien notices Marinette continues upset, and he goes to check on her as Chat Noir, and in the course of sitting down and talking about their feelings, Marinette anxieties herself straight into a shutdown and shows him she's Ladybug in hopes of minimizing the potential damage if she's akumatized, and then Chat soothes her, gets her to admit the original cause of the upset, and (realizing it's him and he's a dolt) convinces her to let him show her who he is

that's a bit too many fic-spoilery yes?

[silveradept]

Maybe, but I would use "After Puppeteer Two, Marinette anxieties herself straight into a shutdown and shows Chat she's Ladybug in hopes of minimizing the potential damage if she's akumatized."

Because that seems like an accurate summary of the plot, yes?

[alexseanchai]

accurate, yes, but possibly still Much? like do I want the circumstances of the reveal in the summary box?

*ponder*

[silveradept]

"After Puppeteer Two, Marinette anxieties herself straight into a shutdown and consideres drastic measures in hopes of minimizing the potential damage if she's akumatized."

[alexseanchai]

ooo 🙂

[silveradept]

Works perfectly. Start with the summary, trim the excess, remove or substitute the spoiler bits, make sure it still makes grammatical sense and isn't too misleading, badda-bing.

Which sounds easy, and definitely takes practice to do.

[alexseanchai]

nodnod

[alexseanchai]

the problem was in fact the p tags

[alexseanchai]

this is the bit I'm trying to add to the summary (with a horizontal rule between the excerpt and this, and having cut bits of the excerpt for conciseness), because if I don't save it somewhere I'll lose it:

Days after fighting the Puppeteer in the Grévin Museum, Chat Noir comes to try to help his still-upset friend; when their conversation strikes her vulnerabilities, Marinette must consider drastic measures to minimize the damage an akumatized Ladybug could do.

[silveradept]

That sounds like a great summary.