|
Post by kanshu on Sept 23, 2004 4:29:40 GMT -5
Hehe... well, it would help to know what else is going on, like:
Four guys. A Jeep. A mission. - They thought they had seen it all until a flat tire strands Sanzo & gang in a desolate mountain area. Will they survive?
or how about this?
Four guys. A jeep. A karaoke bar. Too much sake. -- Will the Goddess of Mercy shut them up for good?
|
|
kitsuneoni not logged in
Guest
|
Post by kitsuneoni not logged in on Sept 23, 2004 8:57:16 GMT -5
Oooh... I like that first one! *g*
Somehow, Sanzo & gang seems to inspire more confidence. Sometimes when I see Sanzo-ikkou in a summary (though not always) I get this vibe of "evil fic filled with tons of japanese"!
|
|
|
Post by kanshu on Sept 28, 2004 6:03:00 GMT -5
Well, it has a lot to do with what you are trying to say. "gang" has a negative 'meaning', like in criminals/gangsters. I could have said "team", which would be positive. "group of misfits" is another one I like. That's one of the important things when writing a summary - use words that get across what kind of characters you are dealing with. Keywords are quite important.
|
|
|
Post by therhoda on Sept 28, 2004 6:09:44 GMT -5
i am actually leaning towards a Duddly Do-Right approach.
When last we saw our Gallant heroes. Sanzo said "Shut up you loud ape!" Hakkai said "Now, now."
Tune in for next exciting adventures with Sanzo and company.
I think it is funny and I would check it out just to see what they had done.
|
|
|
Post by kanshu on Sept 28, 2004 6:24:33 GMT -5
That would work more for an in-story advertisement. For a summary, it's lacking the "teaser", the 'essence' of what the story is about. This would only work if the spoken language was strong enough to carry the story.
"Shout up, you loud ape!" When Sanzo's patience is tested to the limit, not even Hakkai's 'Now, now' can keep our gallant team from falling apart.
or in the fun version:
Sanzo has a team of gallant heroes travelling with him. Sanzo is the chosen one to save the world. Sanzo has - "Shut up you loud ape!" - Did I mention he has a headache, too?
|
|
|
Post by lazy treneka on Jan 15, 2005 18:50:35 GMT -5
I just realized for good and all that I am incapable of writing summaries. I just submitted a story for Chrno Crusade, and my scientific mind, when attempting to summarize what occurs in the text, only got as far as "Chrno recounts a mission he and Rosette went on" or something excruciatingly similar. I think one of the problems with writing scientific abstracts is that the quality of showmanship and reader-luring needed for a good summary of a fictional work is absolutely hammered out of you. *grumbles*
Oh well. Just had to get that rant out of my system. *smiles* I think I'll just start basing all of my work on the literary offerings of far better authors and then plagiarizing summaries from the backs of the books... *giggles*
|
|
|
Post by Ganheim on Jan 18, 2005 16:48:01 GMT -5
What you write in the summaries can depend greatly. If anybody's seen the movie Sixth Sense (a very good one I heartily recommend), you'd know that giving away the ending would have completely destroyed the entire movie, so instead summarizing where the movie starts out is a good thing to write. Then there's the TV show called "Pretender". In it, you know right from the start what the end is going to be. But throughout the series the story goes through such a roller coaster that you don't care that you know what's going to happen, because you're too exited figuring out what's happening out now and guessing at all the immediate plot twists. When I wrote my summary for Crossing the Rubicon, I established the context for the beginning of the story (though currently I haven't even gotten to the "meat" of the story yet). Anyway, I set up where the story begins at, and hit at some of the events that take place by midway, but I remain very vague about the who, what and why, and I never say how it's going to end up or who dies. Before I end this post, I should bring up the topic of multiple summaries. Fan Fiction.net only allows so many characters in the index page summary, but you can put a more complete summary at the beginning of the first chapter (or prologue or whatever). Personally, I think the limit has been helpful - I know it's forced me to keep things concise and ended up making me leave the summary rather obscure, which ended up quite helpful.
|
|
|
Post by kitsuneoni on Jan 21, 2005 5:37:55 GMT -5
Sorry for the very long disappearing act, everyone... I just have been really busy and without any inet at home I don't spend as much time on the net. (Wow, what a way to cure my addiction!)
Anyway. For summaries, I never give away the ending because I always try to have a twist, and even if the readers have a clue as to how it ends, I like to leave the suspense. Plus, the ending of my stories change while I'm writing it, depending on the mood that strikes me.
Normally I just try give a hint of the plot/conflict the story revolves around, maybe the main setting, just to give the readers an idea of what type of story it is. And sometimes I end up changing a summary 2 or 3 times after posting because I change my mind on how to present it. ^^
*is a very indecisive, changeable creature*
|
|