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If I was doing something constantly in my story summaries that was annoying... someone would tell me, right? (I am asking here... honestly). I've just reformatted slightly the way I do them because I saw someone else's way I liked.
Is it me or does the following just make you want to throw heavy objects about -
-> You can see the pairing if you squint - Argh! Either it's gen or it's ship or it's that weird murky land of pre-ship, but it shouldn't be "gen" with an appeal to shippers to read it too because they might be able to read between the lines... We have to do that enough with the actual shows.
-> Secks - Who started this?? I keep seeing it! Whoever it is, I want to staple things to your head.
-> I suck at summaries, please read - You might as well write "I like ponies, please read" or "Whip, whip, snokity whee!" There was a little while there where I didn't see this as much but there seems to have been a resurgence. Also - the any summary will spoil the story thing. What? Unless your story is one of those six-line things floating around, I don't think it will.
I'm just saddened that I am finding myself filtering out communities more often. I *like* reading new stories by new people. Help me out here people!
Bah... I think I'm just cranky. Maybe I need a nap.
Is it me or does the following just make you want to throw heavy objects about -
-> You can see the pairing if you squint - Argh! Either it's gen or it's ship or it's that weird murky land of pre-ship, but it shouldn't be "gen" with an appeal to shippers to read it too because they might be able to read between the lines... We have to do that enough with the actual shows.
-> Secks - Who started this?? I keep seeing it! Whoever it is, I want to staple things to your head.
-> I suck at summaries, please read - You might as well write "I like ponies, please read" or "Whip, whip, snokity whee!" There was a little while there where I didn't see this as much but there seems to have been a resurgence. Also - the any summary will spoil the story thing. What? Unless your story is one of those six-line things floating around, I don't think it will.
I'm just saddened that I am finding myself filtering out communities more often. I *like* reading new stories by new people. Help me out here people!
Bah... I think I'm just cranky. Maybe I need a nap.
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I hate those fics/summaries. I don't want to freaking squint! Like you said, it's gen, or it's ship, or it's pre-ship...pick one! *sticks pins in You can see the pairing if you squint-author voodoo dolls*
-> I suck at summaries, please read
Unless the fic is written by someone I've read before (and they've been great), I won't read any fic with that in the summary. It's ridiculous. I mean, how hard is it to write something like "John and Rodney get stranded on another world"? I mean, it's eight words long! Summaries don't have to be works of art...that's the story's job!
I'm not going to go into the "secks" thing, because it offends me on a grammatical level. I may have to beat those people to death with a stick.
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*hands you sticks and more voodoo dolls*
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I usually write a style of story that largely doesn't have a plot, or really any transition from A to B, which often makes it hard to write a summary for it. Other than that, sometimes one of the lines from the fic really does summarise what the story is about, without giving too much away. Usually if the story is longer (i.e. it most likely has some sort of plot...) then I'll give a proper summary, otherwise I will often use a line which summarises the fic. However, I think I've become better at doing that over time, with really picking a line that does summarise it, or altering the line so it definitely does.
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Yeah, that is the thing. Using that sort of summary you do need to be careful what you use.
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I suppose it could be annoying if an outside person didn't get the same sense of things being summed up in that thought. I'm definitely going to be self-conscious about it in the future now (which may not be a bad thing).
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I might have to be quiet about the first though...I find ship/pre-ship/gen to be annoying things. I understand why that person wrote that...scared to loose either side, because gen'ers often won't read anything with even the teensiest hint of ship (and feel ambushed when they aren't warned) and because shippers can be snippy bitches if there isn't anything overt enough to be called out and out ship. I feel stupid every time I have to label a fic team *and* ship, just to advertise the fact that there are more than two characters involved in the story and that yes, there is also a thread of ship. Sigh. I think this is why I don't even bother to label anything on my website. Read at your own risk. (Though I imagine most people know me as a SJer anyway so no big surprise. I won't get into the 'MG she had the gall to write another pairing' BS) But this probably just makes me sound like an uptight, egocentric writer. Oh well. :) All that said, I do see your point. Saying 'ship if you squint' is probably, just like the rest, a sign of a youngun quite concerned with getting as many hits on that story as possible. Hopefully they will grow out of it. :P
But now you have made me self-conscious about my own summaries. Lol.
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Honestly, it's just the way it's done. I'm in the don't-have-to-warn-about-every-little-thing camp. I don't necessarily believe in having every single pairing or vague hint of UST spelled out or anything like that, but being so wishy-washy about it just gets me.
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I suck at summaries - oh,yes, this one irks me no end.
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Honestly, though, the thing I hate most? The people who use a piece of poetry or lyrics as their summary rather than something from the story.
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Summaries that Suck
1. If you say 'ship' and it's NOT S/J better say so upfront before someone lynches you...LOL. I had that a few times. Got flamed.
2. I hate reading a 'line' from the fic for the summary. Just write something.
3. If you want folks to read it, you have to put something catchy. I had several dozen readers SEND me advice on how to do this. For an SG1 Rome fic, someone told me that the idea of SG1 going back to Rome was a turnoff... hey it was about a planet stuck in the Roman Empire system...how do you NOT say it's about Rome? D'Oh.
4. If you even think it might be for older kids/teens/ etc... better say so. I have heard of parents flaming authors.
5. what are "Secks"?
6. There are folks out there who will NOT read anything not S/J. Tell them to go jump for me please.
7. Please, get over the basic trite descriptions... "lost on a planet, captured and tortured, get in trouble, never thought possible, strange inhabitants, must save each other, against orders, impossible odds, save the planet,..." I'll shoot the next guy who uses those descriptions. Are we writers... or .... mice?
Thanks for the rant.
LMAO!
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Re: Summaries that Suck
As in hot monkey secks... *groans* Your mispelling is neither cute nor quirky... argh!
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Totally with you on the "I suck at summaries" people. You can write a whole fic but not come up with one intriguing line for a summary? This does not bode well for you. It's become a sort of red flag now.
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Avast! Off with their heads... :)
I don't mind if there is UST or pairing is implied, but I hate people washing their hands of any responsibility like that. I'm sorry, do they not know what they wrote??
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I prefer the "I suck at summeries, please R&R!" version. *headdesk*
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*deep breath*
There, now that's off my chest. :)
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I've used the liberties with canon one myself though. Sometimes with shows with slightly unreliable canon *cough*Smallville*cough*, or Batman-fic where there's 102 different backstories, it's best to clarify which version you're using. It also saves you getting 20 bits of feedback saying "you've ignored so-and-so's line in episode three..." when that's something you did deliberately.
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Secks? Huh? Spelling error? Please staple things (like a dictionary) to this person's head. I do suck at summaries too, but I'd never put that in the summary, for goodness sake. Damn, don't people look at a TV guide or whatever and see that you can summarize a fic in one or two sentences. Sure, it's difficult. I suck at it too. Actually, I suck more at titles.
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I understand it's a skill. I mean, authors don't write the blurbs on their own books... :)
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This one always makes me laugh, because I can ship my favourite pairing with absolutely nothing to go on :P
eg. "Cameron walked into the room and went over to where Sam was standing..." I'll immediately assume they're having hot monkey sex in their free time :D
But I completely agree, it's either ship, pre-ship or gen - pick one!!
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Because they totally are.
:)
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That doesn't even narrow it down to a *season*.
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Hee! And yes! This drives me nuts too. But I don't come across it that often because these days I only read authors I already trust, or someone who's been recc'd by someone I trust. You're on the list *g* I just don't have the time to wade through everything.