How to Write a Good Story Summary

Have you ever written a story and come to post it on Mibba but then struggled to think of a good summary for your work? Or maybe you simply want to improve your summaries to draw in more readers when they do click on your story. Either way, you’re sure to find a tip or two in this article to help you write better summaries for your stories.

Keep It Short

You don’t want to have an intimidatingly large chunk of text for your summary, or give the reader so much information that they no longer need to read the story. Keeping your summary to the point will make people want to click on the first chapter. Sometimes only one sentence is needed to be an effective summary, such as a quote, and readers only need a small taste of the emotion or action to be motivated to read more.

Who, What, Where, When, Why

If you are really stuck with what to write, then go back to the five W’s. This is a basic but good way to explain your story to a new reader. Try to keep things as simple as possible (for example, exclude character names and refer to people as ‘the magician’ or ‘the homeless boy’ so they are more relatable), but by answering those five W’s you will create a good picture for the beginning of your story.

Why This Story?

Ask yourself what is it about your story that the reader should care about? Give them some information that makes your story sound exciting, and give them something to look forward to. Why is your story unique and worth reading?

Use an Excerpt

Sometimes the best thing to do is to take a small paragraph from an interesting point in your story. This can make the reader excited to get to that point in the story, and watch the characters’ journeys to that destination.

Proper Grammar and Spelling

It’s simple, but it’s a must! If you don’t have good grammar and spelling in your summary, then the reader will assume that the rest of your story is also going to be difficult to read, so proofreading your summary is worth the effort!

Avoid Questions

Unless you’re writing a mystery story that has plenty of questions that need answering, it’s generally best to avoid asking questions in your summary. If your story is a romance, asking ‘who will she choose’ or ‘will he ever find true love’ tends to be pointless. You can address these issues in more interesting ways than posing questions. If you feel as though asking a question is necessary, then try to steer clear of the clichés.

Don’t Leave it Blank

Having no summary is usually a turn off for readers. No matter how challenging it might be, try to put some effort and thought into writing some sort of summary for your work. Likewise, putting something along the lines of ‘my summary is bad, but the story is good, please read’ or ‘if you don’t like it, don’t read it’ does nothing to interest potential readers in your story. Instead, show them that you are confident about your work.

Include Any Warnings or Pairings (Optional)

This is a tip more useful for fan fiction writers, and is also a personal preference when it comes to creative writing sites. To help make sure your readers have clicked on the right story for them, you may wish to add at the bottom of your summary any warnings (for example, suicide or rape) and any pairings you will have in the story.

Hopefully you have found at least one good tip in this article to help you write better summaries for your stories here on Mibba! If you have any advice of your own, feel free to post it in the comments section!

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