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Writing Tips for the Naru-Verse by RawrTheDinoLycan

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Table of Contents

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Chapter notes: RAWR: Hey everyone! I'm super happy that this little guide of mine is getting both review and reviewers! I do hope I'm helping some of you guys.

Please note that I use real examples of fanfictions I have come across. I do somewhat flame them in a rather snarky manner. I do this because you have to realize that the writing world is harsh. Even though we try to give you a safe enviroment to write, if you do stupid things you're going to attract mean people just waiting to sink their claws into you. Also, I'm pretty snarky.
Next Issue- Writing a Summary

I see that many an author has trouble with summaries, yes, even seasoned ones. And while I do admit that sometimes I will read a rather good story with a less impressive summary, this is very rarely the case. To be honest, whenever I read a bad summary I don’t bother reading the story.

Want to know why? Here’s what to avoid!

(Sorry! Just want to mention that ALL of these summaries are REAL. I will not post where I got them, or who wrote them, but I want you to see what YOU subject readers to when you don’t care about your summary. *ahem* Continue!)

1) Fishing

You’ve seen it before. The summaries that are just fishing for you to read them, e.g.:

“Out of Character, horrible summary. Read/Review because i’m desperate.”

Um, why do I care if you’re desperate? You’re too lazy to write a summary and you’ve admitted to your characters being OUT OF character. Nothing in this makes me want to read. If I review, it will probably be a flame. So, I’m just not gonna’ read.

“Rachel gets knocked up by Puck, runs away, Puck goes after her…. i’m bad at summaries.”

Oh geez, if you can’t write a 260 character summary well than I fear to see what your actual story contains.

“OK I suck at summaries, like everyone else :D But um… BLAHBLAHBLAH The summary sucks but please read! The story is way better… I hope.”

“A GaaSaku one-shot full of lemony goodness ! The title says it all! Dedicated to all my fellow perverted GaaSaku fans out there, and if you're a newbie then... Come on. Click on it. You know you wanna. ;) Reviews are much appreciated, thank you! If you like GaaSaku then check out my other story "Falling Inside The Black", which is almost to its end with about seven chapters. X3”

Wow, all of that, and I have no idea what the premise of your story is. Please quit writing fanfiction, kthxbai.

Okay, whenever I see a summary that includes any combinations of these words I tend to skim right over it. Why? Because I don’t care if you think your summary sucks or not; however, I do care if you’re too lazy to even write a summary or if you’re so lazy that you don’t bother to write a good one. Just give it your best shot! So what if it’s not perfect? It will be far less annoying than the alternative (see two examples above)! Show your readers that you’re not lazy, actually try to write a frickin’ summary. Nobody cares if you think the story is better or not. Just. Write. The. Summary.

I mean, seriously, it’s 260 characters on average. Don’t waste them by telling your readers that you suck. Guess what? When they read that, they’re NOT gonna’ read your story. And, in that last one’s case, quit shamelessly promoting yourself. If your story is any good, then readers will flock to your page to see what else you have written.

2) Misspellings and Grammar

Oooooh, this is one of my biggest pet peeves EVER! Whenever I see a summary that’s like:

“By some twist of fate shikamaru was put on team 7. How will this turn out? who will fall for who? SHIKASAKU CHOJIINO, SASUNARUSASU,TENHINA, NEJIOC, LEEGAARA Plz R&R Co-Written with Master of the Toys! mah biffle!”

… Capitalization is wrong and that second who should be whom. Also wow, I do not care about any of those pairings except for the main one and it doesn’t need to be completely capitalized. Do NOT text speak. What the hell is a biffle? Next.

“At a young age a vampire kills his family and hes sent to Vatican city to an orphanage run by Alexander Anderson now hes an assasin for Iscariot sent to eliminate all heretical threats vampire,deamon,or human”

Oh geez, run on sentence much? Don’t get me started on the punctuation and spelling mistakes.

“My Name Is Naruko, and i'll NEVER forgive what Konoha did to me... Not even if Itachi's stupid brother tries to drag me back by force! Akutsuki is my family! Screw Konoha!... Right?”

I know I’ll never forgive you for your random capitalizations, periods, and misspellings.

“it's a gaara bender gender story. Gaara lives in Suna, and her boyfriends lives in Konoha can she trust him, or will her heart be shattered? femgaa, and femnaru. rated for cussing, and stuff. I suck at this stuff. .”

…. What? Oh, you suck at this stuff? That certainly makes me want to read your story!

Just check over your summary… Please! It takes two seconds to make sure there are no idiotic mistakes. It’ll get you more readers, which means more reviews, which means that you can get both praise and constructive criticism! Whereas, if you keep a summary like any mentioned above, then you’re going to be getting flames. Sorry, not sorry!

3) Talking about yourself

Yeah, no one cares. Just write about your story. That’s what people want to read. No one gives a damn what your inspiration or life story is. If they are curious, they can go to your profile because that’s what it’s for. Please avoid the following:


“This idea came to me suddenly, almost like I'd said I like trains or something. Kinda hurt. Anyway, it was supposed to be shorter than it actually turned out to be but oh well. Can't sacrifice quality for less quantity can we? Well this is what happens when Lee's slightly OOC and an internet nerd and has no friends and meets a sexy redhead online one day. Crappy sum. Enjoy. :)”

“This is a story I did on Quzilla for a friend and I decided to post it on here just incase Quizzila decides to be a pain and take it down. I hope you all enjoy my story. I tried to keep Gaara in character as much as possible, but I could actually see him being pretty shy when it comes to sex since well, he doesn't know much about love after all. And this is a Gaara and You story.”

Ohimigoth, nobody cares! Just write a frickin’ summary!

Okay, now you’ve seen some pretty bad summaries, and you’ve read my amusing and insulting rants.

Maybe you’re asking yourself, why are summaries so important?

Summaries are important because they are the first thing your readers will read. If not written correctly, then there is little chance that a reader will actually want to read your story.

Summaries should just be that, a summary. They need to draw the readers in, hook their attention if you will. Your summary needs to show that they should be perusing YOUR story, not anybody else’s.

Summaries are also a teaser. They should hint at what’s in the story without giving too much away. Don’t make them too long, and don’t put any irrelevant information in them.

Listen, I’m not the best at writing summaries I’ll admit. However, I am also not the worst. I’m proud to see that there are very few writers on this site who cannot write a summary, so peruse the fanfictions if you get stuck. Maybe one of their summaries will give you inspiration.

Just remember these key points!

1) Don’t have spelling mistakes!

2) Don’t make it too long!

3) No irrelevant information!

4) Don’t give too much away!

Hope I helped! Until the next installment, keep on writing!
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