x-posted at fanficrants

[agilebrit]

So, I plugged in "suck" into the "Buffy" section at the Pit. Here are some of the lovely summaries that popped up:

I suck at this, AU Faith doesn't go to L.A. She and Buffy get together in a later chapter. Please read and lots of feed back please. Chapter 10 now up.

AU, my second one i suppose, and BA. I just suck at summaries so You'll just have to read it to find out what it's all about. It's short as hell...I promise!

Ok, I suck at summeries. It's based on the movie Drive Me Crazy, actually it basicly is Drive Me Crazy, except with Buffy characters. BA all the way!


Suck at Summaries Totally AU fantasy

You get the idea.

Listen up people. You have 209 characters, including spaces and punctuation, to get me interested enough to click on the link to your fic. (Yes, I've counted.) Unless I'm in a particularly masochistic mood, I'm not going to click on something that says any variation of "I suck at summaries" (no matter how you spell it.) If I am in a masochistic mood, keep in mind that the only reason I would click on a fic with that in the summary is to point and laugh.

Plus the fact that if you "suck at summaries," chances are you suck at storytelling too.

209 characters. Use them wisely.

---

In other news, I'm working on the commentary for Ch1 of "A Mess of Pottage." Nearly done. Might get it posted later today; we'll see how it goes. And I have an idea for the Songfic-That-Isn't for Totally Obscure.

Comments

[speakr2customrs.livejournal.com]

I don't know whether to laugh or cry. I mean, on the basis of those 'summeries' I wouldn't read the fics at gunpoint.

Ok, I suck at summeries. It's based on the movie Drive Me Crazy, actually it basicly is Drive Me Crazy, except with Buffy characters. BA all the way!

Yes, like anyone with even a modicum of taste is going to want to read a rewrite of a movie done by someone who can't spell just because the character names have been changed.

And yet people do read such things! ::shakes head and weeps for humanity::

[agilebrit.livejournal.com]

Not only do they read it, but it has 14 (mostly postive) reviews. ::weeps with you::

Gen writers are underappreciated. Apparently people will read and review ANYTHING if it has a pairing they like. Bleh. *looks over reviews* Oh, look...here's someone who can spell "Dalmatian" correctly, but misspells "writing." ::goes to corner and rocks back and forth, mumbling::

[crayonbreakygal.livejournal.com]

Oh hon. I don't know what to say other than you are so totally right. Ticks me off too. Not sure why these people don't look at the TV Guide or TV listings in the newspaper. Those are the best learning tools to be able to write a short but sweet summary. If I see "I suck at summeries" one more time, I'll scream too, the spellling error aside.

I always want to write my summaries in the shortest sentence possible. I know you do too. Ack. Oh well. Maybe they'll learn one day.

[whirligigged.livejournal.com]

I would rather not read something that the author has compared to "hell." And hell probably isn't that short anyway.

Also, why 209 characters? Why not 200? 210? Why 209? Strange people.

[agilebrit.livejournal.com]

Why 209? I have no idea. But I plugged one of my summaries that was too long into my word processor, and that's what came out...and it was consistent with other summaries I plugged in that were too long too.

So, now you know. You can stick your summary into your word processor and do a character count, and if you have too many, you know you have to shorten it. :-)

[alliterator.livejournal.com]

Well, those summaries just suck. It's like the summary is, "Don't read this fic. Don't read this fic. This fic sucks. Don't read this fic." over and over again.

Usually, I have a quote (from the fic or from somewhere else) for the summary, because, yes, I do suck at summaries, but I never put in the summary that I suck at summaries. And if push comes to shove, I can make up a halfway decent summary. And usually it's really short, like Lianne smokes to forget. or Spike in a bar on Halloween. and, my shortest summary to date, A fight, struggle, battle. (Although technically, it's describing the title of the fic "Dimicatio" which is Latin for... a fight, struggle, or battle.)