Tips & Tricks to Writing on Wattpad

5 Tips on Summaries

5 TIPS ON SUMMARIES

Before we get to tips, let’s talk about the different types of summaries. In my opinion, there are three general types of summaries (on Wattpad).

The first kind, it’s short, and doesn’t give you much information. It gives you a general feel of the story (if it’s teen-fic, horror, action, etc), but not much more than that. It makes you curious to know what the story’s about. I like to call them ‘artsy’, because it’s not really the kind of summary you’re expecting, and they’re usually pretty unique.
Example:

Over Again by awesome4evah (me)
How they met: climbing down a rope ladder fifteen stories above the ground.
How long they dated: eight months.
How much he doesn't remember: one whole year.
How they fell apart: one car accident, and one big lie.

The second type usually gives you more information. It also focuses a lot on the main character. It’s often written in first person, but not always. It’s sort of like the main character telling someone what’s happening, with small comments thrown in. Usually, this is used in Humor, Romance and Teen Fiction.
Example:

Life After the Mistaken by _SecondJaineration_
It all happened a year ago.
A few weeks before the summer of 2012.
I had let my best friend of twelve years leave for spring break whilst being on bad terms.
Little did I know that, that would be the last time I'd speak to Mila Sanders.
Join in this tragic story that begins with two words,
Dear Mila.

The last type gives information, but makes it interesting. The difference between this type and the second type is that this type of summary is almost always written in third person, and focuses solely on telling the plot of the story. It doesn’t have the little comments thrown in. This kind of summary, I believe, is used the most often used for published books.
Example:

Orphala by HerDemons
Back then, when the world was still known as the supercontinent Pangaea, you might have heard about the continental drift. But what you didn't know was that when they broke apart, a piece of land now called Orphala has drifted off - lost and alone, surrounded only by water.
 When Aaliyah's family moves to Italy, she in her misfortune gets lost out at sea and stumbles across Orphala, where humans aren't welcome. There the fairy tales come true with the magical land populated with dragons, unicorns, mermaids, and many more mythological creatures that seem to have popped out of one of her childhood story books. Yet one little fact turns this dream into a nightmare.
Orphala's on the brink of war with itself, one that can and will shatter the entire world.
And it's up to Aaliyah to stop it.

You can pick any type of summary you want. Different types of summaries appeal to different people, and for different reasons. These tips work with any of these types of summaries.

1) Don’t put in unnecessary information

This sound obvious, but a lot of summaries have a bunch of stuff we don’t need to know.
I promise you, we don’t need to know your character’s seven middle names just yet.
Keep it simple.
If the place where your MC lives doesn’t affect the plot, don’t mention it.
If the government of the future world your MC lives in doesn’t do much, don’t spend a paragraph describing what they do.

It’s especially easy to put in unnecessary information if you’re using Type Three, because it seems like everything’s important. You have to go through the events in your book, and pick out what the most important things are, and what would seem the most interesting.

2) Make it sound original

Again, it sounds obvious, but a lot of summaries sound very similar.
If you’re using a plot that’s been used a lot, at least try to make it sound different in your summary.
Focus on the unique things in your story, instead of the cliché elements.