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Like most other art, I struggle even to do a good stick figure.
The trigger for this post is the knowledge that I am horrible at writing teasers. In general I feel that most of the ones I have written are no better than insipid hand waving, while trying to be mysterious. I think my big problem is that I am unwilling to put anything of the story into the teaser, but that may be wrong as well.
Therefore, I would like to pose some questions about teasers:
- Do you like them?
- How long should they be?
- What information would you like them to contain?
I think it depends
I too have that problem. I can probably draw better than you describe, but sometimes I find it difficult to produce a teaser that doesn't give the plot away without saying nothing.
Sometime I find that if I point to one thing, it becomes a spoiler for another.
Often I wonder whether it's not the fact that so many that frequent this site want everything spelt out for them in tags and whatnot before they'll even begin to read, that it can ruin the surprise of the story, so it's not been uncommon for me not to provide one at all.
When writing a serial, providing a teaser for each subsequent chapter can be easier, but I don't know why. Perhaps it's that one can assume that the readers are aware of the characters and overall plot so a couple of sentences from the body of the chapter can provide the potential reader with something suitable. It's what AA and I did for Camp K.
More often than not though, it's more difficult to come up with a synopsis than the darned story.
NB
I don't just look it, I really AM that bad...
Tags & Teasers
Often I wonder whether it's not the fact that so many that frequent this site want everything spelt out for them in tags and whatnot before they'll even begin to read, that it can ruin the surprise of the story, so it's not been uncommon for me not to provide one at all.
Given that one reader's innocent evening of fun can leave another reader curled up in a ball on her bed because it contained subjects or descriptions that awaken hidden nightmares and poorly buried fears; I feel that the proper use of tags is something each author should strive for.
"Giving away the story/surprise" suggests to me that the writer has so little faith in what they are writing that once read, the reader will not care to revisit it. If that is how you feel about your story, why are you writing it? Granted there are people who only read a book once, than dispose of it, but I'm not sure I'd find them interesting people to know.
I know one woman who wanted her potential house-mate to dispose of his substantial collection of sci-fi genre paperbacks, on the grounds that he had already read them. He responded by saying that in that case, she should get rid of her music collection since she had already heard the songs.
A reader complained that one of my short stories ruined her whole evening, the subject was so upsetting to her. Then she looked at the tags I used to describe it and realized I'd given more than adequate warning. I even made up a 'roll-your-own' tag when I felt the standard ones didn't adequately convey the subject matter.
So I say, give me accurate tags and a decent synopsis, and let me decide if I want to read the story. Then have faith that you wrote something people will find worth reading.
One last note, a complaint I read several times on the SS Cyberboard concerned images in stories and titles. An eye-catching image can get me to read a story, for that reason alone. A good example is the image for "Footprints In The Fog" by Beverly Colleen. So, unlike some of the people over there who complain about the hassles of images, a reasonably-sized one is a selling point for some of us.
KJT
"Life is not measured by the breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.”
George Carlin
Re: Tags and teasers
If it is to be a surprise that someone is magically changed from male to female, then adding a tag to that effect would surely give the game away.
For things that some may find distressing, I can understand that -- dominance, fetishistic behaviour, sado-masochism etc, but in some cases, what the reader wants know could spoil the story for others.
How many books out there have tags for their content?
The first Harry Potter tells us nothing about the book save that there is a school called Hogwarts, a beetle-eyed giant of a man, a game called Quiddich and the fact that Harry is a wizard.
Some may well have found elements distressing, but were they told in advance?
Not on your life.
I think it's up to the author and if he/she wants to risk a few not reading on account of the fact that they weren't given a synopsis or sufficient tags, then so be it.
I don't just look it, I really AM that bad...
Commercial Fiction
Unless you are buying something off a list online, you at least have a synopsis (usually well-written) to tell in a broad manner what you are going to read. I prefer to buy my books in a bookstore where I can open them up and see what I'm getting. This is a bit different from an online-posted story, at least it is for me.
Knowing there is magic in a story, and knowing how it is manifested, are two different things. Does knowing a story is an SRU story spoil it for the reader? As for Potter, when I first heard the fuss and saw he was a wizard, I knew enough to decide I didn't want to read it. How well it is written (or isn't) is beside the point.
One of my highest-voted stories has one primary character, who commits suicide at the end. There is a tag for "Suicide" at the top, I had to supply it myself because BC does not have one. Apparently enough people read it anyway and liked it that it had 37 votes the other day.
Yes, it is up to the author, but then the reader who complains about running up against a major point they weren't expecting has a right to. If you spoil my evening because you didn't properly tag a story, I will let you know.
KJT
"Life is not measured by the breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.”
George Carlin
Tags and Teasers
There's always a tension on how much to tell in tags and teasers. No author wants the surprises ruined but giving a glimpse inside the carny tent is what draws the marks in. :)
The internet is perhaps the most intimate storytelling medium since the campfire. It's not surprising that readers demand more reassurance from their authors that they won't be terrified or nauseated by what they are about to read. For an author accustomed to thinking of readers at the remove of a bookstore or library, it's rather disconcerting to discover this up-close relationship has some implications regarding two-way responsibilities.
Fiction on the internet is as not as different from printed books as books are different from a Punch-and-Judy show, but it approaches that magnitude.
And the consequences of that difference are that readers are expected to offer almost instant feedback to the author, like leaving a tip on the table after a big dinner in a restaurant. And the author is expected to cater the feast, to write to the reader's tastes and provide a menu and perhaps a sample.
I'm not sure how I developed a facility with teasers but I am fairly good at them. I've written good teasers for stories I've never read, or didn't read until after I wrote the teaser and posted it on BC. :) Here's a way to think of teasers: the potential reader has just said to you, "Tell me something, in 25 words or less, that will make me want to read this story." For a novel, you get to use 100 words. :)
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
Unfortunately, your first sentence isn't always correct
Once in a while I run across something that has nothing on the book jacket or outside of the paperback and on the first page, except rave reviews.
I'm always leery of those books, having been burned too often.
It’s not given to anyone to have no regrets; only to decide, through the choices we make, which regrets we’ll have,
David Weber – In Fury Born
Holly
It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice.
Holly
Suspicious
I'm always leery of those books, having been burned too often.
Same way I feel about authors who refuse to write a useful synopsis, there are a few who ramble vaguely instead.
KJT
"Life is not measured by the breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.”
George Carlin
Teasers
I don't find them too difficult to write but whether they're any good is another matter and not for me to judge.
1: Yes, I like them as long as they're not too long. Some of them are longer than some stories here and fill a whole screen with just one story header.
2: They just need to be long enough to give a feel for the story. No more than 3 or 4 sentences.
3: They should contain just enough information to give a flavour of the story and, hopefully, intrigue a potential reader just enough to want to look further.
Here's an example from an old story of my own which illustrates what I mean; perhaps it could be even shorter. Does it achieve its ends? I hope so.
Jimmy Samson loved going to the pictures. His favourites were the Hollywood American gangster films. He was fascinated by the men, but totally captivated by their girl friends, the gun molls. He thought they were so beautiful and glamorous. He had a guilty secret, though; he didn’t identify with the hard men; he identified with the girls. Jimmy wanted to be a gun moll. Then he found a medallion …
Geoff
You Must Remember This
A kiss is still a kiss, a sigh is just a sigh. The fundamental things apply, as time goes by.
Authors often wait until they are actually posting a story before writing the synopsis -- or teaser. It might be better to write a draft of the synopsis before you start your story and modify it as time goes by.
In general, I decide on a theme for my story before I start writing. I often write that theme on a post-it note and stick it to my monitor, where it will remind me. That theme is as simple as "love conquers all" or "all she wanted was a little acceptance".
By drafting the synopsis before you start you have given yourself a similar touchstone for your writing. Then when your characters decide you should take a hard right into oblivion, you can decide if "oblivion" is germane and moves toward what you want to accomplish. (Editor's note: "Towards" instead of toward on the right-hand side of the pond.)
Many commercial writers will tell you the hardest thing in the process is writing the query letter to attract an agent. That letter demands a three to four sentence synopsis. Some commercial writers even strain to write a one-page synopsis. The fewer the words, it seems for some, the tougher the task.
I often fail writing my teaser, because I'd rather keep the tension in the story intact, than attract readers. For the same reason I often will use only a few descriptors. I'm not a good enough writer to side-step my purpose and expect success.
Quite a high percentage of teasers on this site contain glaring errors. (Don't errors look hideous when they glare?). Probably this is because the author writes them when she posts and doesn't have spell and grammar checker backing her efforts. This is another reason I write them at the top of my manuscript. You can always delete them later when you post, if you want. God gave us the spell checker in his infinite wisdom -- really it says so in "The Chicago Manual of Style" 1.47. (Actually 1.47 deals with being foreword, which I always thought was spelled "forward".)
Erin is the master/mistress of the teaser. If you're having problems, pull up a few of hers and you will be inspired.
One last unholiday-spirited remark. Sometimes the inability to craft a teaser that briefly restates the essence of your story signals that your story has a lack of essence. It's possible you've written a muddled mess. At that point you can decide if your muddled mess has significant socially redeeming qualities outside the framework of literature, and post it; or you can go back to the editing process.
And, as long as I'm being feisty, just because someone has offered to "edit" for you and seems to know spelling and grammar, that doesn't mean she will actually improve your efforts. First of all -- being a good writer doesn't necessarily make you a good editor. I can think of one very good writer who edits for several people. Obviously, given the results, she could do much better. (It's hard to judge an editor by the finished product. I've edited for people who refuse my suggestions and then proudly thank me at the end of the error filled garbage, which really makes my day. Also when reading a story you have no idea what condition it was in when it first got to the editor. It's like cleaning a house -- if you have to start with a shovel, it isn't going to look nice until you've gone through it a dozen or so times.) All that being said, not everything an editor suggests will work for you. Have a spine and reject what isn't your "cuppa". Not every editor has a clue what she is doing. Not every editor, as Holly has said, cares to take the time to determine what you're doing and adjusts her editing to your writing. Editors have one thing in common, huge egos. Most suck at what they're attempting to do, much more than you suck at writing. Proceed with caution.
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
Editing...
>> just because someone has offered to "edit" for you...
There are limitations to the editing process in forums such as this. Most editing here is what would, in the trade, be called proofreading, basically reading the work to ferret out misspelt words and bad grammar. It's not a proofreader's business to rewrite the novel. If they're feeling generous, they may suggest that such and such doesn't work as nicely as it could, or thus and so is distracting, but they are by no means co-authors or copy-editors.
In the professional publishing world, everything is a co-operative effort on the part of many people, and extensive revisions may be suggested, and sometime performed, by a copy-editor, who is *paid* to ensure that the work flows well, adheres to house guidelines, avoids the use of unfelicitous diction, and the like, but the operative word is *paid*.
In the volunteer world, such extensive meddling might properly be seen as co-authorship, since anyone with the skillset to be a copy-editor is also a writer, and might just as well be working on their own copy.
Most amateur writers too, would object to what real copy-editors do, which is to rewrite whatever they damned well please, and let the author argue about it after the fact.
Where a professional may be sanguine about the fact that they're part of a team, and perhaps the "leader" of that team in that they set the general direction, they're also well aware that all the team members are working to present the best novel -- one which sells well in the shops -- and not to flatter the author's ego. Professionals usually take criticism both seriously and well.
My own response to corrections is usually to write a short note of gratitude, or a more lengthy explanation, after seeing what bit of the advice I might possibly take, of why this or that is necessary in order to fit with bits before or after. Often, dealing with what seemed a simple correction may lead to extensive revision, because the "simple" correction pointed out to me that what I'd fondly thought was working wasn't, and was only the tip of a hidden iceberg. Some are not quite so accomodating.
Cheers,
Puddin'
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How often we recall, with regret, that Napoleon once shot at a magazine editor and missed him and killed a publisher. But we remember with charity that his intentions were good.
--- Mark Twain
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Cheers,
Puddin'
A tender heart is an asset to an editor: it helps us be ruthless in a tactful way.
--- The Chicago Manual of Style
Teaming
Most amateur writers too, would object to what real copy-editors do, which is to rewrite whatever they damned well please, and let the author argue about it after the fact.
Some of us professional also onject. My RL editor has no idea about teamwork. Many times what appears in the newspaper, under my by line, has been folded, spindled, and mutilated. I agree that on BC the final product should be a result of teamwork, but the writer must have the final say. That's why no one should edit another writer's work without their okay.
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
Fact of life at newspapers
I saw editors at newspapers rewrite articles all the time when I worked at a fairly good-sized daily newspaper. Slashed, chopped, whacked off, whatever they deemed necessary. Normally, bylined columns were treated a bit more respectfully, but bylined stories were as likely to be "edited" as 'Staff Writer' stories. It was just part of the way things were done.
Stories were turned into the editor, he'd slap a ruler on it, consult the dummy, then shove it across to one of the copy editors on the horseshoe and say, "Cut this to 6 inches and give me a 12 pt two line head." The standing joke around the newsroom was that some stories went to Composing looking as if they'd been written in blue pencil and edited with a typewriter. (Yes, this was back in the day when stories were written on manual typewriters.) The reporter/writer had no say in this process.
How this compares to what occurs at magazines I don't know, my knowledge of magazine and book publishing practices is confined to anecdotal evidence from writers' comments in books.
KJT
"Life is not measured by the breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.”
George Carlin
>> Some of us professionals also object.
Sorry about the above edits, but you'll notice that my little contribution also included a contrary opinion in my sig quote. I've objected too, but usually took my editor's objections seriously, first because I liked her, and second because she liked me, having once commented that she'd never worked with anyone who made her laugh out loud from time to time, which especially endeared her to me. Alas, we never met in person.
Of course a certain amount of tension is unavoidable when trying to churn out enormous quantities of finely polished prose in four months (a typical contract deadline for 700-1200 pages) without entertaining dark thoughts of retiring from the writing life to take up the easy task of digging ditches with a teaspoon.
It sounds like your realtionship with your editor wasn't quite so lovey-dovey, and I do sympathise.
Cheers,
Puddin'
---------------------
I am not the editor of a newspaper and
shall always try to do right and be good
so that God will not make me one.
--- Mark Twain
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Cheers,
Puddin'
A tender heart is an asset to an editor: it helps us be ruthless in a tactful way.
--- The Chicago Manual of Style
Teasers...
...are part of the structure of a chapter, of a paragraph, and of a novel. They should flow from the work, because every portion of a novel should be interesting, and if it's *not* interesting, and doesn't advance the plot, should be cut.
The first few sentences of a novel ought properly to grab the reader, not some random paragraph deep in te interior. Every chapter offers a new opportunity to retain that attention, but you can't fritter away te reader's time with random gossip about Aunt Edna to use up words.
Think of a teleplay or film; these almost *always* (unless experimental and boring) start with something to focus the attention, often something spectacular these days, when location shots are almost as easy as they are in fiction. If the object of the work is to show people climbing Denali, or voyaging to the farthest stars, one doesn't start with the protagonist sitting around doodling in a notebook, making lists of the sort of things that expeditions carry along with them, arguing about expenses, or whiling away the hours at a sewing machine making tents or rubber rafts. Whoops! Ran out of time, so one has a narrator come out from the wings and tell us that Denali was climbed, or the farthest stars were reached.
If you turn on the telly and look at the structure of every show, they start with some sort of bang, even if it's only a joke, end each scene before an interval with another bang, and then start over again with the next scene *after* the interval until at last they come to the big finish, which winds up the hour with something so satisfying or intriguing that one tunes in next week.
So the body in the library appears, the terrorists blow up a building, or Rommel drives on deep into Egypt.
The classical novel has three parts, a setup, in which the characters and situation are introduced; the confrontation, in which the characters, whom we already love to watch, struggle toward their goals; and a denouement, which should, ideally, mirror the beginning in some satisfying way, resolving all the threads *just* before the end, because the readers won't stick around after the good stuff is over. That's why fairy tales usually end abruptly with "...and they lived happily ever after," and symphonies end with a quick restatement and resolution of themes introduced at the beginning.
Our brains *crave* structure, yearn for it, pine when it fails to appear, and hurl the book which neglects to provide them against the wall or into the dustbin rather sooner than later.
The writer's business is to provide it, and the more difficult it is to tease out whatever structure there is, the less likely that readers are going to hang on. If you want to present *deep* meaning, you must usually provide a little shallow meaning as a spoonful of sugar to help the philosophy go down with some measure of pleasure.
Cheers,
Puddin'
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"It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents--except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the housetops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness."
--- Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, the opening sentence of Paul Clifford (1830), purportedly the worst novel ever published and the inspiration for the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest: Wretched Writers Welcome.
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Cheers,
Puddin'
A tender heart is an asset to an editor: it helps us be ruthless in a tactful way.
--- The Chicago Manual of Style
Previously...
Since I've proven to be inconsistent at keeping a rigorous update schedule, in the teasers for my serial chapters I always include a brief recap of the story so far, to jog the reader's memory. I'm not sure if anyone finds it useful or not, but I'd like to think it helps. I then add a very short description of what that chapter's about, with only slightly more information than they'd get if I gave my chapters titles.
Yes, Recaps Are Great
Recaps are especially useful if it's been more than 3 or 4 days since the last posting.
Teasers are a must for me.
The category words are kind of like listing the ingredients of a cake. They tell me what's in it, but what they don't tell me is if the author is any good at cooking those ingredients together. Even if the author is good, category words alone don't tell me if I'll enjoy the story, as all authors eventually have flops. Of course teasers are no guarantee of a good story either.
Between the category words and the teaser hopefully you give your potential reader enough information to draw them in. Even for author's I like if the teaser is missing at the beginning I'll probably give the story a pass. There are just too many good author's, too many stories and not enough time to read even a fraction of them all as I have too many other things to do in my life.
One thing I've always hated for teasers is direct quotes from the story. That's just the lazy way of doing it. Be creative, tell me a bit about the story. Don't give away any critical plot elements, but tell me something about it to draw me in.
I don't think for a serial one needs a new teaser for every chapter, but a general teaser at the beginning would be okay. However using the same teaser all the time might be a bit boring on a long story so modifying the teaser over time may be appropriate.
The other thing that kind of goes along with this discussion is images. If you are going to include images, especially of characters do so from the very beginning. Don't add them part way through, unless the character is just being introduced.
There is a story on here where there was about half a dozen chapters already done. I had already formed images of the characters in my mind. The author then chose to add images of the characters which totally shattered my own image of the characters in the story and have detracted from a fine story. If these character images had been present from the very beginning then it would have been okay.
These are just my thoughts and others may disagree.
Arwen
>> others may disagree.
And I do. I ignore them, although I do take note of category words, as there are many *types* of story I have absolutely no interest in. I view these as the equivalent of "sections" in a bookstore. Some sections may draw me in, but there are many which I avoid. The stories I like involve the protagonist's personal and internal transformation into a better person (call me sentimental) in the face of whatever external circumstances may be encountered. I don't like stories whose primary purpose seems to be providing the framework for a series of sexual escapades.
The little synopses at the start of every chapter always strike me as a type of semi-Victorian "literariness" that I'm not fond of, although I suppose one could also view them as jacket blurbs. The trouble is that blurbs written by an author are a little beside the point. I'd much rather see blurbs written by other authors (although I know that this might put people on the spot), since authors tend always think that their stories accomplish their stated intentions.
---------------
Chapter One
In which Tom visits the Library, discovers the strange volume of half-forgotten lore which leads to an interesting encounter with the second parlour maid, and then reveals the full measure of his inheritance.
Yada yada yada...
---------------
If a story is moderately well-written, it's a fairly trivial task to discover at least something about it in the first few paragraphs. If not, why bother reading further?
In the non-fiction world, they have a definite place, since readers tend to skip around, visiting topics of interest rather than slogging through from cover to cover, so the provision of a synopsis and mini-index into each chapter makes perfect sense, and is a service to the reader. Likewise, an introduction can offer an overview of the general purpose of the text, the intended audience, and so on, but fiction rarely requires a formal introduction these days.
Cheers,
Puddin'
--------------------
I lead a pretty boring life. I once met an editor from the National Enquirer* who said to me, almost apologetically, "I'm sorry, but we're really not interested in you." I'm afraid that's true.
--- John Lithgow
* A US scandal sheet with more pictures than words, more likely to furnish photos of an alleged "Two-Headed Alien Baby!" and the inside scoop (with amazing photos) on the "Bush-Cheny Gay Love Triangle!" than the weather report.
http://www.nationalenquirer.com/
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Cheers,
Puddin'
A tender heart is an asset to an editor: it helps us be ruthless in a tactful way.
--- The Chicago Manual of Style
To each their own
Keywords tell you virtually nothing about the story only the types of elements it may contain. They certainly don't tell you the mix, the quality or the true applicability of said keywords.
A teaser if properly written gives you a feel for the piece without having to open up the story and creating a read hit for a story, that had the teaser been there you would never have opened the story. A good teaser can be an indication of the type of writing present in the story. Granted some people are good at the sales pitch but can't deliver the promised product. After reading a few failed promises from an author you know to ignore their sales pitches.
Whereas a good teaser from an author I like may tell me whether I want to read the particular story or take a pass on it, keywords can't tell me that. There are vary few authors (here and professionally) that I will read everything they write. Each piece needs to be evaluated individually and every bit of information helps, thus the value of the teaser.
As for commercial works of fiction, I hardly have ever picked up a novel to read unless it has a teaser on the back or inside cover to give me an idea of what the story is about and whether I might like to read it or not. I especially despise the radio active glowing reviews attached to the covers as they are almost always wrong in my experience.
In the end having a good teaser can only help sell a person's story. Since you dislike them and ignore them anyway you don't have to worry about reading them if they are included by the author.
Maybe Erin can clarify something for me; does opening a comment add another read hit to the parent node, i.e. the story? My feeling is that it does, although it is hard to tell with so many people on the site.
Well, Puddin' to each their own.
Arwen
Yes, reading comments counts as a hit
When the next major upgrade to the site software happens, only the first read per day per member (ipaddress for non-members) will count as a hit. But that's probably not going to happen for months, I've got at least one minor upgrade to do first.
I'm running Drupal 5.x which counts any opening of a post as a hit. Drupal 6.x is out and has the option to count only unique reads or unique daily reads as hits. I'm going to upgrade to Drupal 5.x+1 in a week or so and have planned to upgrade to 6.x sometime between March and July, though it may be earlier. I'm waiting for some 6.x beta modules to reach gamma.
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
I tend to USE teasers
as a second "filter" on whether to try out a new story. (First is if I recognize the author and have enjoyed his/her stuff in the past.) Only after that, do I go to the "categories" and such.
There are things that show up in a teaser that turn me OFF, and guarantee I won't look at the story... I don't know of any that will guarantee pulling me in.
Some successful ones have been "excerpts" from the story (a juicy bit of dialog, or a scene description)...
That's just me though.
Annette
Tags that draw attention
I do use the keywords/tags to search for a particular type of story if I'm in that mood. One that I use frequently is Long Hair (whatever version of that a site has). I've always had a thing for long hair, Robyn's was down to her lower back and I loved helping her take care of it. My own stopped growing prior to there, or it would have been that long also. So when I see Long Hair/Hair Salon as one of the tags, it guarantees I will at least stop and take a look.
So remember, you are not just drawing readers in for the period of time a story is on the home page, you are also setting up catagories for readers in the future to look for. That magic story you didn't tag "Magic" isn't going to get readers who want to read magic stories a year or two from now.
"Life is not measured by the breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.”
George Carlin
Jeopardy and the Art of the Teaser
After some thinking, I came up what one of my main tricks or techniques is for writing teasers. This works best for short stories. Imagine that the story is the answer to a question. The teaser that you want to write then is the question. You don't always have to phrase it as a question, though, since Alex Trebek doesn't come to BC -- much. :)
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
In the minoity?
I think I must be in a small minority on this. I can't write synosis worth a hill of beans (that's not the minoity part), and I seldom even try. If I had something to say that I could say in fifty words, I wouldn't take 10k plus words to say it.
But here is the minority part: I don't like them on other stories either. There are none of my favorites, either on line or in 'real books' that I could ever do that to. Anything that can be that quickly cast isn't very inviting.
A synopsis isn't the same as tags though; yes, I want to know if the story is a drama or comedy or adventure or historical etc., but don't tell me what the story is about. And often the tags tell to much too; Not all TG stories involve a change of gender, that is the tension of the story, and if I'm told that the protagonist is TG or isn't TG at the beginning the tale loses a great deal.
So I actually avoid the stories that have the 'best' synopses; the first fifty or hundred words will tell me what I really want to know.
That's Just me, Jan
Thank you
My sentiments exactly
I don't just look it, I really AM that bad...