Synopsis Don'ts

[TheMonotonePuppet]

What are some things you would strongly recommend never doing in a synopsis?

For me, it's starting with "A [Insert "man", "woman", "enby", whatever] with the power to...".
Don't do it. It's how I know the story is trash. Not even redeemable trash or trash for trash's sake. It's just bad. Although, actually, at least it's good advertising of what is in it: a 2-D character with zero background and the barest minimum of allusions to a personality plopped into a world with a power with poor justification for having it. Never mind. For those who do it, keep doing it so I can stay away. It doesn't even matter the power tends to be overpowered. I still wouldn't be interested even if the power was interesting. It's bad because you can't even ascribe a quality to your main character. "Generic human" would be more interesting.

Having any grammar mistakes in a synopsis is another one. It's literally the first introductory paragraph of the entire story. If there are issues with it, even a most basic typo at all, then I shudder to think what the story is like.

Sounding huffy and ridiculing i.e. using your synopsis as a critique piece. It's bitter-sounding. Whiny. Please don't do it.

But yeah, what grinds your gears for other people's synopses?

 

[MarekSusicky]

So... What if the synopsis is like this? Interested in the story?

A man in his thirties, called Joey, was met with a fate that he haven't expected. A truck hit him when he was saving a young boy!

He met a goddess, who was very sorry, it was not supposed to happen, so she gave him a cheat power - he can defeat any opponent.

Today, Joey is crowned a King Of The World, after he conquered it all.

On serious note, I need to know the stakes. Without stakes I don't read.

 

[RepresentingWrath]

Don't bore the reader.

 

[TheMonotonePuppet]

So... What if the synopsis is like this? Interested in the story?

Uhhh... not really.
It is a modicum better, because it is simplistic enough to hint that not is all as it seems, but not by much.
And it has grammar mistakes.
And makes it ruins any tension, because the true bulk of the story is done and dusted.

I don't know... maybe something like this?

Spoiler: Synopsis

Joey, a simple man with a simple name that brings to mind adorable baby kangaroos, was met with a fate that he hadn't expected.

Sadly, it was decidedly lacking in adorable baby kangaroos.

At the tender age of an old man - thirty years old - he dies to the stainless steel bumper of a madwoman driving a truck. At least the young boy originally on a collision course with the cackling maniac got away safe, traumatized forever. Let's just say Joey made a looong, bloody skidmark.

He met a goddess, who was "very sorry." It was not supposed to happen. She had wanted to shove the responsibility of ruling a world on a young kid instead, but oh well.
So, she gave him a cheat power - he can defeat any opponent.
... Except for adorable baby kangaroos of course.

Today, Joey is crowned a King Of The World, after he conquered it all. But now he has to face the invasion of the joeys, who by divine misadministration have access to his power as well. Can he corral his world to face off against the impossibly cute, hoppin' mad marsupials or will it fall apart divided?

Don't bore the reader.

Wow. *clap, clap* Wow.

 

[MarekSusicky]

I don't know... maybe something like this?

Damn, I wanna read it now. And about adorable baby kangaroos.

 

[RepresentingWrath]

Wow. *clap, clap* Wow.

 

[SRB]

Huh? A synopsis donuts?

 

[Iceheart]

What are some things you would strongly recommend never doing in a synopsis?

For me, it's starting with "A [Insert "man", "woman", "enby", whatever] with the power to...".
Don't do it. It's how I know the story is trash. Not even redeemable trash or trash for trash's sake. It's just bad. Although, actually, at least it's good advertising of what is in it: a 2-D character with zero background and the barest minimum of allusions to a personality plopped into a world with a power with poor justification for having it. Never mind. For those who do it, keep doing it so I can stay away. It doesn't even matter the power tends to be overpowered. I still wouldn't be interested even if the power was interesting. It's bad because you can't even ascribe a quality to your main character. "Generic human" would be more interesting.

Having any grammar mistakes in a synopsis is another one. It's literally the first introductory paragraph of the entire story. If there are issues with it, even a most basic typo at all, then I shudder to think what the story is like.

Sounding huffy and ridiculing i.e. using your synopsis as a critique piece. It's bitter-sounding. Whiny. Please don't do it.

But yeah, what grinds your gears for other people's synopses?

For me its when they start with a variant of this: In this grand world of bla bla bla
Or like this: In this ephmeral world of magic the reader shall experience a thrilling tale of adventure bla bla bla
Or when the synopsis is so self aggrandising that its off putting.
Or when the author throws around a lot of rarely used/old fashioned words and descriptors to seem better than they are. No, they don't make you seem better, you just tacked three different descriptor, with all three meaning the same thing, to a word that either needed none of them or just one of them would have been enough.

 

[expentio]

Oh, I got something!

If the supposed MC from Earth has an utterly ridiculous name.

"This is Athena, who was a normal office girl."
"Solomon, an average Joe with a normal life."

Something has to be wrong if the authors already at the naming phase have to be cringy.


Also, if I read a man's name after the cover had a girl on it. Not a good introduction if you have to start with lying to me.

 

[Eleeyah]

Don't have a large word count. The synopsis has to attract with minimum of investment required.

 

[SRB]

Time for me to offer something useful to the thread...

Any synopsis that gives me too much information. You probably seen those, a 1000 words block of text that info-dumps so much, you know the color of underwear the MC wears.

 

[RepresentingWrath]

Time for me to offer something useful to the thread...

Betrayal!

 

[LilRora]

For me, by far the worst thing an author can do in a synopsis is judge their own story. Many people add what to expect in their story at the end of the blurb, and I don't really like it but it's nothing bad. Sometimes, it's subtle judgement like "[...] in this funny romantic comedy." - that's still not bad, it's not much different from putting emphasis on the genre or on certain tags.

But then you see "if you you're looking for a story with this, with complex plot, and with detailed worlduilding, this story is for you." and you just close that tab. That kind of thing is for the reader to find out, either from reviews or just by reading, not for the author to say and pat their own back.

That exact last example is obviously rare, but there's a lot of less obvious ways to do it, and many don't even realize they're doing it when they write about webs of intrigue and races against time, which WILL disappoint readers if the author promises in their conceit or ignorance but does not deliver.

 

[2wordsperminute]

If it's too long.

 

[melchi]

For me it is sentence/ paragraph structure.

The important stuff needs to be first.

If I write a story about a monotone puppet. Monotone puppet better be the first paragraph in the synopsis.

If the first sentence is about a vampires blood farm but the story is about the puppet then I can expect the story to be hard to follow.

 

[RepresentingWrath]

Ok, fine. I will stop being a dick and add something. Since this is about personal preferences I don't feel bad about saying it. I dislike overly artsy synopsis. I'm not visiting a museum of a modern art, I'm reading a novel. Leave your hard-on for post metamodern surrealism bullshit where it belongs, in a trash can. Stop pretending like you are 'different' and just tell me what your story is about with your synopsis.

 

[CarburetorThompson]

Don’t give more info past the beginning and general themes of the story, I’ve read so many detailed synopsis‘ that just make me go ‘okay, why should I read the story now that I know everything that happens‘

 

[melchi]

Also, I should add: Anything involving becoming or defeating god.

I don't like stories about becoming so powerful that the MC isn't human. (note, this is different than a non-human MC, those are cool) but leaving humanity behind for greatness is meh. gods that can be challenged and defeated also shouldn't be called gods IMO. Most of these stories tend to be victory after victory after victory, the power levels higher each time.

 

[HappyBunnyWrites]

In that case, I will ask something here. I recently brought something over from another site, and I was fairly nondescript with the synopsis because I never really thought they mattered too much but I’ve been told but I should probably write something more exciting or more profound. To catch attention. I have screen caps of both what I have on this site and the other side, if anybody cares to give their thoughts? As to what or what not would turn them away from reading or encourage them to?

 

[ThrillingHuman]

that's Worm synopsis, and I liked that book so I disagree

An introverted teenage girl with an unconventional superpower, Taylor goes out in costume to find escape from a deeply unhappy and frustrated civilian life