Chapter Summaries
And why they are the worst
I cannot think of any part of writing I like less than writing a chapter summary. I’ll take copy editing over summaries.
How can I reduce my tens of thousands of words down to one page of clunky sentences? The entire plot distilled to a series of facts and events without the context or the depth behind the characters? Ugh.
For example, here is the two paragraphs I wrote to explain the first 5,000 words of my new book (which you can read on my substack!)
Chosen youths are given divine powers to wield in a god’s name. None are more feared than Kotris, Lady of Death. Her Daughters, or Veils, guide the dead through the Dusk, the realm of demons, or vyddos. They are charged with protecting the human world, though are seen as harbingers of death.
Rhoden serves Adros, God of Justice. He meets with Kotris’s priestess and learns Veils are being kidnapped. They must be found before they are used for some dark purpose.
This is literally the first 5,000 words of the book in 7 sentences. All the descriptions, the interpersonal byplay, the setting, all of it stripped out.
It’s the worst. You can write the most harrowing, heart-rending death scene, and your synopsis will say: He died. Everyone was sad.
In the spirit of sparing you the same anguish, here is how I’ve been doing my synopsis:
Write that stupid, emotionless sentence that tells only the action of the chapter.
Try to find what is missing. Does a certain action not make sense without greater context?
Squish in as many important details as you can regarding characters, setting, culture, etc.
Make your descriptions as efficient as possible. Take out extra words, replace weak verbs with stronger ones (distraught rather than sad, in the above example). tighten everything up as well as you can.
Include spoilers. Agents want to know how the books ends. Otherwise, they can’t judge the plot in its entirety.
I wish you luck in your endeavors. I think I suck at this part of writing and can only give advice based on my own struggles. If you have any advice for me, please share it. I hate this.
My first book, Archer 887, was a 2022 Indies Today Awards Contest Finalist, and is on sale now through online book retailers. Pick up a copy, leave a review, and let me know what you think!
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