Ok, apart from the fact that I think I spelt summaries wrong :/ what really annoys you about 'em? Just read one that said : May be discontinued if no one's intrested.
Way to fucking guilt trip us! Like seriously?!
I know! I'm not like that...mostly. I've gotten rid of 2 fics, maybe a third, but i plan on bringing them back, and i told people so! The writer's block got bad, that's all! DX
I hate those...DX
"I'm no good at writing summaries, but please read!!"
If someone cannot think up two sentences, I don't fancy reading an entire story they've made up.
I hate it when someone is writing a slash and they do not mention it in the summary, it is annoy especially if you don't like reading slashes. Also when people "Suck at summariesm better inside" it so unoriginal.
>>1 I have one summary like that, because my writer's block really bad and I don't fell like continueing with it now. Yet I don't want to delete it.
Spoilers...followed by a warning about said spoiler. You know the kind of thing:
"What if Lucy Saxon hadn't shot the Master at the end of 'Last of the Time Lords'? Warning: contains spoilers for 'Last of the Time Lords'."
Uhh...no kidding, mate!
>>8 I agree with you about spoilers, for the most part. Won't stop me from marking some of my fics for spoilers, though, since it's an anime and sub/dub timelags come into effect, but otherwise if something's been around in the canon for some time, there's no point in treating it as a spoiler.
Apart from the common annoying things (I suck at summary, please read etc), I hate it when in summaries you are asked rhetorical questions about the plot of the story. It's like, erm I don't know, let's see what happens then shall we? And some of the time you can just guess pretty easily the answer to them and then it's all spoiled by your own speculation.
The questions sounds like they're being used for irksome suspense, and probably because the writer can't think of anything worthwhile to use instead (probably because the story isn't all that worthwhile).
I just hate summaries in general. I go by titles and pairings. Only when a summary is horribly spelled I tend to refrain from reading the fic, since it will most likely be contaminated by the same horrendous spelling.
>>6 Sometimes they have Sasuke & Naruto pairings, but they be friends or like brothers or something......Or have general, and the summary sucks ass, and it leads you on....
Character filter =/= pairing. When will people get this? What, so I can't suddenly decide to go back to the Naruto fandom, put ... say, Shikamaru and Chouji in the filter, and have them be friends or brothers? That seems to be what you're saying...
Marth: In fandoms like supernatural two male characters in romance doesn't indicate that it is these to characters. I've read some fics like that where it is male 1/OC, Male 2/OC so to go by that alone is not a good indicator. I do not mind certain slashes but my friend hates and this bugs her to because while we do check the characters and the genre it is best not to make assumptions.
I was never much of a romance guy. I like plot, not just the pairing. I do go by summaries, but I hate misspellings in summaries, since it might be an indication of how your spelling might be in the story, fanboy/girl scrreches, which may indicate what the plot might be about, and spoilers. Don't think I need to explain that bit.
In response to >>1, yeah, I've heard about them, but fortunately I've never seen one. Gets on my nerves when I see them.
Well, besides the obvious "I suck at summaries, but please, please read it anyway..." (desperate much?) and "I need 10 reviews for the next chapter to be posted" (ftw? what are you - a review junkie?) it annoys me when they keep changing the summery with each new chapter. It's like a whole new story all over again. I don't often remember story titles, so a summery is meant to help me figure out this is the story I liked and wanted to keep reading. When it keeps changing it's bothersome...
Oh I just love this recurring one: "Sorry, I suck at summaries, the story is better."
o_oxx I doubt such claims are true if the writer couldn't summarise their story in a few sentences easily. It just puts me off from reading it.
I'll give you a summery I saw on ff.net today! Hilarious ))) It's a copy-paste, so all mistakes are copyright by author )))
"uke sasuke! or uke naruto! it's your chose this fanfic is for those looking for the ultimate seme and uke!"
This writer isn't even literate, never-mind sloppy!
Here is a list of things that annoys me in summaries...
> "i suck at summaries". I think almost all of us are annoyed by this one.
> Multiple pairing names..... I would tolerate if one (two if stretched) pairing name included in summary but it looks very pitiful when four or five pairings are mentioned. It is as if the author is trying to lure in fans of as many pairings as possible.
> ALL CAPITALS. I find this one horrible. Is the author screaming at us?
> "Please read". I know anyone who writes would want their work to be acknoledged but somehow i find it irritating when that phrase is included in the summary. Seriously, why should the author beg right at the summary?
> "Lemon inside" or similar phrases. It is as if the author is luring you to read only on the basis of the lemon present in chapter in so and so. Doesn't the author believe his or her plot alone could force one to read? If he or she doesn't believe so then obviously it signifies a crappy plot.
> Spelling and grammatical mistakes. I know not everyone has perfect English but at least one could take a bit extra care while typing the summary.
> "This is my first fanfic". An absolutely unnecessary thing to include. Chances are that the reader might not read the fic since the author is naive enough to say that. That statement belongs in the author's profile or the author's note in the fic.
> phrases like "slight OOC" "slight <character> bashing".... Most of us dislike OOC and character bashing so obviously you all can understand why i am annoyed by those phrases in the summary.
One of my pet peeves, besides those mentioned, is the "Summary inside, click to read." Besides the fact that it is really NOT that hard to shorten a summary sufficiently to fit in the character limits (You can even just add a witty quote as the summary to hook readers if you're out of ideas!), this is also a ploy to get more hits on one's story. It puts readers off because when you're browsing, you don't want to have to click it just to figure out what it's about.
>I suck at summaries.
lolno
>Real summary inside.
I see what you did there.
>"What happens when <character> and <character> does <stuff> and <something happens>?"
I'm putting $100 on "something zany!" (unless the genre is "Romance", in which case, it's "something sexy!").
>Vague sentence that says nothing about the plot.
...?
Directly related:
>Short, vague statement.
...YOU HAVE ROOM!
>Please R&R!
Beg some more. >=D
>Notice (complete with date): This story is on hiatus because...
I thought this was what author pages were for.
>>22 I can kind of imagine the author going up to somebody, grabbing them by the shoulders and shaking them profusely all the while screaming their summary/summer at them... XD
Number one pet peeve in summaries: 'I suck at summaries.' Well, if you suck, get better by working at it. Otherwise, I'm just going to take it that you suck at writing too. I don't even bother with those stories. Half the time, the summaries actually aren't too bad, but they sucked the moment they said so.
Also, when someone say absolutely nothing about the plot and instead rambles on about the pairings and why it's rated the way it is. :\
I normally avoid summaries that have 'hilarity ensues' anywhere in it.
Q: What annoys you in summaries?
A: OH... I'll TELL you what annoys me in summaries! It's the frigging;
Oh... AND a LOT more where that came from! (I have a WHOLE list waiting for it to be read =3=)
I don't like seeing stories I was reading go on hiatus or being discontinued either, but I'll be honest, it's not the fact that this sad state of affairs is announced in the summary that annoys me; rather the opposite.
Am I annoyed when I see 'on hiatus' or 'discontinued' on a story I liked? Yes. However, the fact the summary says so actually soothes me a bit - at least I've been made aware and I won't be expecting an update any day now. I see it as letting the readers know instead of keeping them hanging.
i agree with everthing you say lol. why can't they just write a summary. i'm reading their story not their life.
When they say the summary sucks and to see the story. Srsly? These assholes make me RRAAGEEEEE. Like it really kills them to put effort into it.
Besides the "summary sucks" and the "my first fic" thing, whenever someone decides to do a slash fic, there is a tendency to say "don't like it, don't read." I already know slash isn't my thing and I DO respect people's preferences, but just reading that kinda thing in a summary makes the author seem a little arrogant...
>>34 I think they're just putting it there because it's like
"Why come into the fic when I've warned you several times that it's slash, only to review and say "OMGFGFF THIS IS SLASH! Y U NO TELL ME?!" after everything! Screw this I'm putting 'don't like, don't read' in the summary as an extra warning."
Seriously, you can warn people 1000 times that it's slash, and you'll always get one person, that complains that it's slash -facepalm-
I've seen "don't like, don't read" on non-slash summaries, too, it just happens to mostly be on slash since that's the bigger of the culture war controversies that appears in fanfiction.
It's bugged me a little, too, but more because when I see it, it's often to excuse any reason someone might throw con-crit or have a legitimate complaint about. I'd personally rather have someone that didn't enjoy the sort of things that I write about read it and get angry than drive them off--I figure the warnings in the author notes and disclaimers are good enough for that.
Just when they say absolutely nothing plot-related. Unless maybe it's supposed to be a joke meant to introduce a comedy fic, that can be really annoying.
I hate it when the whole summary is in text speak. I mean seriously. Spell out the whole words.
I was on ff.net and there's a story with "." as the summary...
...Literally... A singular dot. ._. This explains WHAT of the story? X(
#39: LOL Really? XD Never seen that before!
Well I've just seen a summary where someone puts the whole disclaimer in there. That's nice, but wouldn't that space be more useful for, you know, your actual story summary? :P
Touche my good man. Touche... LOL
>>7 GAH! you inadvertently gave me a big spoiler. I'm sorry, I'm sure you didn't mean to, but now I'm kind of sad.