Suggestion for Fanfics: Include a summary

[Catterjune]

I've always been of the mind that you should try to be the change you want to see in YCM. If you want YCM to stop being full of awful jerks, stop being an awful jerk. If you want more helpful people around, start by being helpful. One of the things I've always wanted regarding fanfics is for each story (and also possibly each chapter!?) to have a quick summary. If you ever read my awful fic, you'd see each chapter gets a summary, as well as the story as a whole having a quick "one sentence summary" to try to grab people's attention. So while I'd like to be a hip trend setter, and "be the change I wanna see in YCM!" I'm too lazy to finish writing any of the 4 or 5 stories I have floating around in unfinished .txt files. So... that's my suggestion. Make it a rule or unofficial policy or have everyone have a "gentleman's agreement" to all do it. [b]Why I think it's a good idea[/b] For readers: Honestly, there's a lot of stories in fanfics. Just reading a title isn't really enough to give me an idea of what a story's about. I know they say not to judge a book by a cover but when it comes down to it, there's a hundred different things competing for my attention at any given time, and I'd prefer a story I'd be interested in. Even some hint to the content of the story would be amazing. For writers: Most likely the same reason it'd be good for readers. A quick summary would give the lazier, worse readers like me an extra added incentive to possibly read your fic and make comments on it. [b]Possible/Probable arguments against it (along with super secret bonus responses!)[/b] [i]"My story's so rich and complicated I couldn't possibly summarize it in just one sentence or a paragraph!"[/i] Yeah maybe, but practically every single book at least has something on the inside jacket or on the back cover that hints at to what it's content is. And if you really want to be a special snowflake, you can be purposely vague about it. I personally think it's a good policy to implement. Your thoughts? e_e

[Toffee.]

Honestly, there's a lot of stories in fanfics. Just reading a title isn't really enough to give me an idea of what a story's about. I know they say not to judge a book by a cover but when it comes down to it, there's a hundred different things competing for my attention at any given time, and I'd prefer a story I'd be interested in. Even some hint to the content of the story would be amazing.

Technically this isn't always true.
I mean, yea, a story can occasionally have a silly and/or mis-leading title. Sometimes it's on purpose. Sometimes it's not.
That aside, if something interests you, like, oh, say, you were skimming through the first chapter of [X], and [X] got your attention despite being named something like "So I ate a jar of dirt", you should at least keep reading until your tired of it and/or no longer care for the story, while completely ignoring the title. Titles, after all, tend to just be labels, and you can never truly understand something until you get deep enough into the story/series/etc.

Or, just, in short, you should ignore fic names if they are the deciding factor, despite the fact the story catches your interest =D

[Catterjune]

The problem is more that nothing in a fic catches my interest, and I wouldn't wanna miss out on anything that's okay just because no one ever bothered to explain anything at all about it.

[Toffee.]

The problem is more that nothing in a fic catches my interest, and I wouldn't wanna miss out on anything that's okay just because no one ever bothered to explain anything at all about it.

You know, as far as fic reading goes, you could always just venture into the unknown and try searching for things via Google.
I mean, assuming you don't find anything you want to read on YCM.

That aside, though, sometimes unexplained things are left that way. It depends on how relevant to the story they are.

[Just Crouton]

Support/Assault Mode.

 

 

Possible/Probable arguments against it (along with super secret bonus responses!)

"My story's so rich and complicated I couldn't possibly summarize it in just one sentence or a paragraph!"

_______

 

That person's nose would probably grow 20 inches after saying that.

[Catterjune]

You know, as far as fic reading goes, you could always just venture into the unknown and try searching for things via Google.
I mean, assuming you don't find anything you want to read on YCM.

That aside, though, sometimes unexplained things are left that way. It depends on how relevant to the story they are.

 

Eh, like I said earlier I'm a busy lady. I'm not gonna blindly google "good yugioh fanfic" and hope I land on something that isn't a Mary Sue fic. I'd rather just play TF2 or L4D2 or Pokemon or something. And I'll admit some YCM stories do strike me as mildly interesting but I don't really know where to even start.

[evilfusion]

It's a very good idea, since most Fanfiction sites require this anyway. I'm not sure how it would work on here, though, since there isn't a way to deliver a summary without someone clicking on the topic in the first place.

 

For me, personally, summaries are very hard to make. Usually because there's a character limit, and more often because I'm too open-ended. I rarely ever have a concrete plot direction or intended outcome, and a lot of my better ideas and developments occur partway through the story. That might also explain my inability to finish some of the stories, but I digress.

[Toffee.]

Eh, like I said earlier I'm a busy lady. I'm not gonna blindly google "good yugioh fanfic" and hope I land on something that isn't a Mary Sue fic-

To be fair, though, main characters of a story are kinda' forced into being a Sue.
But I do get what your saying on the grounds that sometimes it can be a little stupid. But at the same time it's a requirement. I mean, it wouldn't be much of a story if the fic was just 1 chapter; Opponent opened with Exodia, gg, story over. Obviously the main character would "conveniently" draw into Card Destruction at the last minute, and lucksack topdeck win off that. And yes, it's lazy writing. But sometimes it's needed. It depends on the plot at hand.

[evilfusion]

To be fair, though, main characters of a story are kinda' forced into being a Sue.
But I do get what your saying on the grounds that sometimes it can be a little stupid. But at the same time it's a requirement. I mean, it wouldn't be much of a story if the fic was just 1 chapter; Opponent opened with Exodia, gg, story over. Obviously the main character would "conveniently" draw into Card Destruction at the last minute, and lucksack topdeck win off that. And yes, it's lazy writing. But sometimes it's needed. It depends on the plot at hand.

 

And for some reason, the author thought it was a good idea to have the opponent run Exodia?

[Toffee.]

And for some reason, the author thought it was a good idea to have the opponent run Exodia?

It's an example, but it's irrelevant.
I mean, you know how it is-
Pegasus has 'invincible' Toon monsters.
Nightshroud has that Darkness set.
Goodwin has anime-Wiroqa
etc

Bad guys always get ridiculous stuff; Good guy Mary Sues his way to victory.

[evilfusion]

It's usually better justified if the character using such things is the final opponent. But yes, that is beyond the point.

[bury the year]

Sure, why not. I'll update the rules once I have a more stable way of editing posts. (Using my iPad, which for some reason messes up formatting, until my computer's fixed.)

[Jake the Sage]

While I believe a summary of the story is well deserved and should be in every fan fic, I believe the title of the chapter should be enough to for the specific chapters.