We’ve spent the last three months talking about how to write about other people’s writing. Let’s spend August talking about how to write about our own.
Whether you’re pitching a novel or entering a competition, you’ll need to be able to evaluate and summarize your own work competently as you move from “a person who writes” to “a writer.” And you’ll need all the critical reading skills from constructive criticism to summarize your work, so take a minute to review those if you haven’t already.
Shameless plug: If you’re on Facebook, and you want an expanded, video version of this post, the archived class of Summaries for Pitch and Page is available for $5 for Tier II members and $10 for Tier I and nonmembers (the class page lists the old membership structure but this is how it shakes out for the new one). The video is about 2 hours long, and you can watch me make a fool of myself summarizing actual story submissions, plus a bonus appearance by my large and goofy dog.
But how do you describe an entire book in only a few sentences, without giving away your plot twist, while still making the story sound interesting?
Let’s find out.
What’s a story, anyway?
As you discovered last month, buried in the accordion of Mean Things, a story has three ingredients:
- A character
- Something the character wants
- A reason the character can’t get what they want
A novel is nothing but a bunch of stories that overlap, with some being more important to the reader than others. For example, in Lord of the Rings, each member of the Fellowship has something they want in addition to “get rid of the One Ring before Sauron conquers the world with it.” Boromir wants to protect Gondor. Sam wants Frodo to be okay. Merry wants… second breakfast. You get the picture. Each character has their own story, and all of these stories weave together and around the main story, which is that Gandalf really wants someone to put that ring in that volcano. (See how sometimes the main story isn’t the main character’s story?)
We’re going to keep it simple this month, though, by focusing on short stories (including personal essays, okay? a personal essay is a short story with you as the main character).
The two kinds of plot
Plot is part 3 of a story: the reason the character can’t get what they want. Plots come in pretty much only two flavors.
Catalysts
A catalyst plot is a plot that gives a character a new goal over the course of the story, which the character then tries to meet.
It’s possible I’m overusing Lord of the Rings, but whatever: in LOTR, the ring is a plot device for a catalyst type plot. When Frodo receives the ring, he then has to get rid of it. The ring gives him a new goal: reach Mount Doom. His original goal, when the story began, was just to chill out in the Shire basically forever while maybe avoiding Lobelia Sackville-Baggins.
In Resident Evil, the zombie apocalypse is the catalyst for (most of) the movie plots. Alice didn’t have a goal until the T-virus got loose.
In Wizard of Oz, the tornado is the catalyst.
The summary for a catalyst plot looks like:
When PLOT happens, can CHARACTER get NEW GOAL THAT PLOT INDUCES?
Most mystery stories are catalyst type plots: when [robbery or murder] happens, can [detective] [solve the crime]?
Obstacles
An obstacle plot is a plot that prevents a character from getting something that they already wanted or needed when the story opened.
In Shichinin no Samurai (七人の侍), the villagers want to live peacefully and bring their crop in. The obstacle to this goal is the group of bandits who they know will raid the village after the harvest. (Western audiences, you’re probably familiar with this as the plot of The Magnificent Seven.)
In The Goonies, the kids want to save Mikey’s home by finding a pirate treasure that they have the map for. The obstacle is the Fratellis, who have set up a criminal enterprise over the cave access and are also after the treasure. (Seriously, think about how boring the movie would have been without the Fratellis in it? The kids solve every puzzle in a straightforward manner without hardly having to think about it; the only pressure comes from having the bad guys constantly at their heels.)
In Little Red Riding Hood, the wolf is the obstacle.
The summary for an obstacle plot looks like:
Can CHARACTER get ORIGINAL GOAL despite PLOT?
The Thin Man series is effectively an anomaly in the mystery genre: can [Nick Charles] get [a martini and put his feet up] despite [Nora’s ongoing interest in the murders happening all around them]?
Don’t spend too much time stressing yourself out
Depending on where you define the beginning of your story and what you want to include in your summary, many stories can be described both ways. Just pick one and start summarizing. If you find yourself really struggling, try the other one. There’s only two structures; you’ll be fine.
How does this work with my story?
This is where your critical reading skills come in. See how both summary structures have CHARACTER, GOAL, PLOT? You’ll need to identify those things in your writing, and know something about each one.
First, you’ll need to identify your main character. That’s the character whose story forms the plot arc for the whole story or book. Your main character may not be the character whose viewpoint the story is told from, so watch out!
Fortunately, we can make a handy outline for this:
- CHARACTER
- what’s the most interesting thing about your character?
- what about them is relatable for readers?
- what do you know about your character that will make a reader care about them as a person?
- GOAL
- No, really, what’s the character’s goal?
- What happens if they don’t get it? (this is called “stakes” and it’s why readers care about your plot)
- PLOT
- does the character want the goal when the story opens?
- OBSTACLE
- what’s in the way?
- the character themself
- another character
- a series of events
- does the character decide on the goal partway through the story (even if that’s very early)?
- CATALYST
- what makes the character want the goal?
- an event happens to them
- they acquire an object
- a character tells them to do it
- what’s between them and it? (this is why most stories can be summarized both ways- if there were no obstacles you wouldn’t have much of a story)
- the character themself
- another character
- a series of events
- does the character want the goal when the story opens?
Now that you’ve identified the CHARACTER, GOAL, and PLOT, you’re ready to plug them into one of the summary formats!
Let’s try it for a story that’s probably familiar (I’m including a link if you’re not familiar with it, though, don’t worry).
Little Red Riding Hood. (I’m using the Perrault version because it’s adequately creepy but still accessible)
CHARACTER – there are 5 characters in the story (5 if you use a version that includes a woodcutter or something to save Red at the end): Red, Mom, Grandma, and the Wolf. Grandma and Mom are barely in the story, and the Wolf is the bad guy, so the main character is Red. What do we know about Red that makes her sympathetic? Well, she’s trying to do a good deed and take care of her ailing grandma. And she’s relatable because she’s easily distracted and tries to be nice to strangers.
GOAL – Red needs to get these goodies (a cake and a pot of butter, in this case) to Grandma.
PLOT – Let’s consider everything before Red enters the woods “backstory” or “explanations of stuff you need to know before the story starts.” So Red has her goal when the story starts. That makes this an OBSTACLE PLOT. What’s in the way? Another character: The Wolf.
Since we’ve identified this as an obstacle type plot, our framework is can CHARACTER get GOAL despite PLOT? Now let’s plug what we know about the character and story into this framework.
Can Little Red Riding Hood take care of her ailing grandmother, despite the temptations and machinations of the Big Bad Wolf?
Do’s and Don’ts
Did you notice how short that summary was, and how it didn’t tell you whether Red could or could not accomplish her goal? That’s because it adhered to a few rules for summaries.
DO:
- Include your main character’s name and enough information about them (even if that means letting a sympathetic goal speak for itself) to make the reader interested in them. This might mean breaking up your summary into a couple sentences: Holly Lee is a 19-year-old intern at mysterious megacorp Caliginosus Holdings. When she finds out….
- Set reader expectations: what genre is your story? What kind of major plot points can we expect?
- Include the main obstacle to the goal, even in a catalyst style plot: When Frodo receives the One Ring as part of his inheritance, can he destroy it despite Sauron’s armies standing between him and the only forge that can (un)do the deed?
- Keep it SHORT. Three not-very-complex sentences should be more than adequate to describe most short stories.
- Leave the reader hanging.
- Have someone else read your summary to see if it matches your story.
DON’T:
- Give away the ending. It’s a plot summary or pitch, not a book report. IMPORTANT EXCEPTION TO THIS RULE: If you are pitching a full novel to a publisher or agent, and they ask for a longform summary, they want to know how the plot is resolved. Instead of making your plot a “can character do thing” in that case, make it a “character has to overcome thing by solution” summary.
- Include information that isn’t in the story. This isn’t your chance to sneak in a few extra words or names. Your summary should stay within the boundaries set by the story itself. That might mean that you need to reread your story afterward to make sure they match.
- Retell every single part of the story. Pick one important conflict and summarize that.
- Outline your story. Outlines are bland (see above) and summaries should get your reader interested.
- Spend more time on your summary than on the story. For most competitions you’re talking a few points at best. Give your reader something to get excited about and then move on with your life, you have more important things to be writing.
Ready to dive in? Why not go back and find a few of your old stories and try to summarize them? Or grab your writing group or partner and summarize each other’s stories? It’s fun to see what summary someone else comes up with!
