Kingdom Hearts Magazine Issue #5

KH Advice Column

Hey, everyone! TomboyTrouble is back once again to give you more tips on writing.

Sometimes when I'm trying to look for a book to read on Wattpad, I gloss over the ones that don't have a story description.

Summaries, or synopsis, are a very important feature in your book for two reasons: one, they present the reader an explanation of what your story is about; two, they make a first impression to your audience, and first impressions are always important.

I can't help but stress that I've come across many books without a story description, expecting me to read their first page out of curiosity, then continue reading it to find out more.

This is not the way to attract the audience. You're practically aggravating your audience to open your book to see what's inside only for some of them to discover that they're not truly interested in reading it.

Providing a summary to your story is very crucial so that readers will know what to expect. This is also most helpful in attracting a targeting audience who will or might find your story interesting based on their own personal. If it's something they're not interested in, like vampires or Kingdom Hearts, then they're not your audience.

Writing a summary is not that hard, but it's also a lot to think about in order to hook your readers. Don't stress over how long it needs to be, what matters is the content inside. You only need to provide the information that is necessary to the plot, and does not give too much away. If you don't know how to write a summary, then here are some helpful tips:

1) Make a setting. A setting is the time and place where a story happens. Here's is an example of a setting from the summary of The Hunger Games.

"In what was once North America, the Capitol of Panem maintains its hold on its 12 districts by forcing them each to select a boy and a girl, called Tributes . . ."

From the first sentence of this excerpt, you can already tell that this story takes place some time in the future by the phrase "what once was . . ." and that it's somewhere in North America. Because it is described that the continent is no longer known as North America, but as Panem, this can give the reader the sense that this might be a dystopian society novel.

To indicate whether your story takes place in the future or past, instead of simply stating the date, such as "In the year 1920 . . .", or "The year 3000 . . .", you can try describing what that era is like.
For example: "The Roaring Twenties is the time when . . ."

"In the time where mankind have invented robots . . ."

Some of your stories may not take place in the future or past. Maybe it takes place in the present time. If so, then there is not much that you can indicate the time period. The reader will probably just assume it has taken place in the modern day.

As for place, if it's not in the real world, but more of a fantasy/sci-fi dimension, then you can make a short description. For example, "On the Quartz space center, five astronauts lay stranded in the middle of an uncharted solar system." Keep in mind that you want to keep the setting brief. You don't want to take up too much space in the plot by too many details.

2) Introduce your characters. Who is your main protagonist? They are the person that everyone is rooting for. Giving the identity of your main character is the easy part. Describing their character, however, is the tricky part. A lot I see writers describing their character by their physical traits. Here's an example:

"Joseph is an 18-year-old guy with brown eyes and brown hair. He is about six feet tall, has short hair, and is pretty muscular."

You do not necessarily have to do this onless there is a physical trait of the character that is worth mentioning that's pivotal to the plot. For instance, "Because of the mark Kaci was born with on her forehead, the villagers shunned her." Maybe there's some significance to that mark, like a sign of bad luck, or a foreshadow of her role. You can still mention your protagonist's age. You don't even need to say their exact age. Instead state the period of life they are in, such as child, young man, middle-aged woman, etc.

What is your character's background? This doesn't necessarily need to be a huge reveal on the character's tragic backstory or anything. It's not bad, but it's more effective to reveal it at some point near the middle or climax of the story. A background can be in the degree of where your character is from and what their daily life is like. Here's an example of how I would describe Jacob in a summary from Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children:

Jacob Portman is a 15-year-old boy who grew up in Florida, who miserably works part-time at his family's convenient store. Being fed the fairy tales his grandfather told him as a kid, he hopes to find excitement and adventure in his life someday.

If there is more than one main character, hero or villain, then they are also worth mention along with what roles they play.

What is stake? You have your setting, and you have your character, now all you need is a problem and why it is important. This is the conflict that should drive the character into obtaining some sort of goal. There has to be a change in your character's life that keeps the plot going in your book.

Now let's try using all three steps to create a summary for the first Kingdom Hearts game.

Sora is a young teenage boy who grew up on Destiny Island. He and his friends, Riku and Kairi, dream of leaving their home to explore other worlds. However, those plans changed when a mystical storm swept over their island one night, separating Sora away from his friends, but not before he was bestowed a magical weapon called the Keyblade. It has the power to vanquish creatures of darkness and open doors to other worlds. Meanwhile, when King Mickey has gone missing, he left a message to his two faithful friends Donald and Goofy to find the Key and stick with him. Now Sora has to join forces with Donald and Goofy in order to search for their lost friends and protect the worlds from the Darkness.

Other tips:

Avoid cliché openings, such as "Once upon a time," or "Long ago". These phrases have been overused, thus sucks out the originality of your summary.

Remember that it is called a summary for a reason. You're basically summarizing your entire book into one to three casual paragraphs. Imagine a friend asks you what your book is about. How will you explain it to them? What do they need to know? Find a way to make your summary interesting and intriguing, but at the same time not too overwhelming.

If you guys don't agree with these tips, then don't use them, because not all books will apply to these suggestions.

Was I helpful? Let me know in the comments, and if you have any questions, don't be afraid to ask.