How to Write a Blurb:
A blurb is the book description you find on the back of a book or online to describe a book's contents. When you are writing your fanfiction you must always have a short summary giving readers an insight of what it's about. It's important because readers want to be aware of what it is. The reason for that is because readers can't go with just reading the title and what the listed warnings show.
After all, if your story is title 'Bloody Nights' and you give no summary. People will assume it's something dealing with horror or murder. When it's actually about a drunk man that drinks a lot of Bloody Mary’s at night. You see, titles can fool many people and if all manga didn't have blurbs then no one would really read it because they would judge it by the title and the cover artwork.
Blurbs allow you to show case your stories to readers out there. You must have one if you want to draw them into your story. Not having one or just having, 'I suck at writing summaries', 'Just read the story' or 'The title says it all' doesn't help at all. Readers will just skip over it, because they'll think that if you didn't put any effort into writing a summary then maybe your story isn't that good. It does sounds a bit mean but it is the truth.
And it's just not that either. You don't need to put warnings for your story in the summary. There's a reason for the warning labels and the rating put on a story. Even the author's note is there for that purpose. They're used to explain something to your readers before they read your story. Though some people might feel that no one reads them but they do. So there's no need to put 'R&R', "Read and Review', 'It cracked inspired', 'Please excuse the OOC', and 'It's my first story'.
It is in the author's note that you put them in. It is where you can explain that you had tried your best in making the character in character, that it's the first time your posting a story, that you were high on pixie sticks when you were writing your story and so on.
Now, there are many writers out there that have a hard time writing a summary because their story is pretty long. And trying to condense all that important information down to a paragraph isn't easy. Of course, the short written stories, such as drabbles or ficlets are hard to write too, because of the little information they contain. But on the other hand they are sometimes the easiest ones to do. Even so, all stories, no matter how short or long they are, they all have a purpose.
There are many ways to write a blurb. Some ways may take three paragraphs, some only two or others just one. I will list a few ways that can help you write a blurb. But it depends on your story so choose the one that will best describe your story to your readers. The ways listed below are best used for long stories.
1. Introduce the hero/heroine and give a simple plot set up. Is there an interior conflict? What about an exterior conflict? What is the goal of the hero/heroine and what do they have to lose?
Ex: (Yu-Gi-Oh) You, Kaku Ruichi was just a normal teenage girl, until you were thrown into another world, where duel monster cards are all the rave. What's more shocking for you is that your face is on a duel monster card! That's not the worst of it, your slowly losing your grip on your sanity and having all those people tell you, that you're not supposed to exist isn't helping you either. Of course, your only hope to get through all this is with the help of a boy named, Yugi.
Honestly, I feel that this blurb could be better but at the moment it's the best I could do. Unlike the next one, this one opens up with the main character and moves on to the plot, conflict and so on. This could be a thriller. But the way it ends leaves a bit of a mystery of what Yugi could possible do for the main character. This could take place after Yami returns to his time or not. Or if the main character really is a magical being, a true duel monster card? And what she's believes isn't actually true. This could also be a romance fic if I added in, 'But through all the madness...is it possible for you to fall in love?'. It just took one more sentence added to make it a possible for romance to happen in the story. And the most noticeable differences are that the plot isn't very detail. This allows readers to wonder about many things about it, hence the mysterious feel to it.
2. Setting, detailed plot set up, and the main character's emotional involvement with it. What is the exterior conflict? (What's the hero/heroine fighting against and why?) What do they have to lose?
Ex: (Yu Yu Hakusho) In a back alley of Tokyo, you awaken without any memories. Since then, monsters with sinister smiles, and eyes filled with malice stalk your form. Confuse and scared you run. Your life quickly turns into a dangerous game of cat and mouse, between four strange boys and a mysterious man. Both sides say that the other is evil and both seem to know something about you. Who can you trust when you know the cause of your amnesia was betrayal? Which side will you choose? Or will you give up on remembering who you were and forever be on the run? Whatever your choice is, it may be the very last thing you ever do.
As you can see with this blurb, it's suited for the suspense and/or mystery genre. Though, with a less detail plot, it would leave more of a mystery for a reader to wonder about. That can be good if that's the effect you're going for in your story. This blurbs shows that it's even an action and adventure one as well. And obliviously this blurb starts out differently than the first. That's because not all blurbs can give you the same effect you want. It's the way you present it that gives you different effects, like the way this starts and ends compare to the first example.
3. Setting, introduce main character, simple plot set up and conflict.
Ex: (Original) Orakai has been submerged in chaos. The only hope for the once advance city is a young women name Saru Velvet, who's the last of the originals. She, along with the help of four strangers must travel across the world in search of the great creator. But time is precious and they must hurry before the city is lost forever in the depths of the blacken waters.
In this example it's a bit shorter than the first two. That's because it doesn't reveal much but still shows what it's about. What most writers try to do is reveal as little as possible but also leaves something that would certainly grab the reader's attention. Such as, what are the 'originals', the 'great creator', and the 'three strangers', how advance was the city, what is the city reduces to, and what will the heroine face in her journey?
Notes:
Let's move on to something that would help you for sure. Reading the back cover of your favorite books is very helpful. Even reading books that are in the same genre (Horror, Romance, Suspense, Mystery) as your story is useful. They can help you write a blurb for your story. All you have to do is just look for the key words that gather your interest or the way the writer wrote it that made you want to read it. If you place yourself as the reader then you can figure out how to attract people to your story.
Really, don't be afraid to put some effort into writing a blurb. As long as you have the basic points such as the main character, plot and sometimes the setting then you're good. Blurbs don't necessary have to be very long. There are some that are even two or three sentences long.
Ex: (Drabble or Ficlet) Someone has to cook now that Zexion is gone. Too bad that you got snatched up by Saix, who assumed you could cook. Really, just because you were wearing an apron that said, 'Kiss the Cook' didn't mean you could.
Though, I suggest to not go overboard with a long summary either. Sometimes that can annoy a reader because they have to read a long thing just to see what the story is about. The goal is just to keep it simple and to the point. Two or three inches long summary is a decent length for long stories.
So keep in mind that it's always good to have a summary then none at all. So it's understandable if you end up having a long blurb but at least with it your readers know something about your story. So really, if you write one and it's pretty long you can always ask a friend for their help. Because you'll be summarizing your story for them and then they could help by summarizing it even more for you.
Writing blurbs can be difficult, and writing the example blurbs above was certainly tricky for me. I had to make up the stories in order to write them. It wasn't easy but I manage to come up with interesting ways in writing blurbs. I hope all of you learned a few things that can help you in writing them.
Oh, and before I forget. Please, please, make sure to check your summaries for spelling and grammar mistakes! Remember they are what attract readers to your story. So, a blurb with spelling or grammar issues isn't pretty. It'll make people assume that your story is just like that.
