Writing articles are fun but not that much when you are stuck out of ideas BEFORE even writing anything.
Because of this, there are quite a number of people who despise writing so much so that they would pay people to do their work for them.
But in truth, writing is actually easy and once you’re used to it, it’ll take you less than 5 minutes to write a good and impactful summary.
So what is a summary in the first place?
Summaries are simply brief explanations of what the whole book is about.
They usually consist of only 1 paragraph, and are written in a story format because the main purpose of it is to give readers a glimpse of what to expect.
Have you ever had the time when you wanted to buy a book because the summary is so nerve-wrecking, you just want to buy and read more?
Think of it as a synopsis of a book you’re trying to buy – short, concise and injects thrill to make readers want to read more.
Here’s 5 great tips to writing a great summary.
1) Start with an Author tag
Author tags are an excellent way to hook readers to read more.
They are usually used to make your summary look like it’s written by another person who is excited with this and wanted to share it with the world.
For example – According to Luke Skywalker in his essay “How to become a Jedi”, the light saber is a sword made of pure energy.
You can still use the name again to create more impact by saying things like “Skywalker suggests that using your will appropriately can make you fly”.
To add in more credit to the author, ALWAYS use his or her last name when quoting.
2) Write it in your own words
After the author tag, you are going to want to tell the readers what the whole story is about.
Writing your summary in your own words will create more impact upon the readers because it is something they can relate to.
Sure it won’t be perfect but people like something that their kind likes which in this case, are the readers.
3) Imagine yourself as a customer
Putting yourself in their shoes is a great way to understand what buyers want.
Try to imagine yourself in a bookstore, which random book has a summary that catches your eye?
4) Create a rough draft
This really helps in further refining your summary. When you write a summary the first time, it may have flaws that you won’t notice until you read again.
But when you create another summary again, this will create tension in your brain which will help result in better idea generation.
5) Writing author’s accomplishments
Another trick that you can use when writing a good summary is by letting the readers know whether the author has reached his goals or not.
Oh but Riaz, how is this a tip?
It is! Always remember that you want to create curiosity for your readers.
If your tell the readers that the author accomplished his goal which is to climb Mount Everest while writing this very book, that will surely make readers guess “How on earth did he achieve that?”
Conclusion
Writing a summary is always the easy part so don’t spend too much time thinking about it because a lot of writers tend to do so.
A rule of thumb to bear in mind is to always put yourself in the reader’s shoes and taking advantage of that by creating curiosity to make them want to read.
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Riaz Shah
