# Plots that Sound Really Wierd out of Context.



## Chanticleer (Feb 22, 2009)

Ok, so often enough we writers are asked to give short summaries of our stories. This can be especially difficult not only because we are reducing something much more complex, but also because sometimes our plots sound really flipping weird out of context.

Like, say... Here's the reduced plot for Hamlet: A whiny danish prince gets visited by the ghost of his dead father who tells him to take revenge on his uncle for sleeping with his wife. The prince then proceeds to bungle things up and kill the entire royal family.

Or for a more extreme example, Here's one of my reduced plots: A drunken, draconic, lesbian stand-up comedian loses her girlfriend and gets drafted into the military.
(I swear, the story's serious!)

Anyone else brave enough to post their weird reduced plot lines? Or even advice on how to make them sound less bizarre?


----------



## Blake (Feb 22, 2009)

Yeah but... Hamlet *was* weird.  That's a pretty good reduction.  Ultimately, aren't most plots a bit on the weird side?  What's the use in reading normal?

But regarding your reduced plot:

"A drunken, draconic, lesbian stand-up comedian loses her girlfriend and gets drafted into the military."

Anything with any fantasy in it is going to end up sounding weird, because fantasy is weird.

"A boy discovers that he's actually a wizard and goes to wizard school, and then finds out that he's famous and at center of a world domination plot by an evil wizard, whom he inadvertently defeated as an infant by the power of his mother's love and finally defeats through the power of said love."

But that aside, your plot reduction lacks a conclusion or an obvious direction.  You need to give the publisher an idea of where this story is going, and how it's going to end wrapped up in your reduction.

Plot reductions are necessarily spoilers, but not necessarily ones that aren't obvious.  The military doesn't sound like a satisfying conclusion in this context. 

"A drunken, draconic, lesbian stand-up comedian loses her girlfriend and gets drafted into the military where she learns valuable lessons about self restraint and dedication before being sent to die in a bloody war with the humans, finally having found true purpose (and true love) in life."

Not to say that has anything to do with your story, but a conclusion is important to give these things direction.

You can also add a little context to make it less weird, and leave out things we don't need to know:

"In a land of fantasy, an alcoholic dragon who never takes life seriously is devastated by a bad breakup and gets drafted into the army when war breaks out where she learns valuable lessons about self restraint and dedication before being sent to die in a bloody war with the humans, finally having found true purpose (and true love for a short time) in life."

Then go about shortening it, by removing unnecessary words and condensing concepts- sexual orientation and profession aren't necessary, implications about a conclusion and character development are:

"Fantasy; Joking alcoholic dragon is hurt by a breakup and drafted into a war with humans where she learns restraint and dedication before being sent to die, having found purpose (and momentarily true love)."

As an example...


----------



## kitreshawn (Feb 22, 2009)

The United States Government builds a rocket to launch the Mafia into space forever.  (I shit you not)

hmmm...

Lowly apprentice thaumaturge strives for the hand of the princess even though he is not worthy.  Then he becomes worthy and doesn't want her any more.


----------



## M. LeRenard (Feb 22, 2009)

A middle-aged fox with a desire to be a historian takes a trip to a famous university to learn the tricks of the trade, but is caught up in a civil war along the way.  Various circumstances cause him to realize that he can't get an education as a historian, and so he has to travel over the mountains to the east in order to find and kill the cause of the problem, which also happens to be an old friend of his.

...That's my book, as it stands right now.  The hardest thing I have with condensing the story to a few sentences, is that I made the story incredibly convoluted.  So it's like, what should I tell and what shouldn't I?  
Writing blurbs and such isn't something I've practiced.  I think the trick is mostly just to get the main point out there in so many words, but to end it on a surprising note that catches interest.  At least, that would seem the logical thing to do.  And obviously you don't want to spoil the whole plot.
And really... having it sound weird is probably a good thing.  You read a blurb that makes you go "What the hell?" and you're automatically flipping to page one to see what this is all about.


----------



## Blake (Feb 22, 2009)

M. Le Renard said:


> And obviously you don't want to spoil the whole plot.



No need to spoil every detail, but if you don't give away the ending, it's not a summary.  A summary of a story is, inherently, a major spoiler.

Now an introductory blurb on the other hand, or a hook, and I'm thinking there's another common name I'm not remembering- those just give you the basis of the upside without spoiling the ending to get you interested.

Okay, now this is going to bother me... there's something really common they're called.  Catch something... maybe?


----------



## Chanticleer (Feb 22, 2009)

Ok, it should be noted that that plot summary was of a flashback chapter in a longer story. Hence the relatively weak ending, it was really a lead in to what happens later.

The total plot summary... Darn, you're right! I can't do it without handing out spoilers.


----------



## Blake (Feb 22, 2009)

"The total plot summary... Darn, you're right! I cant do it without handing out spoilers."

Which is why I can't give you any plot summaries of mine- I don't want to spoil anything in the extremely unlikely chance that anybody ever reads anything I've written.

Anyway, I hope my tips on making it less weird help.


----------



## kitreshawn (Feb 22, 2009)

Oh, you can give a summery.  Just rip enough context away.  For example:

*Dude with crowbar tears hole in time-space.  Must save universe.
*Same dude with crowbar wakes up after long nap, must save world.
*Having saved world the dude, this time without crowbar, must escape city that is going to ass-plode.  Oh, and he finds a crowbar along the way.
*Dude, once more without crowbar, must find crowbar and make it to gathering of friends before party crashers.

That is the plot thus far of the Half Life universe.


----------



## Chanticleer (Feb 22, 2009)

kitreshawn said:


> Oh, you can give a summery.  Just rip enough context away.  For example:
> 
> *Dude with crowbar tears hole in time-space.  Must save universe.
> *Same dude with crowbar wakes up after long nap, must save world.
> ...



You forgot about the part where the dude with the crowbar for a leg gets killed.


----------



## ScottyDM (Feb 22, 2009)

A lot of these sound like one-sentence summaries. Randy Ingermanson teaches the one-sentence summary is step 1 of his snowflake method. In his _Fiction 201_ CD course he gives 20 examples of one-sentence summaries based on popular works.

Here are half of the Randy's example summaries. See if you can guess which professionally published novels they are for (note, some were made into movies too).

A British spy "retires in disgrace" as cover for a deeply laid plan to entrap the head of counter-espionage in East Berlin.
A Russian sub captain leads the Soviet navy on a merry chase while he tries to hand over the latest Soviet submarine to the Americans.
A brilliant young lawyer gets a fabulous job at a firm that is a cover for a Mafia money-laundering operation.
A young boy is brutally trained in Battle School to be the general who will save humanity from alien invaders.
A young English woman from a peculiar family is pursued by an arrogant and wealthy young man.
A young girl grows up in the company of a strange time-traveling visitor who appears and disappears at random.
A young girl watches the turmoil in her family from heaven after being raped and murdered by a neighbor.
A young nurse searches for the way home after time-traveling from 1945 to 1743 Scotland.
A young human girl in Ice Age Europe struggles to survive in her adoptive clan of Neanderthals.
A boy wizard begins his training and must battle for his life with the Dark Lord who murdered his parents.
Some people call these your, *fifteen-second elevator pitch.* That is, imagine you step onto an elevator with a famous agent or editor and you recognize her. After a brief hello she asks, "What do you do?" You say you've written a novel. The elevator slows for the agent/editor's floor and she says, "What's it about?" You've got 15 seconds....

This is the one-sentence summary for my novel: *Trapped in a nomadic life-style by his instincts, a genetically engineered fox must use his intellect, determination, and the help of his human friends to break free.* This is too long according to Randy.

Here's my summary for one of my novellas: *A genetically-enhanced humanoid lab rat goes undercover to defeat a group of animal-rights terrorists.*

And for a short story I've outlined, but not started to write yet: *When an old fisherman comes under pressure from his daughter to retire to a home in Glasgow, he gains an ally from an unexpected quarter.* This last one could probably use a bit more information, such as who offered the help.


Because one sentence is so brief it's pretty hard to give spoilers. But in Randy's one-paragraph summary (step 2 of his snowflake) he says you need to include the end. Generally, if the agent/editor is going to judge your story by your summary, they must see the spoilers.


Now there's another summary type called the "back cover copy" or "back cover teaser". Here the audience is the book-buying public, so spoilers are forbidden.

I wrote back cover copy for my earlier novellas (even though I web-published them so no back covers). Here's an example:





> In the two and a half years since her last major upgrade, virtual girl Milliscent has been quietly gathering information, storing it, and mapping out patterns. Then she meets someone new. Two visitors who are not what they seem to beâ€”or perhaps more accurately, they seem to be what they are notâ€”have come to SkunkWks seeking adventure, and Milliscent joins them. All three find their adventure, and Milliscent's turns out to be an emotional roller coaster. Before her new friends say goodbye, one gives her something that triggers a cascade of new pattern mappings, leaving her feeling intoxicated and excited about the future.



Scotty


----------

