Were you ever convinced to read a book based on a brief but intriguing description? You likely read the book’s summary. A book summary conveys the story’s main plot or message concisely, from one sentence to a few paragraphs. Summaries have a variety of purposes, but they are mainly written to entice audiences to read a book or learn about the plot. Whether you’re a student summarizing a novel for a class assignment or an author trying to persuade prospective readers, crafting an influential book summary is a valuable skill that takes just a few steps to learn.
1. Choose the Summary’s Purpose
Before you write your summary, you’ll need to select what it will aim to do. Some popular summary purposes are to analyze, inform, and persuade. If you’re writing a summary as an informative essay, it will need to be a few paragraphs long and highlight key plot points of the book, including any “spoilers.” If you are writing a persuasive summary to sell books, you’ll want it to be shorter, avoid major spoilers, and entice readers into reading the full book. Once you select your purpose for the summary, crafting it will be much easier. Determining the purpose of the summary sets up the entire format and style.
2. Find the Story’s Main Elements
Every book has key components that serve as the backbone of the story. Your summary will need to identify these main elements, which usually consist of the main characters, setting, conflict, and themes. “Who, what, when, where, why, and how” is another great way to split the story into its basic parts. The main characters include those who drive the story forward, from the protagonist to the antagonist. The setting consists of when and where the story takes place and what elements of the universe are relevant to the plot. The main conflict involves the challenges or problems the story holds. The theme is the general idea, lesson, or message the story wishes to teach.
3. Use Vivid Language
Since your summary won’t have the advantage of a full novel, you’ll want to use vivid, descriptive language to keep it short but equally effective. Vivid, captivating descriptors are especially important if your summary’s purpose is to persuade or entice new readers. Make the reader feel like they’re in the middle of the story; what does the world look like, feel like, or even smell like? Showing instead of telling can help readers resonate with your summary without picking up the entire novel.
4. Keep It Short
How long should a book blurb be? You’ll need to keep the summary’s purpose in mind to answer this question. If you’re persuading potential audiences to read your book, you’ll want to capture their attention in just a few words or sentences. If you’re trying to prove to your teacher you read a book with an essay, you’re going to want to include several paragraphs. In general, however, you’re going to want to explain the plot concisely. If certain details or subplots aren’t really important to describe the main purpose, then you’ll likely want to leave them out. Summaries aren’t meant to list every single detail. You don’t want to rewrite the whole novel!
5. Be Specific
While you shouldn’t be listing out every detail in your book summary, you’re not going to want to be too vague, either. If the purpose of the summary is to inform readers about the book, you’ll want to be specific about the characters, their motivations, and what drives the story forward. What makes a character interesting? Why is the antagonist working against the protagonist? Instead of describing a villain or antagonist as “evil,” list what they do to make readers feel that way. What specific elements make the story have a “good vs. evil” theme? The more precise you are, the more interesting and unique your summary can be. You can be straightforward, intriguing, and concise at the same time!
Conclusion
A great way to learn how to write a book summary is to find examples online or on the back of your favorite novel. How is the story’s plot described in the examples you found? How did they keep it concise while still being specific and intriguing? You can also think of a movie description, tagline, or trailer voiceover. While you don’t want to be overly cliched, you can find some great examples of taglines and calls to action in other media summaries. There is no need to feel overwhelmed by the limited length of a summary. By focusing on the story’s purpose and key elements concisely, you can create an ideal summary that communicates the heart and soul (or meat and potatoes) well. You can practice writing a summary by selecting your favorite book that you know well and trying to condense the plot into a few sentences or paragraphs. Your skills may surprise you!
Interlinking Opportunities
From (https://kidzfeed.com/the-importance-of-structured-essays-in-college/) with the anchor writing a book summary
From (https://kidzfeed.com/how-to-bring-your-book-to-life-with-quality-self-publishing-services/) with the anchor an effective book summary
