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Back to Basics: Summaries
- Izhan Arif
- 14 hours ago
- 6 min read
Sometimes less is more! It’s a fun phrase that essentially means to not overcomplicate things. It can be applied to anything in life, especially writing: summaries. When it comes to writing a story it’s pretty safe to say that the most important (and sometimes most difficult) part is actually writing the story itself. But there’s also stuff that comes after the story is done, and that’s how you describe it to someone in a concise, brief, and organized way. For this Back to Basics course, we’re talking about writing summaries, the different types of summaries, and about how much you want to share.
Loglines:
This is the most bare-bones, to-the-point a summary can get. The logline is a single line that states exactly what the story is about. To try and conceptualize a logline, boil your story down to the most important, need-to-know details. I highly recommend framing your logline around your protagonist. We often craft complex plots and lore but centering it all around a single idea can be challenging. Focus on introducing us to your main character and what their problem or situation is, making room for your villain too. The reader should have a feel of the world from there. Loglines can be two sentences if absolutely necessary but you definitely shouldn’t stretch beyond two. Here’s an example of a logline for a movie, from an article about loglines from Industrial Scripts.
The aging patriarch of an organized crime dynasty transfers control of his clandestine empire to his reluctant son.
This logline is for The Godfather. It doesn’t directly say the names but words like “aging patriarch” and “reluctant son” give you a sense of who the main characters are. If you know the movie then you know Vito Corleone and his son Michael are the big players. The mention of transferring control and reluctance also point to the central conflict: we’re dealing with a shift in power. Will the son embrace the throne or not? It’s simple and to the point. There’s some pretty big vocabulary in this logline like patriarch and clandestine; a healthy vocabulary can help with concision but it's not required for a logline. Consider your audience. Use the words you want to use in your own voice.
Speaking of our own voices, I figured I could use this topic as an opportunity to share some of my own loglines. In addition to crafting this course, I also do freelance work writing videos about movies and television for WatchMojo. Every video’s a little different but I often have to summarize movies and shows. This is one of my own examples of a movie I summarized. I tinkered around slightly with some of it to perfect into a logline.
Replicants are humanity’s artificial counterparts: almost human but not quite. They’re incredibly dangerous, so it’s officer Rick Deckard’s job as a blade runner to hunt them down.
This is for, you guessed it, Blade Runner! Right away I introduce the threat/obstacle: replicants. You can easily grasp that they’re something different, so hopefully you can get the feeling that this is a somewhat sci-fi story. I then set up that there’s the protagonist, Rick Deckard, as well as his role in the story, working as a blade runner chasing down these rebellious replicants, who are the antagonists overall. There’s more to Blade Runner of course, like a cyberpunk aesthetic, the Tyrell corporation, heavy themes of existentialism and dread, and even origami unicorns. All of this, while thematically rich, is very intricate and takes a lot of time to delve into. They’re ultimately too much for the precious page real estate afforded to a logline.
Elevator pitch
Honestly this is not that much different from a logline but I figured I’d share an example of summarizing for if you want to verbally explain/sell your story. Imagine you’re stuck in an elevator with an important person who could make your project a reality. You might be in that elevator anywhere from 30 to 60 seconds. You’ll have to summarize your project in a concise, detailed, yet expedient way. Sounds like a lot right? Yes, but remember to boil your story down to its most important details. I said that elevator pitches are sort of a more verbal thing but you can still absolutely write it down beforehand. With that in mind, my personal rule is to keep the elevator pitch between 90 to 125 words. This usually estimates out to about 3 to 6 sentences which means you get a lot more than a standard logline while keeping it slimmed to, at most, a short paragraph.
Two desk jockeys who sit on the sidelines end up having to prove their mettle in a high-stakes investigation. One of them is a hotshot cop who got benched for a screwup, and the other is a neat freak who prefers the boring paperwork over thrilling danger. Together, only they can save the day. This is a story about subverting expectations—it challenges the conventional action-hero/buddy cop tropes and makes you laugh out loud. Sometimes the underdogs are the only ones who can step up to the plate. When the same old boring muscle-headed action stars just aren’t cutting it, you need The Other Guys.
Not much else here to say except I really like The Other Guys and if I had to pitch the idea of the movie to someone, this is how I’d do it.
A plot synopsis:
Let's say you want to do a summary that emphasizes plot details rather than marketing the story, what do you do then? Obviously these areas overlap a bit. If you want to recap the plot, while not limiting yourself to the restraints of a logline or a pitch, you can do a plot synopsis. This is more or less where you dedicate a page length (~250 words) to fully summarizing the story from beginning to end. Summary types like loglines don’t involve spoilers but here, you’ll dive into them. Who’s your main character, how’d they get from here to there, and how does it all end? Plot synopses can be pretty detailed but they’re still a summary, so remember not to make your synopsis spill into two or more pages.
Treatments:
This one is probably the most advanced, and difficult, form of a summary. Honestly I’m a little hesitant to even call it a type of summary because at a certain point it starts to feel like it’s just straight up the story. That being said, treatments are a very unique breed. They’re typically a multi-page plot summary and you get into all the little nooks and crannies you want. If you want to explain your story and offer commentary in the most detailed way possible, you can really get nuts with a treatment. Treatments are primarily used for movies though, and I can’t recommend doing this as a beginner. At a certain point, treatments can just feel like you’re writing the story all over again and a summary shouldn’t be that. If you still want to really challenge yourself and tackle just how well you know your story, this is another option.
A summary of this Back to Basics on summaries
We talked about different types of ways you can summarize, including loglines, elevator pitches, and synopses. These are all different lengths emphasizing brevity. We mentioned treatments, which are a more extreme form of a summary. They’re great for fully grasping what a story is about but can also be a bit advanced and somewhat lengthy by comparison. At the core of it, summaries should make ths scope of the story accessible for readers. They should get a feel and a sense of what your story is about. How much of it you want to share is really up to you.
The Challenge:
Summarize your story in logline format
or
Make an elevator pitch for your favorite movie or book or show
Thanks for joining us for this Back to Basics course! If you tried this course’s challenge, you can share it on our discord. You can also send us your challenge for feedback as soon as possible, via dropbox on our Back to Basics page. Thank you and I will see you all next time!
About the author:
Izhan Arif is an English graduate from the University of Illinois, Chicago. His interests tend to revolve around all things superhero, whether it be comics, shows, or movies! He also loves to write (go figure) and when he's not working on Back to Basics, he's also writing videos for WatchMojo!
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