How to Write a Back-of-the-Book Summary

Whether you’ve finished your story or haven’t even started, writing a summary of it can be super helpful.

Let’s take a look at some good summaries and then write our own together!

During the last stream, a subscriber requested that we go over how to write a back-of-the-book summary.

You can watch the full video here to or scroll down for notes/highlights.

How to Write a Back-of-the-Book Summary

At some point you’re going to have to write a summary for a story you’ve written, and it can feel like pulling teeth, where you’re forced to cram all of the awesomeness of your story into just a few sentences
But! It doesn’t have to be painful
Once you get a few key factors, crafting a summary can be fun

Even if you haven’t finished your story, doing a summary can be a huge help too
Writing the summary before/during writing a story can help you calibrate it, figure out if its missing conflict/excitement, and see if it’s intriguing enough to get people to want to read it
Writing it when you’ve finished can also help you identify places that can be cut/changed in editing

Let’s go ahead and take a look at summaries from six different books!

#1. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts.* The Capitol keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV.

Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen regards it as a death sentence when she steps forward to take her sister’s place in the Games. But Katniss has been close to death before—and survival, for her, is second nature.* Still, if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that weigh survival against humanity and life against love.

Grounds the reader in when/where the story takes place at the very beginning
Gives specifics for the setup (explanation of Hunger Games), stays vague but exciting for the payoffs (outcome of the Games)
Keep the new names/words/jargon to an absolute minimum (no “Prim,” “District 12,” “Reaping,” etc.)
Most importantly: it doesn’t tell the WHOLE story, just enough to give a sense of the story, enough to get someone interested.* Pretend you only have 5 sentences to convince someone to read your story — that’s what your summary needs to be.

#2. Misery by Stephen King

Paul Sheldon is a bestselling novelist who has finally met his number one fan. Her name is Annie Wilkes, and she is more than a rabid reader—she is Paul’s nurse, tending his shattered body after an automobile accident. But she is also furious that the author has killed off her favorite character in his latest book. Annie becomes his captor, keeping him prisoner in her isolated house.

Annie wants Paul to write a book that brings Misery back to life—just for her. She has a lot of ways to spur him on. One is a needle. Another is an axe. And if they don’t work, she can get really nasty.

You can have more fun with a summary than just stating facts, you can have it be like a conversation with the reader
The first sentence slowly becomes more and more twisted as the summary progresses, and the final sentence makes you wonder about the horrible possibilities
That’s the note you always want your summary to end on: I must read this to find out what happens!

#3. You by Caroline Kepnes

When a beautiful, aspiring writer strides into the East Village bookstore where Joe Goldberg works, he does what anyone would do: he Googles the name on her credit card.

There is only one Guinevere Beck in New York City. She has a public Facebook account and Tweets incessantly, telling Joe everything he needs to know: she is simply Beck to her friends, she went to Brown University, she lives on Bank Street, and she’ll be at a bar in Brooklyn tonight—the perfect place for a “chance” meeting.

As Joe invisibly and obsessively takes control of Beck’s life, he orchestrates a series of events to ensure Beck finds herself in his waiting arms. Moving from stalker to boyfriend, Joe transforms himself into Beck’s perfect man, all while quietly removing the obstacles that stand in their way—even if it means murder.

Again, having fun with the opening sentence, combining the “normal” with the “stalker,” a theme of the entire book
The summary is almost told in the main character’s voice, giving you the feel of what the book is like
And the ending ups the stakes to a whole new level, making you want to read to see how it gets there

#4. Unwind by Neal Shusterman

In a society where unwanted teens are salvaged for their body parts, three runaways fight the system that would “unwind” them

Connor’s parents want to be rid of him because he’s a troublemaker. Risa has no parents and is being unwound to cut orphanage costs. Lev’s unwinding has been planned since his birth, as part of his family’s strict religion.

Brought together by chance, and kept together by desperation, these three unlikely companions make a harrowing cross-country journey, knowing their lives hang in the balance. If they can survive until their eighteenth birthday, they can’t be harmed — but when every piece of them, from their hands to their hearts, are wanted by a world gone mad, eighteen seems far, far away.

Again, grounds the reader in the when/where at the beginning
Doing a summary of a book with multiple POVs is hard, but this summary shows one way of doing it: giving a sentence for each character, then what entwines them afterward
Little touches like “from their hands to their hearts” are great at giving more depth to the summary without taking up a lot of space

#5. Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

Ketterdam: a bustling hub of international trade where anything can be had for the right price—and no one knows that better than criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker. Kaz is offered a chance at a deadly heist that could make him rich beyond his wildest dreams. But he can’t pull it off alone. .

A convict with a thirst for revenge.
A sharpshooter who can’t walk away from a wager.
A runaway with a privileged past.
A spy known as the Wraith.
A Heartrender using her magic to survive the slums.
A thief with a gift for unlikely escapes.

Six dangerous outcasts. One impossible heist. Kaz’s crew is the only thing that might stand between the world and destruction—if they don’t kill each other first.

Again, grounds us in the world the story takes place in at the beginning
This time, the book has a “main” character, but also six others, and each one of them gets a line, not giving their names is good to not overwhelm the reader with information
Lots of good allusions (Wraith, Heartrender) that intrigue without being confusing,
Good external/internal tension at the end with them saving the world and nearly killing each other

#6. One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus

Pay close attention and you might solve this.
On Monday afternoon, five students at Bayview High walk into detention.

Bronwyn, the brain, is Yale-bound and never breaks a rule.
Addy, the beauty, is the picture-perfect homecoming princess.
Nate, the criminal, is already on probation for dealing.
Cooper, the athlete, is the all-star baseball pitcher.
And Simon, the outcast, is the creator of Bayview High’s notorious gossip app.

Only, Simon never makes it out of that classroom. Before the end of detention Simon’s dead. And according to investigators, his death wasn’t an accident. On Monday, he died. But on Tuesday, he’d planned to post juicy reveals about all four of his high-profile classmates, which makes all four of them suspects in his murder. Or are they the perfect patsies for a killer who’s still on the loose?

Everyone has secrets, right? What really matters is how far you would go to protect them.

This one combines them all: grounding, having fun, and multiple POVs
Gives the names, but also gives a single word for each to help the unfamiliar reader keep them straight
Has good internal and external conflict: not just teens with secrets, but also a murder!
Keep questions to a minimum, since they can get grating to the reader, and try not to end on one, since a question isn’t nearly as exciting as a mysterious statement

In Summary!

Ground the reader in the where/when at the beginning
Don’t be afraid to have fun with it, especially if it fits the tone of your story, and put in a few snappy lines
Keep new words/info to a minimum, two is a good number
Raise the stakes as the summary continues, giving both an internal and external conflict if possible
End on a note that will practically force the reader to open up the book

After that, chat voted that we write our own summary. We had a four-way tie for which story we’d write it for, so we combined them all together into one.

Here’s what we came up with:

In the world of Scenya, four great countries practice four great magics based on the seasons. The Fall Nation ripens anything all the way to decay, the Winter Kingdom freezes time, the Spring Sovereign immortalizes itself with eternal rebirth, and mocked by its peers, the Summer Hive controls insects.

For a thousand years, the powerful Winter Kingdom ruled as hegemon, but now the seasons are changing.

Victor, of Spring, has lived for centuries with his sister who is now for the first time dying and there is nothing he can do. Bree, of Summer, is part of an army following the prophet-queen and her declarations that it is now their time in the sun. Tarus, of Fall, is an adult ripened straight from childbirth to working age. Celan, of Winter, is a young girl caught between her parents who can’t decide whether to stay or leave their crumbling kingdom.

With temperatures heightening, and tensions along with it, ancient, melting glaciers in the Winter Kingdom are bringing long-forgotten diseases back to life. The four strangers will converge as the axis of the world tilts, and a new season looms.

Be sure to check out the video to see how we created this summary, and more!

If you want to join us and help write a story by trolling in chat, or share your own writing for feedback, then we’d love to have you join us on Twitch.

And you missed the stream, you can still watch them on the YouTube channel or watch the full stream reruns.

Hope to see you next time, friend!Featured image: Pakutaso