(Author's note: this is an edited version of a long discord post, not a full essay.)
How do you write blurbs?
My philosophy, when I'm reading or writing blurbs, is that it needs to say a) what the protagonist is like, b) what they spend time doing, and c) the direction the story is going on.
If the story you're writing is any good, there's an answer to those three questions that, when a target audience member hears it, will go "yeah, that sounds interesting, tell me more." The true appeal might be too subtle or complicated to convey in a blurb, but for at least one or two of them, you should be able to pique my curiosity in a single sentence.
A pretty easy template to follow — most of my blurbs more or less begin with this pattern — is to use Jim Butcher's story skeletons. [NTS: add link to his livejournal.]
Write something like:
When [inciting incident occurs], [your protagonist] [pursues a goal]. But can they [avoid the stakes] as [antagonistic force looms]?"
You can fluff it up a lot (if you take a look the stories we've written you can't actually find this specific pattern in any of them). And you can of course arrange things so that most striking hook is first, or a crucial detail of the premise is mentioned. You're a writer, you know how to massage sentences so they flow.
One aspect of that template I want to focus on is the closing question. This is the core of a good blurb — the essence of piqued curiosity is a question you want answered. So I try to put a question mark somewhere in every blurb, though it's not always the one from that template.
I'm rather strict about what I include in my blurb, but I think it dramatically improves them if you:
- Don't self-deprecate. No "this is my first fic" or "i suck at descriptions".
- Don't talk about your story. If you would say "this is a story about X", waste fewer words and just say X.
- Personally, I extend this to genre, too, but I will concede it's valid to put, say, "A slow burn horror romance" at the start or end.
- Don't address your reader. Stick to diegetic statements. Especially avoid trailerspeak like, "follow the journey of blah blah blah"
- Don't dump information. I try to avoid most fantasy terminology, and skip over any details about the setup or world unless they are especially compelling.
- I think 100-200 words is the sweet spot for description length, and less than 300 words no matter what.
- Don't play coy with enticing twists. People overestimate the risk of spoilers, and authors get precious with mystique and early details that sure, might be neat if you go in blind, but make for great selling points. Anticipation is at the heart of storytelling — tell your readers what to expect.
When I look at my blurbs and try to think about how I'd explain what I do... a lot of it comes down to general writing skill (which is why I'm frequently perplexed at people who are clearly good at writing saying they suck at descriptions).
For instance, you'll notice there's a certain cadence to all of my descriptions where it feels like they end on a punchline, a portentous statement that piques a closer look. And I think that's important, but how do I explain how to do that? At the end of the day I don't know. I'll figure it out, though, since I don't believe in the unexplainable
But until I write a more detailed article, hopefully this is somewhat helpful.
In short, answer who, what, why, and raise another question or two. Keep it punchy, tell them what to expect, and please, don't say you suck at descriptions.