Weekly Short Stories Contest and Company! discussion

This is an exercise in writing synopses of stories, novels, plays, episodes in TV series, anything involving a narrative. If you’ve ever read the movie summaries in a newspaper’s TV listings, that’s the idea. The challenge is to write it in fifty words or less, in one sentence if possible. The title, author, and other identifying information, put on a line above the summary, doesn’t figure into the word count, nor does your rating of the piece, if you feel inclined to rate it. Your rating (asterisks used as stars), placed at the end of the synopsis, doesn’t count as a word. Here’s a suggested rating system:

***** As good as it gets.
**** Pretty good but not the best.
*** Ordinary
** Crummy but not the worst.
* As poor as it gets.

For a rating in between two, use 1/2, as in ***1/2.

I’ll start it off with a synopsis of one of my favorite episodes from the original Star Trek series.


Star Trek (the original series): “The Cage.” Gene Roddenberry, 1965.

A distress beacon lures the Enterprise to war-desolated Talos IV, where the subterranean, mind-controlling inhabitants take Captain Pike captive to mate with Vina, a mutilated survivor of a spaceship crash, to repopulate the planet. ****1/2

That’s ideal, Candace!

'K, I'm not suite sure I've got this right, so please correct me in my errors.

Stewart, Trenton Lee. (2007). The Mysterious Benedict Society. Little, Brown and Company.

After an ad promising 'special opportunities' appears in the paper, 4 children are chosen for a secret mission the likes and fears of which they have never dreamed of in this exceedingly clever children's book. *****

I think that’s a fine synopsis, Ducky! It makes me want to read the story.

The synopsis I posted was open-ended, as the summaries posted in the movie listings usually are, but a summary that’s complete would give the ending as well. For me, when trying to be brief, it’s easier to write an open-ended one because I don’t have to include the conflict resolution, and it leaves the reader hanging, wanting to know how things turn out.

I think it should be up to whoever writes the synopsis. What occurs to me is that a synopsis that gives the outcome has a different purpose--to save the reader or viewer the trouble of slogging through the real thing if he doesn’t feel inclined to take the time, whereas an open-ended synopsis is written to hook the reader. Either kind should be fun to write!

Candace wrote: "This is an absolutely fantastic idea, M.


Green, John. (2012). The Fault in Our Stars. [Kindle Version]. Retrieved from Amazon.com

Though Hazel Grace has accepted the inevitability of death, her ..."
2/3

Smallville. "Suspect." Aired 1/28/03.

A spin on "Who Shot J. R." Lionel Luthor is a near-fatal victim to an assassin. Evidence points to Jonathan Kent as the suspect though it seems tampering is at play and nothing is what it seems. ***1/2

Ooh. I've got another one!

Lee, Patrick. The Breach Published 2009

A mysterious hole that links alien technology with time brings the world unusual devices. A dangerous man ends up stealing the most mischievous one named "Whisper" which knows unbelievable amounts of intelligence and though Travis the protagonist doesn't know its true intentions he will when it is almost too late. ****

(Whoa. Close call. Lol. It was 50 words!).

Movie.

In Time

A take on Logan's Run where peoples' life expectancy is their currency during a battle of the everyday human with the upper-class. **

Bates, Auline. Party Line. Scholastic, 1989.

Mark Carney, shy around girls, frequents a teen party line, where he occasionally talks but mostly listens. When girls begin disappearing, Mark realizes there’s a predator on the party line. *1/2

C. J. wrote: "Smallville. "Suspect." Aired 1/28/03.

A spin on "Who Shot J. R." Lionel Luthor is a near-fatal victim to an assassin. Evidence points to Jonathan Kent as the suspect though it seems tampering is a..."

Whoops I realize I still added a rating though tv episodes don't get that lol!

(Edit: I don't know what I'm saying. I was thinking the wrong thing when making the comment. I was thinking of this like TV Guide's brief synopses. Disregard the above lol.)

---
On a side note, I forgot about this M. This is a fun underrated gem!

Dick, Philip K. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

A global nuclear war leads to genocide on all robots as one man is torn while tasked to hunt them down. Inspired the film Blade Runner (and its later sequel Blade Runner: 2049). *****

Lapena, Shari. A Stranger in the House

A woman having just gone through a traumatic event comes home to find strange things happening in her personal abode which eventually reveals something sinister. ****

Gross, Andrew. No Way Out

Two women previously unmet work together to keep dangerous people from hunting them and destroying their lives. An action-heavy, yet sadly forgettable thriller. **

MOVIE TITLE: Pink Floyd the Wall
DIRECTOR: Alan Parker
YEAR: 1982
GENRE: Surreal Rock Opera
RATING: R for violence, language, nudity, drug use, and disturbing imagery
GRADE: Five Stars

A burned out, depressed, and suicidal rock star relives his traumatizing past in order to justify his isolation from the world, whether the memories come from his abusive math teacher, overbearing mother, cheating wife, or absent father. Will he tear down his walls or suffer forever in loneliness?