Plot summaries

[Larissa]

Plot summaries! Do you think they're necessary on a fansite? Do you include them on your fansites?

In this case, I'm talking about sections that are nothing but straight-up retellings of the plot, not when you reference something that happened to prove a point on an analysis page. I personally hate writing summary pages, and avoid writing them whenever I can -- I'd rather write analyses than retell the game/manga/anime/tv show/whatever I'm writing about. (Also, not gonna lie, I'm lazy. )

But I'm curious, do you guys read summary pages when going through fansites, or do you skip them? Do you find them useful? Do plot summaries belong on today's fansites, or are they something that's better served by fandom wikis? Are summaries more necessary on sites for lesser-known or less popular subjects than, say, something we all know the story to?

These are just things that have been rolling around my head for a while as I plan fansites for various subjects, and I'm curious to hear other opinions. What do you guys think?

[Crystal]

Personally I like them. I find they help me learn more about the subject and makes things easier to understand for me. Plus I just love putting them on my sites as well for that reason.

[Eimii]

i like them but hate writing them. i feel thats where i fail the most in shrine writing. lol. even if my opinion/anyalsis writing is silly and makes no sense, its still easier. i can never get the flow down right. D:

[dubiousdisc]

I think they're useful even when they don't contain any analysis at all. When I'm reading a fansite for something I am familiar with, I might be doing so years after I've experienced the source material and I might have forgotten some crucial details that will come up later in the fansite, so might as well have my memory refreshed. And when I'm reading a fansite for something that I am not familiar with, that's where I decide if I want to check the source material for myself. Plot summaries on fansites often give a better impression of the source material than wiki pages, so I'd rather base myself on the former whenever possible. Not to mention that fandom wikis can be inaccurate or even presenting fanon as canon information with no indication they're doing so, and they're just a huge mess. Fansites, on the other hand, are authored. I don't think this sort of stuff is any less useful if it's for, like, Romeo and Juliet rather than The Obscure Story Of Obscure - people may not know everything about the former, either. I know I don't, or again, might have forgotten.

But I suppose that in the end it all boils down to what is the intended audience of your site. If you are creating a site for people who are already in the know and you just want to explore the finer details of a subject, then you might want to omit these plot summaries. Maybe link to someone else's plot summary if you want. If you are creating a site that could be read by someone who knows nothing about the subject, then you might want the plot summaries.

And of course, if you really dislike to write them, nobody's forcing you to do so. Link to someone else's plot summary that you approve of and you're fine.

[Todd]

Part of what I love most about shrines is they introduce me to new characters and series. I got into many games from shrines. Because of that, I personally prefer to have plot summaries on the shrine. I think it does go back to audience, like dubiousdisc said, though. I also think it depends on how popular your subject is. A shrine to a Final Fantasy or Pokemon character could probably get away with not having a plot summary page, but if you're shrining something not many people are into and where other shrines don't exist, it's helpful to have.

[Aku]

I think these days I tend to stray away from doing it so much (because I am also lazy XD)--my Kanji shrine was built so that plot summary pages would compliment the following analysis pages, but like Dubs said I think it really depends on your intended audience. People really experienced in the subject will most likely not need a heavy plot summary, while others who don't know about it might not understand the shrine without it.

For me, it's enough to have a generic summary about the topic to introduce it to newbies without spoiling it for them. I personally think shrines are inherently geared towards existing fans of topics because of how spoiler-heavy they can be, so I tend to skip sections which are summary heavy.

[Laura]

I like to include plot/series summaries on a separate page, yes!

Todd confirms my theories that there ARE people who visit sites who are not familiar with the characters or the series. :) So I like to provide some background information for people who visit my sites, but may not know who the characters are or what series they're from. I think it can be very overwhelming to hear a lot of names and terms thrown around if you aren't too familiar with a series so I've actually taken to including glossaries and a basic character list too. I actually really enjoyed doing all of those sections, especially the character list. XD

Aku also brings up a great point about spoilers... I always make sure that if ONE section on my site is spoiler free, it's the plot summary page. I try to keep it to the general overtone of the series right at the beginning with no allusion to what happens later on, and then provide some information about the creator and the various media or air dates/publication dates.

I think it's alright to omit these sections for one-page shrines because of limited content area... but I think all sites should at least link to a wikipedia article about the series on the main page if the authors don't feel like writing something up themselves. I guess people could just google it themselves if they want to, but I think it's a far better user experience in the end to provide a link for them. :)

[Chibi]

Like some other members, I don't particularly like writing them, but I do it anyway for the sake of completion and to introduce new people to my fandom in case they've never heard of it, but liked my site enough to check it out (that would be an honour for me!). :D I usually write them spoiler-free for that reason, although my shrines are usually filled with spoilers... but what shrines aren't? XD

[Mikari]

I've done summaries before, but it's my least favorite part to write. It's boring because I'm basically just repeating stuff I know, trying not to mix in theories, etc. I sometimes make a list of topics that I want to talk about, but I don't think about it before I sit down to type, if I do, I'll get bored and not type it. The information is based on things I already know, so it's easy to get bored with it, I need to leave some room for new theories to come up and for me to realize things as I write about the character. I started out as a fanfic writer, rather than a written shrine maker and writing plot twists has always amused me so much more than writing information.

So yeah... short version: I've put up with writing summaries when I think it might help people better understand what I'm trying to say, but I don't like writing them.

I also find that I have trouble deciding what I should mention in the summary and what is not vital so I can skip it and still get the basic idea across without writing the whole script.