Seeing yet another blog asking for help with writing a description and foreword made me sad since I see them so often, so I decided to give my two cents on the subject and hopefully help anyone struggling with this.

(This is my personal opinion on the subject, so if you disagree with anything I've said then I'd be happy to hear about it, but please be nice. I have taken up a zero tolerance policy for meanness and bullying, the terms of which I have stated here)

A Description

A description should be a few sentence summary of the conflict and main point of your story. Here is an example of a description I just wrote for a story I'm working on:

“Chanyeol assumed it would be easy enough to have a one night stand with the little nobody nerd, Baekhyun, and then act like it never happened afterwards… but as it turns out, Baekhyun is not as easy to forget as he thought. Now he has to decide what's more important, his status and popularity at school, or keeping Baekhyun by his side.”

The first part, “Chanyeol assumed it would be easy enough to have a one night stand with the little nobody nerd, Baekhyun, and then act like it never happened afterwards… but as it turns out, Baekhyun is not as easy to forget as he thought.” tells the reader the main point of the story, and is letting them know some of the things that have or will take place.  

The second part, “Now he has to decide what's more important, his status and popularity at school, or keeping Baekhyun by his side.” tells of what could be, or the “conflict” of the story.

I like to call this the “what is, and what could be" formula. Here is another example:

¹“Being a wedding dress designer means Baekhyun is constantly surrounded by reminders of what could have been. It has taken years for him to bury all the memories of his ex, Chanyeol, and be able to do his job without breaking down. But when Chanyeol suddenly shows up in his life again, all the memories come flooding back like a tsunami that threatens to drown him, and possibly rekindle something he thought long dead.”

What is- “Being a wedding dress designer means Baekhyun is constantly surrounded by reminders of what could have been. It has taken years for him to bury all the memories of his ex, Chanyeol, and be able to do his job without breaking down. But when Chanyeol suddenly shows up in his life again, all the memories come flooding back like a tsunami that threatens to drown him,”

What could be- “and possibly rekindle something he thought long dead.”

This basically gives the reader an idea of the whole story without giving away too much, while at the same time sparking their curiosity.

Some tips-

1. It always helps to read things out loud whenever possible. Sometimes you can miss flow problems when you read in your head.  

2. Having someone else read it can be very helpful too, especially if they can be honest yet kind. That way you will know if it will catch someone’s attention or not before you post it.

3. Don’t be afraid to write multiple descriptions. I do this and there has been many times that I like a sentence from one, and another from a different one, and then will end up putting them together and get a really great description from it.

4. Just like writing the story, a good description takes time and effort, so don’t expect to sit down and come up with something great in just a few minutes.

A Foreword

A foreword in a book is usually a short scene or excerpt that will draw the reader in and entice them to read the rest... here on AFF it is used a bit differently though, so I will do a brief overview of all the different elements people seem to use the most and give my advice on how to arrange them.

1

Excerpt- This is a small scene or example of your writing. It is used to both draw your reader in, and give them an example of your writing style and ability.

2

Character Profiles- A list of character bios, usually consisting of a picture, their age (or grade if it is a school au) and a short description of their personality or life.

3

Trailer-  A video trailer for your story.

4

Author's note- This is where you put any personal comments about the story, or just something you want to say to the readers before they begin the story. This would also be where you would add anything about what you allow or not (saving offline, reposting, translations and such) as well as a disclaimer if you use one.

5

Poster(s)- Where you would put extra posters or fanmade art.

6

Links and Credits- This is where you add any links and give credit to people or shops for things like posters, trailers, reviews, and advertising.

So, let's say you want to have a trailer, excerpt, and author's note in your foreword, then you would want to organize them in the order of the numbers from lowest to highest.

1. Excerpt

3. Trailer

4. Author's Note

Or let's say you want an author's note, character profiles, and links and credits, then it would be:

2. Character Profiles

4. Author's Note

6. Links and Credits

Some authors choose to skip all of these and instead use a story element form like this:

Title:

Author:

Pairing:

Status:

Length:

Rating:

Genre:

Warning(s):

Description:

I personally like to use these for the foreword of oneshots (because if something is only a few thousand words, it's simple and easy to use, and a reader will be more willing to give a short story a shot without reading an excerpt anyways), but not for chaptered fics, which readers can be more hesitant about committing to, thus need more info first.

I hope this was clear and understandable and helps someone even just a lil bit! (it's unedited since it's reaaaally late and I need to go to sleep >.< sowwy)

Love you all!

                     Miso~

¹This is a description I wrote for a friend's story called La fièvre rose. If you'd like to check it out then you can find it HERE. (^_-)b