Description & Foreword,

Prologue & Epilogue

 

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Description:

A description is your chance to speak directly to your readers about why you wrote the story, what it’s about, and why it’s important. As it is an introduction to your story, a description should include information about the plot. Consider including a few or all of the following ideas:

Give a brief description of the story; the main characters, or themes. Give just enough to get the reader interested in reading more; don’t give anything away. Make sure your description fits all the elements of your story. I've read stories before wherein their description was indeed interesting, but once I read the story, I was disappointed because it wasn't connected, and it really didn't match my expectations. Make it sound as unique as possible. It's what usually readers are after once they visit your story, so if your description is more than enough to attract them, they might read your story. Describe the story along with the characters. Remember not to put too much information as it may ruin the surprise/twist of the story. Basically, the description is a short summary of the story itself; however, it is what comes out of the listing pages here on AFF, so it's better to make it as unique as possible so readers would be attracted into reading it. Some use poems as their description since it comes out unique. Avoid putting something like "Hi guys! This is my first ever story here on AFF. Do check it out," as their description. I don't think I'll read it if you put it like this. I'm looking for the summary of your story. You could put this in your foreword instead.

Remember to keep it short! You don’t want the description to drag on and on. A good rule is to try to keep it to one paragraph, two at maximum, and be sure it is free of spelling and grammatical errors. If you want someone to have a look at your description, I'd be glad to help you; however, I might be a bit busy so... :P

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A foreword is a (usually short) piece of writing sometimes placed below your description. Typically written by someone other than the primary author of the story, it often tells of some reason as to why the author wrote the story. Later editions of a storysometimes have a new foreword prepended (appearing before an older foreword if there was one), which might explain in what respects that edition differs from previous ones. It is written by the author of the story and generally covers on how the story came into being or how the idea for the story was developed, and may include thanks and acknowledgments to people who were helpful to the author during the time of writing (credits).

If you are writing a foreword for a new edition/series of a story, it’s common to talk about what’s different in the current edition. As much as possible, avoid putting unnecessary words like "OMG! My first story eva! Please read and support this story! Thank you!" I think it's a bit unprofessional. Try putting something like how you came up with the story. Try explaining some deep words you may have used in the story, how you came up with this plot in the first place, and what inspired you into writing this story; however, there are no hard and fast rules about forewords, so there’s room to be creative and have fun!

 

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Prologue:

A prologue is used to give readers extra information that advances the plot. It is included in the front matter and for a good reason! A prologue is used mainly for two reasons. First is to outline the backstory quickly and economically, saving the author from having to resort to flashbacks or ruses such as conversations or memories to explain the background to the reader. This is commonly done in science fiction and fantasy to show why a certain quest is being undertaken or what will happen in the future. The prologue is a better option than a first chapter bogged down in detail. Another one is to hook the reader and provide the story question right up front, giving them a reason to keep turning the chapters to find out the answer. Quite often the prologue relates to a scene near the end of the story, and the story itself then shows what has led up to this moment. When is this justified? Perhaps when you want to introduce your characters in a more leisurely fashion, and your reader's experience with 'meeting' them will be enhanced by some sort of foreshadowing of what is to come.

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