Writing a Film or Book Summary

Present tense, no spoilers.

Examples

• The story follows a young boy who...

Key rules

• A summary uses the present tense for the plot and does not reveal the ending
• Give the main characters and conflict
• Keep it to a few sentences

Common mistakes

• The story followed a young boy who finds a secret map and later the boy finds treasure at the end. → The story follows a young boy who finds a mysterious map and sets off to find its treasure.

Use cases

• Writing a book club summary
• Describing a film for a review site
• Preparing a synopsis for a class