The Out-of-Context Thread

[JX Valentine]

The Out-of-Context Thread
(Thanks to Praxiteles for this suggestion! Of course we took you seriously.)​

Summaries are hard. You have to figure out how to catch a reader’s attention while at the same time distilling your entire idea down to a single paragraph. Choosing the perfect words for the job takes a lot of time and effort and revising, but it’s worth it if you have a good summary—one that catches a reader’s eye and makes them go, “What. What is even going on.” On the other hand, a bad summary is one that makes your story sound bland and generic, so it’s no wonder lots of folks struggle with this very point.

And if you think it’s hard to summarize your fic, try someone else’s.

When you haven’t read it from the beginning.

Welcome to the Out-of-Context Thread, a little game all about summarizing someone else’s fic based on an excerpt from a random chapter. Or, in other words, it’s a writing exercise that’s meant to sharpen your summarizing skills while giving you an opportunity to get introduced to fics you’ve never touched (or to introduce other people to it when they wonder just what you’re talking about).

Here’s how it works:

• Choose a fic that isn’t yours—one you haven’t read, to be specific. (It’s not as fun to summarize a fic you have read, after all!)
• Choose five paragraphs from a random chapter. And when we say “five paragraphs,” we do actually mean “five paragraphs, which means five chunks of text with spaces between them.” A single line of dialogue, then, counts as a paragraph.
• Write a summary of the entire fic. This summary doesn’t have to be accurate; in fact, we encourage you to guess what’s actually going on or to straight-up make stuff up to fill in the blanks. However, your summary can be no longer than 200 words because, you know, this should be a summary.
• Post the end result to this thread with a link to the fic you chose. Writers are free to comment on how accurate your summary is (or lol forever at how incredible their stuff is out-of-context).

Pretty simple, right? One last thing: if the fic you’ve chosen has already been summarized, don’t worry! Choose a chapter and try your own hand at it too! (You can even summarize the fic based on the exact same excerpt the other person has read.) The more perspectives, the more interesting it’ll be for the author!

But most importantly, this all is just for fun, so be sure to have a lot of it!

Good luck!

 

[AmericanPi]

Haha, this is going to be really fun, I can feel it. I'll definitely be participating in this soon (as soon as I actually finish FFQ Edition 4, lol). Quick question, though, should this game go into the Bumpable Thread Index?

(And speaking of the Bumpable Thread Index, I think it should be renamed into the Useful Thread Index and combined with the Useful Thread Archive in the Authors' Cafe Rules thread. Basically, a sticky list of useful threads, some of which are bumpable).

 

[Avenger Angel]

VERY interesting experiment here. Thought I'd give it a shot. I promise, I haven't even peeked at this one before.

Time and Tide by Cuterine

Silently, I prayed to every deity I could think of that I was right. He couldn't have changed that much, could he? Yes, he was different now – but I'd been there when he and Augusta trained with Moll and Chubb in the courts at the academy, and I'd recognised the peculiar attachment between them. That was the kind of bond I had with Edie. You couldn't have that and still be totally evil, I was certain. It was just too pure.

It was a misguided thought, I recognise that now. Virgil was never evil. In many ways, he might have been the most pure-hearted of all of us – he genuinely believed in the city's mission; was truly terrified that if its self-inflicted stasis failed it would collapse into self-destructive anarchy. Like me, he was fighting for what he thought was right, except that he was utterly immune to any hint of a doubt. There was no conflict between his loyalty to the city and his love for his pokémon.

I didn't know that then, but still, I wasn't too far off the mark with my guess. Virgil wasn't a trainer, no. The boy he once was had been a trainer, and he had died when he gave up his name. But Virgil at least still thought he was a trainer, and that was just enough.

“You must be desperate,” he said. “You won't beat us. By the time I left the academy, only Moll ever beat me, and you? You're not her.”

That stung, although I couldn't say why. If it hadn't been for the gun, I might have hit him.

SUMMARY:
This story is about a human friendship and a Pokémon Trainer named Virgil that has taken a turn toward a dark path as he has become something his friends no longer recognize. Despite the truth behind the situation, Virgil still believes he fights for the right things and that the ends will justify the means. He has also stopped questioning himself and the consequences of his dire actions. And yet despite all that he has done and how he is no longer the trainer the narrator thought he was, she still can't bring herself to hate him and feels there is still good to him.

Overall, the story is about the narrator's struggle to help guide Virgil back to the way he used to be, despite the dark and violent turn he has taken. Throughout the course of the story, she will need to both fight and support him, but will also need to find out what caused this dark transformation in the first place, and ensure it never happens again. And as she digs deeper, she'll discover Virgil is only just a piece of a much larger, darker enigma that needs to be solved before it's too late.

(Let me know how I did!)

 

[JX Valentine]

Haha, this is going to be really fun, I can feel it. I'll definitely be participating in this soon (as soon as I actually finish FFQ Edition 4, lol). Quick question, though, should this game go into the Bumpable Thread Index?

(And speaking of the Bumpable Thread Index, I think it should be renamed into the Useful Thread Index and combined with the Useful Thread Archive in the Authors' Cafe Rules thread. Basically, a sticky list of useful threads, some of which are bumpable).

To the first question, depends on how well-received this is. XD Usually, what ends up on the Bumpable Thread Index are threads people find useful enough to want to go back to. (Either that, or people keep asking if the thread is bumpable.) In this case, it's kinda just a game or exercise—a little silly thing folks can do if they feel like it, just like an icebreaker on the forum. If folks like it enough to keep it alive for a long time, it'll be added to the list. If not, it'll just kinda die quietly in the archives. *nod*

As for the second, well, again, we'll be updating the rules sticky eventually. XD But in the meantime, the main reason why the Bumpable Thread Index is titled that way and kept separate is because it's supposed to highlight that, yeah, these are threads you can bump. So that index really isn't supposed to advertise the usefulness of the links therein, exactly, so much as the fact that folks keep wondering whether or not they can post in them past its proverbial expiration date. As for why it's separate, that's largely because, well, we have yet to update the rules thread. Sorry. XD; Once we do, though, absolutely, we'll pull out any links from its list that should be added to the BTI, but for now, yep, they're separate because we haven't done that yet (and because we'd like for the BTI to be more noticeable, as not that many people know that the rules contain its own link list).

For future reference, please feel free to VM/PM the mods for suggestions on what to do about certain threads, juuuust so the thread can stay on topic. b)'')b Thanks, though! We're totally down for suggestions~!

 

[Dramatic Melody]

Disclaimer: I do know one other thing about this fic that isn't apparent in the five paragraphs below - that it's a Nuzlocke fic - but other than that I am reading this for the first time, so let's get to it!

Electric Sheep, by JX Valentine

Without another word, his image blinked out of existence, and the glass dimmed. Door screwed her face up in frustration and tapped on the glass. It flared to life, presenting her with a list of her recent calls, and she had half a mind to call her father back and tell him off. But she didn’t. Instead, she shoved the holo caster back into her pocket and hopped off the brick wall. She hit the ground with both feet, and the wetness of the puddle she had landed in seeped through her gray sneakers. With a curse, she shoved her hands into the pockets of her cargo pants and started for home.

The truth was that Door didn’t mind Nuvema City. Nine years had passed since she moved from Hoenn, and because of that, she had only vague memories of what it was like living halfway across the world. But the few parts of it she could remember made her restless: the sun, the smell of fresh-cut grass, real pokémon flying overhead. Unova wasn’t as dirty as it had been five years ago, but it didn’t feel right. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but she felt like she didn’t belong there—as if she was meant to do something else and be somewhere else. And that nagging feeling grew into a thirst for adventure, which in turn grew into a need to go on a journey.

But it wouldn’t be the same. That was the problem. It would never be the same because everywhere one went in Unova, there were barriers, artificial forests, fake pokémon. It wasn’t real. Just pretend. One giant theme park for the self-proclaimed eco-friendly hipsters and rich kids to indulge in. And maybe Door was a little self-righteous about that; even she admitted that she might be. But the idea of giving in and going on a journey through an amusement park? To her, it wouldn’t be a journey.

Never mind the nanny. As Door rounded the corner and let that thought sink in, she shuddered. The pokémon and the routes weren’t the only things that were fake in that region. Looking up at the crowds, she understood she wouldn’t be able to spot them at first glance. But she knew they were there. She knew because the things she dreaded were exactly what put food on the table for her family. They were why her mother was in Castelia City, hammering out details for a new operating system. And besides the Pokémon Bank and Hoenn storage system, they were why anyone knew her family at all.

They were the Companions. Androids, to be precise. Designed to look human in almost every way—even act like them, in the newer models’ cases. Rumor had it that one in five people owned one, and Door knew that at least in Nuvema City, hotbed of trainer activity, that rumor might as well have been true. Everyone who wanted to be a trainer had to have a Companion, not by law but by practice. The safe zones, the crime-free routes between cities where artificial pokémon “lived,” were far, far easier to navigate with a Companion’s built-in map system. Besides, Companions were equipped with a whole range of bells and whistles that made life easier for a trainer.

Summary:

Door is a new Pokemon trainer who was born in Hoenn but grew up in Unova, which has evolved into a world filled with sentient artificial life. Being the daughter of tech-savvy parents, Door is both familiar and unfamiliar about the concept, but her journey reveals just how far the technology has reached—and how it has changed everything she thought she knew about the world around her.

She eventually befriends Pokemon—both natural and artificial—and sees both the beauty and horrors of artificial life. In the end, when she has to take a stand on whether artificial life should be stopped or should rule over their world. What will she choose: give up her artificial Pokemon and rid Unova of these inhumane advancements, or give up her natural Pokemon and submit to a future ruled by artificial life?


Aaah that was ridiculously fun. Really neat idea!

 

[Psychic]

I love this idea and am so stoked to be trying it out.

“This is just… all too much,” Solonn said finally, wearily, as he set himself back down.

“I understand,” Jal’tai said softly. “I wouldn’t expect anyone to make such a major decision in any hurry.” He began to glide past Solonn, moving toward the transport tile, but turned back before activating it.

“You can stay here as long as you like,” he told Solonn. “And when you come to a decision regarding what I’ve offered you, please call me and let me know. I won’t force you to decide one way or another… but I do ask that you consider what’s at the heart of this matter. This community was born in the name of a better future, one in which the schism between humanity and all the other peoples of the world is bridged at last. Ask yourself: is this not a future that should become a reality?”

Solonn winced, feeling as though a large weight had just dropped into his stomach. He did want to see equality between humans and pokémon, but there was still the matter of what acting on that desire here would require of him. He couldn’t even begin to decide what to do.

He finally pried his eyes away from the plant and turned quickly to face Jal’tai and ask how he was supposed to deal with these conflicting notions, but saw only a flash of green light. The latios had already gone, leaving him alone with the weight of this decision.

Jal’tai the Latios has shown Solonn (of unknown species) a society that is new and different than the one he has known. While strange and fascinating, the future of this world is unknown, and a huge decision weighs on Solonn's shoulders (if he has shoulders). It is left to Solonn to make some of the most difficult choices of his life as he navigates this world and tries to understand it, and hopefully do what's best for all. But who are his friends, and who seeks only to manipulate him?

As he tries to answer these questions and more, Solonn is constantly hounded by feelings of loneliness. How will he cope with these responsibilities while trying to understand this world and all its inhabitants?


You're welcome, Sike. 8D

~Psychic

 

[Kutie Pie]

Meh, I'll give this a shot. It sounds like a lot of fun, actually.

Fledgings, by Spiteful Murkrow

After the session at Melissa's, Kiran left his charges to themselves to prepare for their excursion in the morning. The team of four made their way towards the harbor, as Pleo eagerly practiced the skill he had picked up at Melissa's. That is, hopping up high into the air every so often above the eaves of the wooden, canvas, and thatch roofs that covered most of Bluewhorl Town's buildings. Every time the white bird went up, he would almost as quickly come back down only to repeat the process again, hoping his latest launch might be the one to finally give him flight. The passerbyers on the path would turn their head time to time to watch Pleo pass... if not as frequently as they had a couple weeks ago. After all, the sea god had become more and more a fixture of their mundane routines.

As the group carried along their way, Crom began to get a little ahead of himself over what Kiran had told him about tomorrow's mission in the Mystery Dungeon.

"I don't believe it, we're finally going to graduate to Normal Rank!" Crom cried.

Ah yes, the moment that Crom and Nida had been waiting for all these moons was finally upon them at last. That said, the importance was a bit lost on Pleo, who came down from his most recent leap into the air and gave a puzzled tilt of his head to the Druddigon and Nidoran.

"Hrm? 'Normal Rank'?" Pleo asked. Didn't the two go on missions all the time with Kiran? So why was 'graduating' so important?

Summary: A young Wingull named Pleo wants to become the best rescuer in the guild, but his inexperience with flying keeps him grounded to the point his teammates label him useless. One day, the mythical sea god grants his wish to fly and quickly becomes the best flier in town, which catches the attention of the manager of Bluewhorl Town's struggling postoffice. Believing he will save the business, he recruits Pleo to become a new mail-carrier to deliver messages to rescue guilds across the globe. Not wanting to give up his dream of being in a guild, Pleo, with the help of fellow no-gooders Crom, Kiran and Nida, takes up job listings himself (despite it being against policies) while juggling his training on the side.

But when he accidentally intercepts a message meant for a malicious troupe containing coordinates to a powerful artifact known to grant unlimited power, do Pleo and his secret guild of rookie mail-carriers have what it takes to save their town, and perhaps the world, from falling into chaos?

Lol was trying so hard not to use Valiant as an example, but that was all I could think of.

 

[diamondpearl876]

Meh, I'll give this a shot. It sounds like a lot of fun, actually.

Fledgings, by Spiteful Murkrow



Summary: A young Wingull named Pleo wants to become the best rescuer in the guild, but his inexperience with flying keeps him grounded to the point his teammates label him useless. One day, the mythical sea god grants his wish to fly and quickly becomes the best flier in town, which catches the attention of the manager of Bluewhorl Town's struggling postoffice. Believing he will save the business, he recruits Pleo to become a new mail-carrier to deliver messages to rescue guilds across the globe. Not wanting to give up his dream of being in a guild, Pleo, with the help of fellow no-gooders Crom, Kiran and Nida, takes up job listings himself (despite it being against policies) while juggling his training on the side.

But when he accidentally intercepts a message meant for a malicious troupe containing coordinates to a powerful artifact known to grant unlimited power, do Pleo and his secret guild of rookie mail-carriers have what it takes to save their town, and perhaps the world, from falling into chaos?

Lol was trying so hard not to use Valiant as an example, but that was all I could think of.

Having read Fledglings, I gotta say I love this summary. PLEO THE WINGULL!

I'll have to try this out soon, it looks fun. XD

 

[Kutie Pie]

Couldn't wait any longer, so second try, hailing from Shipping Fics!

Destiny of the Aura by Wuster

As the young inventor approached the calm and serene stream, he was lost in his thoughts. ‘Bonnie is right,’ he began, ‘I’m not athletic and powerful like Ash, and I’m certainly not as good an athlete as Serena with her Rhyhorn racing skills.’ He sighed gloomily as he splashed the fresh, cooling water on his face.

Clemont took in his surroundings. The peaceful movement of the water could be heard as the current was splashing gently against the shore. Above him, the stars and moon lit up the night sky, providing an almost immeasurable kaleidoscope of mystery. For once, the Earth seemed to stand still as Clemont collected himself. ‘I may not be as strong physically as those two, but mental strength has always been my forte!’, he convinced himself, smiling slightly. Unfortunately, just as he had started to think these happy thoughts, he heard a small crack behind him. Being the ever-curious teenager he was, he decided to go check it out.

“Um hello?” Clemont started tentatively, walking with the utmost care, “Is anyone there?”

At first, his calls went unanswered. Nothing except the slowly fading sound of the water could be heard, as he moved further and further away from the stream, and closer towards a very large tree.

Seemingly distraught, Clemont tried again. “Is anybody there?” he asked, this time with more conviction.

Summary: Clemont has a problem: he's the supporting teammate. He doesn't save the day, get the girl, get to ride a Legendary Pokémon, he gets none of that. With his self-esteem down the drain, he wanders from the group for some alone time, only to come across Destiny—his Destiny, where he is destined to be the hero he's always wanted to be, and get his long-awaited spotligh. Two problems arise, however: why isn't he in his home world, and why is he a Mienfoo*?


* Because being a Riolu's too mainstream.

 

[Blackjack Gabbiani]

Stationary by Dramatic Melody

He checked the time: 9:30 p.m.

He heard the familiar whistle, and both his and his seatmate’s expressions lit up. Their breathing synchronized with the sounds of the Magnet Train’s engine as it rested on the platform and opened its doors. The first few passengers exited, and they scanned each face in the hopes that one would meet theirs. They sighed as a passenger would reunite with one of the people they waited with, imagining how happier their own reunions would be compared to theirs.

But as each passenger reunited with their respective waiters, their faces’ glows became less and less. The passengers kept on coming, but none of them put an end to their expecting, an assurance to their uncertainty. He knew that it took at least ten minutes for all of the passengers to exit the platform, but he also knew that those ten minutes were the fastest in the day to come and go.

All his thoughts stopped when he saw her, in her Pokémon Center outfit and carrying a duffel bag he assumed was new. In that moment, the strain from the four and a half hours of waiting ceased to exist, and it was replaced by thoughts of a pleasant weekend four weeks in the making. His seatmate’s plight he obsessed over in the past few minutes didn’t cross his mind anymore, as all his thoughts shifted to welcoming her back and giving her the best weekend possible.

Nurse Joy and Officer Jenny's lovers await them at the train station, not knowing that their paths would cross in the most tragic and...hilarious? of ways once they reached their hotel. Drama and intrigue await at Hotel Richessme for these two public officials and their paramours!

 

[Chibi Pika]

Oh boy, let's do this:

Pokemon Convergence by PhalanxSigil

Rather than seeing a hand that was pale and beige, as he had expected, he instead found that the back of his hand was covered in what he could only describe as orange fur. Slightly troubled, he investigated the rest of his arm, and found the same fur outlined his entire arm. Now genuinely frightened, he patted down his torso, hoping to find a bare, hairless chest that a fifteen-year-old should have. He was horrified when he felt that same pelt across his chest and stomach.

Well, that explains why I felt so hot, he thought. But last time I checked, humans aren’t covered head-to-toe with fur…I AM human, right? He felt his heart rate rise drastically as he came to that realization. Did the wormhole do this? Giratina? What the hell’s happened to me?!

He fought to control those morbid thoughts and attempted to reason with himself. What am I thinking? Of COURSE I’m human. How could I be anything else? Sure, I may look a bit weird, but that doesn’t change what I am, right? I am human. Repeat that.

“I am human,” he muttered.

Hoping his brain was satisfied with that answer, he returned to investigating his new form. The strange lump on his backside hadn’t gone away, so he concluded that it wasn’t a bruise or lump caused by a fall. Reaching down, he grasped the lump with his right hand.

Summary:
After taking a wrong turn and somehow wandering through a portal into the Reverse World, a young man finds himself cursed by Giratina and turned into a Growlithe. Now he has to research how to find a way back into Giratina's domain in order to plead for his old form back. Along the way, he'll discover an incident involving the spacetime distortions that led him to that world in the first place, and wind up striking a deal with the dragon as they both investigate the forces threatening to tear apart the world's balance.


...I have already read a few paragraphs ahead and discovered how hilariously off-base this is. xD; That was fun, I wanna do more.

~Chibi~;249;;448;

 

[Psychic]

I had to give this another shot! >D

"As always. Give your mother my best." That was my father as he shook the man's hand in the doorway. "Jiri, come on."

As I stood, the man about to leave looked me up and down, and his thin mouth tightened into a smirk. "Your son is becoming quite the gentleman," he said in a clipped voice, adjusting the line of his black suit, hand nearly obscuring the red insignia over his heart.

I smiled, hoping it was a disarming look to pave over the unsettling feeling I still could not shake, and my father clasped my shoulder. "That's my boy!" he said proudly, and with that the disturbed sense was gone, filled in with revulsion. I wasn't his boy! Well...no, I was, but only in the biological way. He had nothing to do with my path or my future, and he certainly did nothing to encourage me to be a man of the world.

But I in turn did nothing to dislodge his grip.

The man had left, a familiar dash of cologne in his wake. A brief flash in my mind of ivory and silver, and it was gone as suddenly as it had appeared. "He's very perceptive," my father started. "I've told him about you, but to pick up on something like that is pretty impressive."

A young Jirarudan strives to find his way in the world. Though a perceptive lad, he is shy and reserved, and doesn't always trust his own judgement. The young collector constantly finds himself at odds with older men in positions of power - first his father, then a rich and powerful crime boss who stirs deep and troubling memories within him. Giovanni, however, offers him the opportunity to be free from his father's tight grasp, and the power to get whatever he desires. Jirarudan struggles as he attempts to leave one man's shadow, yet is in danger of falling into yet another.

~Psychic

 

[Kutie Pie]

Moll stared. Whatever she'd been expecting, it hadn't been that.

“You … what?” She wobbled and nearly fell off the back of the bench. “The Museum of the Forgotten?”

“Yeah,” I said. “Um. I was going to tell you, but.”

“But it was the Museum of the Forgotten,” she said. It seemed difficult for her to stop saying it. “The Museum of the Forgotten …”

She looked a little wobbly again, so I held her arm and guided her down to the seat before I went on. I told her about hunting for Aranea, and finding Maxie instead; I told her about his quest to raise the land; I told her about Edie, and the endless labour of keeping the Museum in order.

Summary: The long-awaited sequel of I Totally Knew What You Bastards Actually Did Last Summer Back in Hoenn and I'm Not Lying. The five survivors who wished that summer never happened will never forget when they won't let them forget. And they go to the extremes to make sure their memories stay fresh in the minds of the public, revealing truth after truth. The five survivors team up once again to make sure the commemoration of the aptly-named “Museum of the Forgotten” stays that way, even if they have to go to extreme measures. The most anticipated slasher story since the banning of “The Sandslash Wars”.

lolwut did I just write on the fly

 

[Blackjack Gabbiani]

I had to give this another shot! >D


A young Jirarudan strives to find his way in the world. Though a perceptive lad, he is shy and reserved, and doesn't always trust his own judgement. The young collector constantly finds himself at odds with older men in positions of power - first his father, then a rich and powerful crime boss who stirs deep and troubling memories within him. Giovanni, however, offers him the opportunity to be free from his father's tight grasp, and the power to get whatever he desires. Jirarudan struggles as he attempts to leave one man's shadow, yet is in danger of falling into yet another.

~Psychic

...Weirdly enough that's really accurate, only not with Giovanni (though of course that's Gio in that scene).