Some authors here have fantastic stories that are hamstrung by story descriptions that do nothing to sell their work. As a reader it can be quite frustrating, and I'll often skip a story with a poor description unless I already know the author can deliver. So in the interest of helping authors who struggle with descriptions, I offer a template you can follow. I'm not claiming this is the only approach or even the best. But if you struggle with story descriptions then it's a good starting place.
[Main character in their beginning state.] [The problem or obstacle that knocks them off course.] [Optional—what's at stake for the MC].
For example…
Bruce Wayne has spent several years hiding his secret identity as the vigilante Batman. Now that his parents have been snatched from death in an alternate timeline and relocated in his own, he has to decide whether it's time to hang up the cape. Will the villains of Gotham let him?
After a bitter divorce and a cross-country move, Alexis is definitely not ready for dating yet. But a day after turning down her neighbor's polite advances, a wedding invitation from her past may force her hand.
Kyle felt like he had finally made it—from trailer park poverty to VP of Supply Chain. Then he met Brandy-a woman so far above him that he felt right back in the trailer park. He'll have to fight his own demons and a cutthroat game with other suitors if he wants to hang on to her, but if there's one thing he knows how to do it's fight.
