The Top Book Description Mistakes SFF Authors Make by Morgan Lee Clasper

Today we welcome a new guest writer to Writer’s Fun Zone, Morgan Lee Clasper who is stopping by to chat with us about “The Top Book Description Mistakes SFF Authors Make.” Enjoy!

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Science fiction and fantasy authors face a unique problem when it comes to writing our book descriptions.

We often have stories that are rich in world-building, characters, factions, magic systems, technology, and lore.

But our book descriptions can’t showcase all of those things.

When authors try to fit everything into their blurb, they end up with a long, confusing synopsis that nobody wants to read.

I’m a fantasy author myself, so I know this struggle firsthand — and after working with hundreds of SFF authors as a copywriter, I’ve collected a list of the top mistakes authors often fall into.

As a quick note: I use the terms blurb and book description interchangeably, and I do so throughout this article.

Explaining your world instead of your story

SFF stories have big worlds.

Whether it’s a sweeping fantasy realm or a galaxy-spanning star system, authors are tempted to use their blurb as a place to flex and show off their elaborate world-building.

The issue is that this can quickly cause your blurb to snowball into a big, confusing mess.

If you spend 2-3 paragraphs setting up your world before introducing us to your main character, you risk turning readers away.

Don’t get me wrong — world-building is awesome.

But it’s often not enough on its own to get prospective readers invested.

A good blurb works when:

1. something interesting happens
2. to a character we care about.

For example, instead of explaining the rules of your magic system or technology, you might simply tell us that your protagonist is the only one capable of using it, or that doing so will cost them something they desperately want.

As a practical test, ask yourself:

“If I removed this piece of world-building from my blurb, would readers struggle to understand what my protagonist wants, what stands in their way, or why it matters?”

Many times, world-building is best saved for your book, and not the blurb.

Introducing your entire cast

SFF books are (in)famous for their big casts.

You may have multiple point-of-view characters, each with their own important subplot, painstakingly crafted to weave together before culminating in a big finale.

Naturally, authors want to include all of their book’s main players in their blurb.

The problem is that instead of making your blurb more tense and compelling, it actually diffuses tension because it pulls readers in multiple different directions.

As a general rule, name only the characters that are essential to your premise.

For many books, this means 2 or 3 protagonists and perhaps a major antagonist.

For the remaining characters, roles or titles can often do the job (i.e., mentor, king, wizard, sister).

This has two major benefits: 

1. It introduces a character without requiring readers to familiarize themselves with a name.
2. A role or title gives your character an immediate identity. We might not know who Major Cromwell of the Ninth Division is, but we understand the concept of a spaceship pilot.

When deciding whether to name a character in your book description, ask yourself, “Does this person need a name, or can I find a title that suits them?”

Forcing readers to learn intricate terminology

Likewise, many SFF authors fill their blurb with complex in-universe terminology.

However, forcing readers to grapple with unfamiliar names rips them out of the blurb and keeps them from getting invested.

Consider the following example:

When Commander Davis of the Solis Division receives a distress call from the Procyon Alliance that the Craxuts are invading…

This may seem a little egregious, but it’s not too dissimilar to real book descriptions I’ve read before.

Every unfamiliar name or term adds resistance, forcing readers to do mental work.

What would happen if we replaced these in-universe terms with more general archetypes?

When elite intergalactic Commander Davis receives a distress call that a hostile alien race is attacking Earth’s closest allies…

This version conveys the same essential plot information, but it gives the reader specific mental imagery.

Archetypes like mage, warrior, assassin, dragon rider, alien race, or starship carry enormous amounts of information.

Instead of thinking that this will lose what makes your story unique, think of it like using handy shortcuts that make things easier to understand.

Authors, ask yourself, “Is this specific term essential to my blurb, or is there an ordinary word that can communicate the same idea?”

Explaining too much

The result of the above three mistakes is writing a blurb that feels like a summary.

Even if it’s packed chock-full of events, it still feels flat because it reads like “this happens, and then this happens, and then this happens…”

Rather than trying to cram your whole 100k word novel into your book description, authors should focus on one specific angle.

Think of your description as choosing a single lens through which readers will view the story.

Your protagonist may have several desires, and there may be plenty of problems and obstacles standing in their way.

Your job is to identify the combination that best represents what makes your book compelling.

Everything else can be left in the background.

You can use the following framework to help guide your book description:

Protagonist > Desire > Problem > Escalating Consequences > An Unanswered Question

This isn’t a rigid formula, but it does give you a simple path to follow.

This way, readers can understand the premise of your novel without requiring you to explain everything that happens.

Explaining too little

Bear with me, because I know this sounds paradoxical.

Authors learn that they’re supposed to simplify, simplify, simplify their plot, and they take it to heart.

Then they end up writing a blurb that effectively tells readers nothing.

Consider these examples:

• A team of ragtag adventurers embarks on a quest to defeat a Dark Lord.
• A young pilot must stop an alien invasion before Earth is destroyed.

Both of these are simplified, alright, but they could also describe a dozen other books on the market.

Likewise, authors often collapse their protagonist’s journey into vague language like “faces impossible odds” and “overcomes great challenges”.

These descriptors give readers nothing concrete to latch onto.

A good book description walks a fine line between over- and under-explaining.

While complex world-building and terminology count as “bad” specificity, you want to give the reader enough “good” specificity to make your premise memorable and distinct.

Compare these examples:

“An old warrior must pick up his sword again and fight an evil invading force in order to save his kingdom.”

Versus

“Edwin laid down his sword years ago. But when a monstrous army rises in the Outer Lands, he must become the hero — and the killer — he swore he’d left behind.”

In the second example, we have a distinct protagonist, a clear situation, a specific conflict, and an implied moral dilemma.

We did all of this while avoiding the earlier pitfalls. 

The problem isn’t over-explaining per se.

It’s adding specificity that requires excessive explanation.

Ask yourself, “Can my blurb’s details be more specific without requiring me to spend an extra sentence or two explaining things?”

Forgetting to tell readers what kind of story they’re in for

A good SFF blurb doesn’t merely tell readers what happens in your story.

It also tells them what kind of story they’re getting. 

For example, a genre like science fiction has an immense number of smaller niches:

• Space opera
• Military SF
• First contact
• Cyberpunk
• Post-apocalyptic fiction
• Alien invasion
• Space exploration

Each of these subgenres brings a different reading experience and a slightly different audience.

Likewise, fantasy books aren’t a monolith. 

Readers might be looking for:

• Epic fantasy
• Cozy fantasy
• Romantasy
• Progression fantasy
• LITRPG
• Urban fantasy
• Dark fantasy

Your blurb should give readers enough signals to tell what kind of niche your book belongs in.

If your story contains a particular trope, such as found family or enemies-to-lovers, it’s good to mention because it draws in readers who enjoy those kinds of stories.

Your blurb’s goal isn’t to appeal to all SFF fans.

Instead, its job is to appeal to the right kind of SFF readers.

Your blurb should also match the tone of your book. 

A cozy fantasy and a grimdark will use different word choices and “feel” different to read, and a satirical space opera shouldn’t sound like military SF.

Authors, read your current blurb and ask yourself, “Can I tell what subgenre my book belongs in?”

Conclusion

These are some of the biggest mistakes that I see cropping up again and again in sci-fi and fantasy blurbs.

If you can avoid these pitfalls, you’ll be one step closer to writing an engaging blurb that puts your book in the hands of the right readers.

As a quick closing summary, your blurb should:

• Focus on your protagonist, their desire, and the main obstacle standing in their way
• Use archetypal, reader-familiar terminology (unless there’s a good reason not to)
• Only name 2 or 3 characters, with titles or roles for all others
• Add specific stakes and conflicts to make your premise memorable and distinct
• Communicate your story’s subgenre, tropes, and target audience

Happy blurb writing!

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About the Author

Morgan Lee Clasper is a copywriter, book sales strategist, and author of The Blurb Puzzle.

With over seven years of experience in the publishing industry, he’s worked with New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today bestselling authors, writing 4,000 blurbs and counting.

To download a free copy of The Blurb Puzzle, visit https://morganclasperauthor.com/the-blurb-puzzle