How to Write Effective and Engaging Soap Opera Recaps

Soap opera fans are perhaps the most dedicated fans of all. What could be more fun than watching your favorite soap and writing a summary or recap about it? Conquering this task doesn't require an English major but it does take time, persistence, and of course a knowledge of the characters and/or settings related to the show. Many working soap opera fans simply don't have the time to watch their favorite daytime shows anymore, which is one of the reasons they read recaps online. Even if they do watch their show, many people still enjoy reading about it elsewhere. As an experienced recap writer, I can give you tips on how to write a descriptive recap which will captivate your readers' interest.

Know Your Show. You must be familiar with the show's characters, settings, and history in order to write an effective recap. It doesn't look too good if you were to describe a character named Michael, for example, as "What's his name." Your readers may not know who "what's his name, is either. I have written daily recaps for Days of Our Lives and am familiar with the history of popular supercouples such as Bo and Hope, Steve and Kayla, and John and Marlena. Occasionally these people dredge up the past so it's important to be familiar with what they are referring to so you can sound confident in your writing. You also need to know where a particular scene is taking place, since soap operas contain several different scenarios in one show. The reader wants to know where characters are interacting, such as the police station, someone's house, the local gathering place, and so forth. You want your recap to sound professional, so that readers can entrust that you know your stuff. If they miss their favorite show, they depend on you to keep them updated with the ins and outs!

Use Different Paragraphs for Various Settings. As any avid daytime watcher knows, daytime soaps contain more than one setting throughout the day with different characters in each one. For example, John and Marlena might be at the hospital, Steve and Kayla might be at the local hotspot in town, and Bo and Hope might be hanging out at home. You want to put these settings in different paragraphs so your recap makes sense as to "who did what" and where. Often the events happen at the same time, so it's important to separate the events so it doesn't sound jumbled up and confusing into one big paragraph.

Use a Heading for Each Paragraph. You want to be able to engage the reader right away with an eye-catching paragraph, so the reader right away knows what the proceeding paragraph is about. You can label your paragraph as "At the hospital" or "At the Brady Pub" for example. If you want to be a bit more creative with naming your paragraphs, you can give it an original title all your own. Anyone who is a daytime fan knows that in the world of soaps, characters often lie, cheat, and deceive. If the paragraph is mainly about one person lying to another, for example, you can give it a title such as "Max gets duped." Another fact worth mentioning is that daytime contains an array of famous "love triangles." You can also give your paragraph a fun title such as "Three's a Crowd," if the story for the day relates to that.

Use Proper Sequencing. Daytime shows contain different characters in more than one setting. You want to be able to establish this by effectively sequencing the events on that show. For example, sometimes Bo Brady, a handsome detective on my show, Days Of Our Lives, might have a busy day. He might start off at the police station, then go to the hospital, and finally go back home. You would want to of course have the police station setting as your first paragraph in your recap, then the hospital, then Bo's house, since that is the order of his day and therefore what happened first. It wouldn't make sense to have Bo's house listed as the first paragraph of settings, since that is where his last stop of the day was.

Use Various Word Choices. Daytime characters talk a lot. Readers who miss their favorite show want to know what was said, and who said what to whom. It is important to use different word choices, rather than the continuous, "he said," "she said." Like I mentioned before, you don't have to be an English major, but you want to avoid redundancy and repetition by implementing various words, such as remarked, noted, advised, yelled, pondered, admitted, confessed, etc. Daytime characters display various emotions, and readers want to be able to have an idea as to what their favorite characters are feeling.

Use Quotes. You don't need to write a transcript of the show, but adding a few quotes in your recap as to what the characters actually said makes it more interesting to the reader. If we miss our favorite show, it's always fun to know what actually comes out of our favorite character's mouth. This also makes it more captivating for the reader. Thus, they will want to come back and read more of your recaps. Many quotes are too quirky or too funny not to include in your writing anyway. This adds variety and avoids the use of redundancy.

Have a sense of Humor. Watching your favorite show and writing recaps about it should be fun. It's OK to add humor with your descriptions. Someone on your favorite show might be wearing a hideous outfit, so tell your readers about it! Daytime characters are often known for whining too much. If you watch a particular show on a regular basis, it isn't hard to figure out the "whiners" from the rest of the bunch. It makes it more fun to read if you can add descriptive humor to the characters' current situation. For example, on Days of Our Lives, there are two characters named Phillip and Willow. One particular recap site affectionately refers to this pair as "Pillow."

Proofread your recap. This may perhaps be the most important tip of all, although it's common sense with any writer. Always, always proofread your recap, or have someone else do it for you. Even the best writers often will go back over their documents or articles and realize they misspelled a word or improperly used punctuation, for example. You want to also reread it in order to ensure that it makes sense and that you have the confidence knowing that it will keep your readers' interest.

Use a Date. Last but not least, label your recap with the episode date at the top. For example, if the show aired on Friday, April 13, 2007, make sure your readers are aware of that so they know which episode they are reading about.

Good luck in your efforts, and most of all, have fun!