The Wonderful World Of Wattpad: Writing Tips and Writing Rants

First Impressions

I'm pretty sure you've heard a wise man say once in your life that first impressions are everything. We all know this to be very true. Believe it or not this also applies to writing, especially when you post stories on a public domain like Wattpad.

Most of us don't post on wattpad just for the heck of it. We expect people to read, critique and enjoy our stories. When you are new to the website, you're obviously not well known and it takes a while for your readership to build up. You can't expect to become the next Anna Todd over night. For the average wattpad Joe it takes about a week or two for someone to at least vote or comment on your story. There are a few ways that you could perhaps gain the interest of readers just a tad bit faster.

1: Story Title

Your story title will need to be captivating and original. Something that will allow readers to easily locate your story. You don't want it to get lost in the sea of  the thousands of "Pregnant With Harry Styles Baby" or "Bullied By One Direction" titles that are swimming around wattpad.

Also, I cannot stress this one enough: CAPITALIZE YOUR TITLE!  I die a little inside when I come across a story with an uncapitalized title. The title is the first thing that people notice about your story. It annoys me so much that I will not even click on a story if the title is not capitalized. Grant it, not all words in a title have to be capitalized( we're talking articles like a and of) but the first letter of the title MUST be capitalized. Also all proper nouns. It's "Bridget Jones' Diary" not "bridget jones' diary" Did you see how much better the first one looked?

Also, spelling is very important. If you misspell a word or a name in a title that's another nail in the coffin. Would you read a story called "My Date With Micheal Jaxson"? No , I didn't think so.

2: Summary

Summaries are a very important part of attracting readers to your story. You need a summary that's captivating, one that will make the reader say: "Let me see what this is about."

Not everyone is good at writing summaries and that's okay. I'm not saying your summary needs to be the next Stephen King novel but it needs to be interesting and decent  enough to grab a readers attention. Maybe an excerpt from the story could help. "Please read" or "Read to find out" are unacceptable and rude summaries. You can bet a writer won't get my read on a story by posting "Just Read" as the summary. I shouldn't have to read the story to find out what it's about. You don't see published authors putting "Please read" on the back or inside their books as summaries, do you?

Also, a summary does not mean tell a whole synopsis of what will happen in the story. In other words, don't tell us the whole story in the summary. Leave something to the imagination. Give just enough to entice the reader into reading the story but don't give the whole plot away.

3: Book Covers

I know your probably thinking "She doesn't even have a book cover for this story." (Not yet anyway. I've posted this all on my phone ) A book cover is also very important. I know we say don't judge a book by its cover but the truth is, we do. People will be more inclined to read a story with a decent book cover. A cloudy picture of fetus One Direction when the story takes place in 2015 is not going to cut it for most. I'm not saying that you have to be an expert in Photoshop to make a good cover. A good cover includes the title of your story, clear pictures of the characters or sceen you want to deplict and your pen name if you choose to include it.

If you follow these instructions, I can guarantee you'll gain readership!