Yuffie's Writing How-To's

How to write a STORY BLURB/QUERY

WARNING: A query is NOT the same as the description/blurb you write for your wattpad stories.

While I am talentless in writing story descriptions/blurbs/summaries/synopses/pitch for my own stories, I do know the elements a solid story blurb/query should include, which I'll outline in this How-To.

HOW TO WRITE A BLURB/DESCRIPTION FOR YOUR WATTPAD STORY

These should not directly summarize your story. Don't give a laundry list of "this happens, then this happens, then this happens...." Blurbs are supposed to entice your reader, spark their interest. You accomplish this by leaving it very open-ended. Give them the premise: the protagonist, the problem, and what's at stake. Maybe throw in mention of an Impact Character (which I describe below). Keep the readers guessing. Lay out several different paths the story could take, and leave it hanging so your readers have to keep reading to figure out which path is the right one. Leave a lot to the reader's imagination, and they'll subconsciously mold the story around their own ideas--to what they THINK the story can be. Then you have to blow them away with the actual story.

Being too vague is bad, too. You should give them an idea of who the protagonist is and what the original or main problem of the story is. Then leave your readers guessing as to what happens. Blurbs should make your readers curious without giving away the big secrets of the story.

If you find any Wattpad blurbs that you LOVE, that gave you a burning desire to read the story (regardless of whether the story itself was good or not), post them in the comments below so we can all see examples of good blurbs that provide strong hooks.

Here are a couple that I loved and that caught my attention:

JelsaSimoneMepsey's Secret Stalker:

Stalking is dangerous, heart-stopping, and, in this case, perfectly legal.

At least, everyone at Washington High doesn't seem to mind that Savannah Shay is the Secret Stalker they can go to for any question they want answered. In fact, the Secret Stalker is the most notoriously popular student in the whole school. But she's about to meet her match: salutatorian Evan Schultz, determined to find who the valedictorian ahead of him is and do something about it. He doesn't like the Secret Stalker, but he's desperate and willing to use her. What he doesn't know is that he's using the Secret Stalker against the Secret Stalker.

Supernatural 35's Kickback:

Death is just the beginning.

Rousseau Williams lives in a world where death is obsolete, thanks to a revolutionary technology known as Kickback, which can bring a person back from the dead, a 'get out of death free' card. Everyone around her takes full advantage of Kickback, jumping off of bridges, running through busy traffic, jumping off of dam to take a swim. There's no reason to fear death or play it safe. Life has become one big, reckless party, and if worse comes to worse a fifteen-minute stint in Kickback will send people right back.

But Kickback comes with a price. Rousseau should know, her younger sister died in Kickback two years ago. There are consequences to Kickback, consequences even Rousseau can’t comprehend.

Because when the check for the price of death comes, who’s going to pay the bill?

HOW TO WRITE A QUERY

When you query to agents, you only have at most 500 words to hook them into wanting to read your novel. A good query lays out the story and main protagonists. The query gives the agent an idea if your book might be worth investing in. It's the advertisement for your story. It gives the agent a quick taste of what they can expect from the story, not only in content in ways of plot and characters, but also in terms of the quality of writing. So you should definitely put forth some significant effort in writing a query for your story.