I think I established in the previous chapter that publishable stories and Wattpad stories are different. They can be treated differently, and as a writer or a critic, keeping an eye on what you're trying to write matters. That said, there is one thing on Wattpad that most people don't do, but everyone should. That is tell people what your book is about before they start reading.
This seems like a rehash of the chapter on writing blurbs and summaries titled "How to Write a Blurb/Summary". However, this isn't really what I mean when I say tell people what your book is about. This is a problem we commonly run into in The Science Fiction Group run by shalonsims and a problem I am just as guilty of as everyone else. That is: we make assumptions.
We assume readers can quickly ascertain the point of our books. Not just what happens in the book, but what to expect when reading it. The tone. The genre. The content. However, in an environment like Wattpad, simply giving your book a summary and a genre is usually not enough information. This is important for critics, who are expected to often read only between 1-5 chapters of your story before they tell you what they think. 'What your story is' might affect what they think about your story.
One can argue that a GOOD author will make 'what a story is' self-evident. Maybe that's true when you have professional artists designing your book cover, professional publishers writing your blurb, and wikipedia entry for someone who wants to know a little more before investing in your story. However, us Wattpaders don't have that, and no offense to anyone, our stories are submitted right alongside casual stories written by young kids, fart jokes, and rant books. It's easy to confuse satire with just another teen drama; it's easy to confuse convention from something breaking with convention.
The problem is easy to see when it comes to video games. Angry mothers upset that video games with indecent content are being targeted to their kids, even though most video games have a rating system, and most children cannot buy a game that has over an M rating. That's fine and dandy, but as a parent, an M rating is very vague. Halo is M rated. It consists of a space marine shooting space monsters which spill blue liquid. There is little swearing. There is no nudity. I have no problem with my kid playing this game. Then there is GTA V and Saints Row. Games where they are actively committing crimes, playing with strippers, and whipping naked guys in ball gags strapped to chariots. Or Fallout 3 and 4, which include excessive swearing, and dead corpses hanging from hooks and mysterious 'meatbags'. Or Dragon Age, and the bare-breasted enemies like Desire demons and broodmothers.
Suffice it to say, these games are all really different in content, and even though most M ratings have 200 characters to describe WHY they think a game is M rated, it's still not enough to really make an informed decision without having played it yourself.
Now take that to Wattpad. We don't really know what we're getting into when reading your book... and there is enough content on here in the same genre, that it is really easy to think your book is something else. Wattpad has children reading it. Do you want them reading your hardcore lust fantasy? Oh sure, you don't technically "show" anything, so you feel safe giving it a PG-13, but still... content matters. And no one will know what your novel is unless they read the content.
Age aside, people have tastes. This is an international site, and you'll have english speakers from all over the world reading it. Some people will think some things are inappropriate, and somethings aren't. They want to read a fantasy, but they don't want to read your sex fantasy. These kind of differences are important.
Most people try to make there first chapter indicative of their entire book to tip people off, but that doesn't always work.Every once in a while I see posts complaining about this. Someone writes a really heavy or dark chapter for their first chapter, but that's not really the theme of their story. They're scared that someone will read that, think the story will only get darker from there, and not realize it's really a romantic comedy about a girl who had bad times, but is learning to laugh again.
In all of these cases, I simply say that you need to be more specific. Describe exactly what your story is. What can they expect with content? Romance? What emotions do you expect them to feel? What are your goals in writing this? Literally just tell them what you wanted to do in this writing, and let them decide if you've actually done it.
In my blurb writing chapter, I state that simply giving the genre isn't enough. Rather than say.
Science Fiction
Say
Science Fiction with teenage kids going on a hero's adventure. There is some mild romance, but no erotic scenes. One or two people die off screen, but no gore. Very mild swearing.
Now, I'm suggesting you might even go farther than that.
A Space Adventure Science fiction like star trek. Teenage kids from Earth end up thrown into a Science fiction world. There is a little high school romance, but nothing more than kissing. There are a few deaths, but nothing gory. Very mild swearing. The stories tone is hopeful, but there can be some bleak parts. It's meant as an homage to Star Trek, and includes many clichés and technology observed in Star Trek, although occasionally with different names.
The extra piece of information can be the difference between comments like:
"Oh my GOD, this is so cliché! You named the kid Jim Kork with an alien friend named Smok? Why don't you just rip off Star Trek already!"
And
"Haha, I love how everything ties into Star Trek. When I found out what his last name was, I laughed."
Yes... it's a spoiler, and yes... I'm asking you to spoil. If that bothers you, mark it as a spoiler and let your reader decide.
*Spoiler*
This is about....
But you should give people the option of knowing what they are getting into. I want to know if three pages in I'm going to be reading a hardcore S&M scene, even If the scene is only 'implied' and not 'explicitly' written. It's still there, and I don't want to be side blinded by it.
The same goes if this is a satire or a parody. If you intend things to be cliché. If you're making fun of a genre. Or even if you're trying to make a point. Maybe this book is a commentary on the Obama administration. State your intention. Say, this book is attempting to make comments about Obama's policies. Don't expect your readers, ranging from people who don't even live in the united states and only vaguely know who the US present is to young kids who wouldn't know politics if it hit them in the face, to understand that your story is a scathing commentary on the current US policy.
If you want your story critiqued, you owe it to the critics to tell them what your story is. That way, they know what they're trying to critique. Don't get me wrong, I understand that sometimes you want to know if people can 'figure out' the point of your story. After all, if no one can tell your satire is a satire unless you tell them it is a satire, then it kind of fails as a satire. Hopefully, some critics will be good enough to be able to separate good satire from bad, while knowing its satire in the first place. And at some point you can put it to the test, but as a general rule, if you write a satire or comedy, label it as such.
There is such a thing as setting up an environment. When I go to a comedy club and pay tickets to see a standup comedian, I usually laugh and enjoy myself. However, when I go to eat at a place which happens to have an open mic night, and comedian pops up and starts telling jokes, I'm not mentally prepared to receive jokes, and laugh less. This is a situation I've observed before, and I kind of feel bad for comedians who go to places where people are there to eat and not expecting humor.
Another example. There is a video on youtube. A world famous violinist goes to a subway and starts playing. This is a guy who people would pay $200 a ticket and those tickets would sell out to listen to him play for an hour. He plays on a $3 million instrument, the finest music he has. Almost no one stopped to listen to him... because the environment wasn't right, they didn't appreciate the sounds of the world class violinist. Not just that, but the environment wasn't conducive of beautiful music, with the sounds of people talking, walking, and living.
So... set up your environment. Let people know what they are going in for in your blurb. If it's a story designed to make you cry, give people a notice ahead of time. Not only will people read your book expecting feels, but you'll get a larger proportion of people reading your story who actually WANT the feels. You'll find people reading your book for the intended purpose that you wrote the book, and that makes all the difference.
I said it before, and I'll say it again. Don't trick your audience. Don't expect them to come in blind, and your awesome skills as a writer just causes them to stay to read your story, even though it wasn't what they thought it was going to be. If a world class violinist can't draw a crowd in a busy subway, how do you think your Wattpad book will do in this crowded website?
Instead, let people know EXACTLY what your book will have, and the people who are looking for that will read it, and the critics analyzing your story will know what works and what's missing, and you may find you get more positive comments and fewer ridiculous, redundant, or unhelpful comments.
That's my advice, and I hope you take it. Good Luck and Happy Writing!