DISCLAIMER
This will not guarantee that you'll get a bunch of reads! A lot of you have been sending me your stories and asking for feedback, but there are just so many I can't get to all of them. I'm also getting ready to start college, so I'm really busy.
→ Instead, I'll make this guide and hope it helps give some insight!
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F I R S T G L A N C E
Does your story title have correct capitalization?
IF NOT, you should fix it! That's one of the very first things people see when deciding whether or not to read your story.
What does your cover look like? If it was someone else's book, would you click it?
If you answered no to that second question, you need to change it! Think about some stories you really like and see what their covers look like to get some ideas for yours. If you need help MAKING a cover, message me and I'll let you know how I do it.
If you're not confident in your skills at making a cover, go to my reading list "covers" - there are a couple cover shops where you can request a cover and someone else will make it for you!
If you don't like the ones in my list, you can always look up "covers open" or "covershop open" in the search bar and a bunch of them will come up. No worries.
Is your summary grammatically correct?
If you're not sure, that's probably not a good sign. If a reader sees that your grammar is a mess in the summary, they'll assume it's a mess in the rest of the story and probably skip it.
For those of you who struggle with grammar, maybe you could try Grammarly (I've never used it before though, and I'm not sponsored) but it might help while you write your story to avoid errors. Same with the summary.
If you really aren't sure, send it to me over message and say something like "hi, could you check the grammar in my summary? thanks!" I'll try to help you!
Please be nice, though.
Is your summary interesting? Is there a hook?
I'll be the first to admit I'm horrible at summaries. But I know a good one when I see it.
I'll make up an example of a bad summary:
My name is Riley, and my mom died when I was 5 and now I live alone. I'm a nerd. But then I met Dakota and suddenly we're living together! But will this bad boy find out the secret I've been trying to hide since my dad ran away?
Let's see what's wrong with this summary.
1. It's in first person.
Although first person can sometimes be really engaging in a summary if the writer is good at voice (like @orangechicken), I'd stay away from it unless you're confident. It's a lot easier to describe someone else than yourself, right? That's how I see it.
2. The 5 should be five.
If a number is a single digit, you have to write it out. And although it's technically correct to write numbers higher than 10 in number form, I generally stick with writing it out in letters.
3. It's not interesting!
This plot is overused and boring! There's no build up to anything. It tells us too much of the story and doesn't have any hooks or engagement.
4. When in doubt, use an interesting scene in the story! Then a quick introduction afterwards.
Try to pick a scene that will hook the audience. In my case, I really like the whole "forbidden love" stuff, so I tried to hint at it in my summary to get others who also like that kind of thing interested.
Let's try to fix that summary now.
Living on her own had always been hard, but throwing a self-absorbed, archery-obsessed teenage boy into the mix was about to make it five times worse.
In fact, Riley Criss didn't even know he existed until the night Dakota Watson showed up at her library, drenched in rain and ready to pass out. But the strangest thing about the whole event?
He'd declared a life debt.
Okay! Like I said, I'm horrible at writing summaries. However, this one is a lot better than the first one, right? Make sure your summaries capture the audience's attention!
And no "finding out her secret" thing; it automatically makes me disinterested and I'm sure it's the same for other people.
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T H E S T O R Y
Do you have an outline?
What I've found helps the best is writing an outline somewhere - mine are in my phone notes. There are some people who think of the story as they write, and that's great! You should write it all out before posting it.
Here's an example of my outline:
It's super messy, right? That's all I mean for an outline. Have the beginning and end and everything in between figured out and then fix some details up when you actually start writing!
Do you like your story?
If there are parts of it that you feel iffy on, fix them before starting to write! It's miserable to write something you're not sure you even like.
Is it unique?
If you answered no, think about which aspects of the story make it different and which ones make it overused.
For example: bad boy, nerd girl, football, love triangles (basically the first half of my story lolol). Try to change things up!
Figure out which "overused" aspects are worth keeping and throw the rest out! Then revise your plot so that it's entirely + uniquely yours.
Are your characters developed + diverse?
You want your characters to stand out! Have different origins, ethnicities, personalities! And make sure each character is a complete human, with motives, thoughts, intentions, etc.
No person is just a shy nerd and no person is just some bad boy. Everyone is complex. Your story is no different!
Is your plot interesting?
Do you have a climax? Turning points?
Try to avoid fillers! A filler is a scene that has no relevance to the plot. Even if you're writing about a date, make sure something significant to the story happens or else it's just a filler.
Do you enjoy writing it?
If your answer is no, that's totally understandable. It literally took me years to write TLE because sometimes I was just so uninterested.
There are a few things you can do if you run into this:
→ read a story by someone you really like
you'll get re-inspired + you can learn from their style of writing
→ take a break
sometimes you just need to step away
→ revise your plot//make it new
sometimes your story just gets old (but only do this if you haven't published much yet)
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H O W T O G E T R E A D S
There's no trick.
I know, it sucks, right?
I'll admit I joined a book club for like two weeks, but I really don't like reading stories that I don't choose on my own so it was really hard. So that didn't help much.
However!
There are some things you can do:
Post on a schedule! The same day(s) every week!
I know I didn't do that, but for my next story, it is definitely something I plan on doing. You will build an audience if you're consistent. Just like webtoons!
DON'T ADVERTISE on other authors' walls or in the comment sections!
This is rude and really annoying. I know you're not intentionally trying to hurt anyone, but those authors have built up readers and fans on their own through hard work. You can, too!
Share your story in clubs.
I'm not sure if this actually helps, but this is what I used to do. Under "clubs" > "(your genre)" > "SHARE YOUR STORY". It's totally allowed and some people check the forum for stories!
TAGS! TAGS! TAGS!
I have a million tags in my story. Also, it helps if you can get some bigger accounts to add your story to their reading lists like TeenFiction or ProjectBadBoys. These are the ones I use.
Also, if you use the tag #featured, your story might end up getting on the featured page of Wattpad! That can get the story more attention very quickly.
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Anyway, these are just some of the things I picked up from writing TLE. I know I need to take some of the advice given, and I definitely plan to in my next story. I'm by no means an expert, but I really hope these tips can help you out.
I love you all
mwah