How To Write on Wattpad For YOU

Tip 13: Descriptions

Tip 13: Descriptions

To disclaim, I literally suck at descriptions and I honestly sum it up to pure luck that my books have gotten as many reads as they have. But I'll try to tell you what I do when creating a book description.

Writing a description is HARD. It's arguably the hardest thing about posting a book. How do you compact a 300 page book into a paragraph or two while including all the interesting things but not spoiling it? All while wanting people to read it?

There are so many different kinds of descriptions and I'll list a few that may inspire you.

+ The "List"
In this description, you list a bunch of different obscure events in hopes that it captures your readers attention. See my book The Distance Between Us as an example:

All friendships are weird...right? With accidental thigh grabs, unintentional kisses, and late-night rooftop conversations, Alexis's friendship with Axel definitely takes the cake. But it wasn't always this way. They rekindled their friendship after a fight and it seemed as everything changed. Romantic feelings started to arise, followed by mixed signals. The friendship seemed to be heading in a different direction than planned and only time could tell whether or not there were two travelers on this journey.

You'll notice where I did the listing.

+ Bold Starting Sentence
In this description, you start it out with a bold sentence that catches the readers eyes before falling into an overview of the book. See my book Forever and Always, Olive as an example:

I was dared to ask him to homecoming. I didn't actually expect him to say yes.+ + +New town, new school, new friends- a new start. It's all Olivia could really ask for. Having to move in with her extremely cheerful aunt and her snobby cousin, Olivia's taken by surprise. It's a change, of course. But is it a good one?With a cousin like Vivica, who's one of the popular girls in school, Olivia has to undergo a lot in order to be accepted into that crowd. They're the only people she knows, and she's not exactly a social butterfly. And a part of the pressure that she has to endure includes her having to ask Maddox Finnegan, a considerably misbehaved guy, to homecoming. And she didn't expect him to say yes. And she really didn't expect everything to change because of his answer.

See what I did there? The readers attention is caught and they can't help but read it to see what it's all about. That's what you want to do.

+ The Character Description
In this description type, you do exactly what it sounds like. You describe your characters by highlighting the best (or worst) things about them. You can even do both to show the variation. See my book The Pursuit of Felicity as an example:

Enter: Cameron Woods, a persistent boy with a few too many friends, 2 dads, and a goal to befriend Felicity Reyes if it's the last thing he does.Enter: Felicity Reyes, a free spirited girl who likes her relations by the dozen and her interactions with Cameron Woods by the few.

I really hope this helped you see the focal point of different kinds of descriptions. It helps me to go back and read descriptions of both books I've written and read and use them as a guide.