Prisimpad: A Guide to Wattpad, Writing, and Whatever

ON WHATEVER: Writing a Blurb

Welcome to the ON WHATEVER portion of this guide! What I'm going to cover in these next sections are things that deal with publishing. Now I don't have a lot of experience in the publishing world, really I have none. So there probably won't be as many of these parts as previous parts. I've never actually published. However, I've done pitch contests, I've done a couple of queries, and I've edited. So I'll cover what I can, but some of it might be a little on the thin side until I have actual experience with it. . .which it's entirely possible I never do. Only time will tell.

So you've finished your first draft and you're ready to publish . . . well that publishing better only be here on Wattpad! Please don't publish a first draft on Amazon. Please. Please. Please. Anyway, you have a draft of some kind you're ready to post here to Wattpad so let's talk about blurbs. What is a blurb vs. a synopsis? From my understanding there are some countries where they're one in the same, but I can only write from what I know (the US) which is that they are not the same thing.

A blurb is essentially a sales pitch. It's short, but not TOO short, and gives the reader an idea of what the story is going to be about. A synopsis is similar to the blurb, but with more spoilers. It gives away the ending and reveals who the big bad is. A synopsis needs to show the clear stakes and climax where as the blurb can be without the climax, just show the stakes. A blurb just needs to tell us the stakes and who the book is about.

Unfortunately, I'm still learning how to do a synopsis. Every time I think I understand, I meet someone else who tells me that understanding is wrong. As a result, I'm not going to do a chapter on how to do a synopsis. Maybe in the future I will, but I just don't feel like I'm qualified to touch on it right now.

Blurbs on the other hand, I feel like I can offer up some advice. I'm not perfect, lord knows I'm not perfect, but I have a good enough grasp on what a blurb needs that I feel like I can offer advice. So here we go.

A blurb is what you'll find on the back of every book, or in the case of hardbounds on the inside flap. Like I said, it's a short sales pitch of the book. Here on Wattpad, you see them before you ever enter a book. Typical blurbs are 2-3 paragraphs and I generally shoot for 255 words or less. Now I can't always do what I need in 255 words so I'll go over, but for the most part they should be short . . . just not too short. A single sentence would be too short.

When browsing the IYW there are a lot of debates about what should be included in a blurb. Some will say that cutting and pasting an excerpt is all you need . . . no. Please just no. That is not a blurb, it's an excerpt. Blurbs are hard to write, they are, but they're still a necessity the writer needs to learn. Don't just cut and paste a random scene from your book and call it good. It might be an amazing scene, but it's not enough. And if you want to include an excerpt, I'd advise doing so after the blurb.

You only get so much space on Wattpad to draw the reader to click and see more of your blurb. Use that space wisely. Again, I know this is no easy task.

So what should a blurb include? Well that much can be open to a persons style, but at the very least it needs the who, what, and why.

MC does this, because they need/want this, or else this will happen.

That above is the fairly standard formula. Don't be afraid to re-write it multiple times. I lost count of how many times I re-did my blurbs. Very rarely do I get one I'm happy with right out of the gate.

What I did when I was first learning was study blurbs of fantasy books that were traditionally published. That gave me a good sense of how much world building goes into the blurb because reality is, you don't need much. Enough to suggest where the story takes places, but the blurb should be more about the MC's journey and less about the world.

So here's some do's and Don'ts

Don't include character descriptions unless they are super important. And I mean important enough to have a baring on the plot. The reader doesn't need to know in the blurb if your MC is tall, skinny, blue eyes, etc. Even their race isn't important unless the book is about their race. The reader just needs to know who the MC is and what they're doing.

Blurbs should always be third person, present tense no matter how the book itself is written.

Again, don't put too much world building. In a lot of cases you can get away without any mention of the world. It really depends on how important it is. What world building you do have should be short and concise. Don't bog the blurb down with useless details. Give us enough to know where/when this story takes place, but focus on the MC's journey.

Try to avoid things like "MC was a normal person..." Why? Because MC is normal is so overused. You'll honestly find that one in so many books on Wattpad it'll make your head spin.

Don't be too vague. No you don't want to spoil the twist of the book, but you don't want it to be something like "Sally Joe went on an epic adventure" or even "Angel's Tide is a gripping horror book that will have you on the edge of your seat." That latter line is better suited for a query letter.

Don't ask rhetorical questions. If you must ask one, then limit it to only one. Why? Because they're not as enticing as you might think they are. They really aren't. If you don't know what a rhetorical question is, that's when a person asks a question the other person can't answer. So in the case of a blurb it's something like "Will they survive" or "Will they find love" are rhetorical questions.

Do introduce the MC, this one I can't stress enough. I've seen a lot of people who want to get creative and keep their MC a mystery, but this is the bare minimum of what a blurb should have in it. The reader needs to know who this book is about.

I think that's everything I can think of. Again, don't be afraid to re-write it multiple times and do bounce it off people who aren't familiar with the book. They can either ask you questions about things that are confusing, tell you what they like or don't like, and just generally give you a sense of how it sounds.