Why Wattpad Reviews Fail

First Chapter Syndrome (or, a Ride Down Freytag's Waterslide)

Many on Wattpad are familiar with Freytag's pyramid, which is the standard structure of exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution. This is a time-honored formula that many books follow. However, this is fundamentally at odds with Wattpad's love of short, snappy pieces and fast pace: if there isn't something sparkly and fantastic happening on your first page, what stops someone from moving to the next story? The result of these two forces clashing is a plot structure I affectionately dub "Freytag's waterslide": we start immediately with an action scene or something tumultuous to draw the reader in, but where can we go from there? Of course we can't escalate the action immediately, so after the initial action and the reader is theoretically hooked, then we shift into mundane exposition before we go for another ride. Our first few seconds of the waterslide are thrilling, and then we're dumped into a cold pool full of sweaty bodies until we dare to go again. No amusement park visitor wants to spend forever treading water in a cold pool, and no reader wants to do the same, no matter how exhilarating the initial thrill was.

A reviewer on Wattpad may reasonably ask how they are supposed to assess a work with this in mind. Many bad works start at the first "exposition" stage and then go nowhere, and many exciting works begin frenetically while keeping that same pace throughout. And in any case, it is true that these initial thrills do hook the reader, no matter what comes afterward. But it is a reviewer's job to deliver a holistic impression of the entire work, including an understanding of its pacing; a reviewer cannot be distracted by an initial cheap thrill and ignore what comes after, or even worse, seek cheap thrills at the expense of all else.

If a reviewer only reads a few chapters of a work, as many do on Wattpad, how are they to know if an initial slow start builds up toward an exciting climax, or if a fast-paced beginning eventually peters out? They must embrace this uncertainty and have faith in the writer to do what is proper, to construct a story arc fitting Freytag's pyramid, spiral staircase, or whatever else. If in the excerpt they read, there is no suitable climax or full resolution, that is a problem the reviewer actively chooses not to solve by reading further; the writer should not be blamed for not catering to the reviewer in this way. Most books consist of more than the first few chapters—Harry Potter does not end when Harry boards the train at Platform 9 ¾, nor does The Great Gatsby end after his first opulent soirée—and yet we do not fault them if we choose to stop partway. Ultimately, a reviewer must put aside their thrill-seeking nature, and choose to appreciate the choices a writer made with regard to their entire book instead of a fleeting first impression.