Writing Tips

CHAPTER THIRTEEN: Blurbs :)

In case you didn't know, blurbs are the first thing you see when you open the Wattpad book. Also known as descriptions, if you write on Wattpad, which you probably do, if you're reading this. Anyway.

The blurb is the reader's first impression of the book, and we all know that those are important, right? Well you need to make a good impression on the readers. It's the deciding factor of if they read the book or not. (Sorry if my grammar's a little iffy, I'm listening to Taylor Swift right now and my mind is a little mushy).

So now we're going to talk about three things: the hook, a few things to include in your blurb, and a preference that I think everyone else goes crazy for, too. 

First, the hook.

The hook is what, naturally, hooks your readers. What makes them want to read your book. 

And there's one important thing that is essential in your hook:

The stakes. 

This is so important, I'm going to underline it.

I cannot stress this enough, you need to raise the stakes. Make your readers anxious, nervous, and/or worried about the mc. Like I talked about in the chapter about your plot, your mc needs to do something. To achieve something, or attempt to achieve something. If your mc doesn't achieve what they want to achieve, something bad needs to happen. The consequence needs to be there. You need your readers to want to know does your mc succeed? What happens? How does it happen? That's what makes your reader want to read your book.

Okay, now some stuff that you need in your blurb.

Only put in stuff that explains your book. Anything that isn't necessary, drop it. Stuff about physical appearance, ethnicity, hobbies, etc., etc., can go down the drain, unless it plays a part in your plot. You don't want your blurb to be too long. Why? Because as sad as it is, let's face it; humans are lazy. We don't feel like reading 1000 words just to determine whether to read a book or not. So don't make it too long, but make sure that you have all you need for your readers to understand the plot.

Now, my personal preference.

A cut scene from the book. 

I go crazy for this. It lets you have a sneak peek in the book, the writing style, the writing quality, and the general vibe. 

That sneak peek can also be a part of the hook. A scene cut from the climax, is just *chef's kiss*

And in romance books, one of the two leads and one of their moments, if you included that, I would just die. Die on the spot. If you do it well enough, you get the whole fangirling package. And everyone knows that fangirls like to fangirl, so if they fangirl in just a cut scene from your book, who knows how much they'll fangirl in the book? Wow. I just used fangirl four times in a sentence. Anyway.

So a cut scene is really nice, and I usually read books that have this in their blurb.