A Guide to Wattpad Popularity

Part 6 - Attention Getters & Descriptions

Never, ever start your story off by doing something like this:

My name is Summer, and I'm a daughter of Hermes. I have wavy brown hair that falls just past my shoulders sparkling blue eyes. I have been in love with Leo Valdez since I've laid my eyes upon him.

So many things wrong with that passage. To start off with, this is a horrible way to get somebody's attention. In fact, it doesn't even move me the slightest bit. It lacks creativity and a sense of individual style, coming off as generic ultimately. We've all seen this before, and while some of you might be okay with it, it is not an aspect of good writing. 

I know some of you guys might be young, but I know your minds are capable of so much more. Think action, adventure, creating a story with a plot out of order! Literally, the possibilities are endless. 

For romance, I know it can be difficult to avoid falling into this trap. My suggestion is to open up with humor if it's a gradual progression. If you want to get right into the action, jump to a passionate make out scene where we can literally sense the tension between the lovers. Creating tension is also the key to romance, but I'll cover that later. 

For action/ adventure stories, humor is also a great tool to use. For example, Rick Riordan began the beautiful PJO series with the phrase, "Look, I didn't want to be a demigod." This is brilliant and it keys us into the main character quickly and effectively. If not humor, use deliberate action. James Bond movies use this tool all of the time. 

Other people prefer beginning their stories with elaborate, flowing descriptions and that's absolutely fine too. The only issue with this is that you may lose your reader quickly. Be wary of these intros. 

Another way to start off your story is with a deep, meaningful thought. Zora Hurston used this in Their Eyes Were Watching God, "Ships at a distance have every man's wish on board." Beautiful and memorable. Symbolism is a great way to keep your story fresh in your readers' minds and provides a foreshadow of sorts. Use your rhetoric! Dickens opened A Tale of Two Cities with paradoxes a plenty and it's just a great way to set up your novel or story. 

Really, you could do anything you want to and you'd be fine as long as you don't blandly introduce the character with monotone lines. Let your intros be rich with colorful vocabularies, distinct characters, and memorable lines. 

Descriptions are the little info bits you see before the reader is taken to your first chapter or part of your work. These parts are vital to gaining readers. The best things to put in here are quotes, along with a short and spoiler-free description of your work. Having easy to remember, catchy lines help out a lot. Remember, you don't want to spoil too much to your reader in these. If you want your character to speak directly to your audience, you must do so without the character describing him/herself. Your character must address them with a specific attitude, whether that's wit, sarcasm, or graveness if you choose to include an address. If not, quotes are fantastic. Go crazy, chillens.