Writing and Publishing on Wattpad or Anywhere

Chapter 1 - Glossary of Terminology

Unlike my usual fanfic stories, this is just a place to store some of my thoughts and the lessons I've learned while writing. I get asked for advice often enough that I decided to write some of this out. Remember, write what makes you happy. You are your own first reader, so enjoy. If you have fun doing it, you're a success.

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1st Person POV - In this, your narrator is your main character. The only things the reader knows is what the main character knows. It's both the most intimate and most limited of the POVs. Uses "I" a lot. I crept through the deserted mansion dreading what I would find. I'd advise staying away from this in fanfic. It puts off a lot of readers, and it doesn't have the same omnipotent view as we get when watching a show or reading most books.

2nd Person POV - Written as if speaking to the reader. Uses "you" a lot. You creep through the deserted mansion, unsure of what will be around each turn. Again, this is not very popular for fanfic or writing in general.

3rd Person POV - This is the most common manner of writing. You have a universal narrator who is not any of the characters. The reader can have knowledge the characters do not have. Uses "he/she/they" a lot. They crept through the deserted mansion, each creak of a floorboard making them pause and tense.

Character - Any person in a story.

Character Growth - Characters should grow and develop (it isn't always positive) based on the plot with which they interact and their interactions with other characters.

Cliffhanger - When a chapter ends at a dramatic and unresolved point. This refers to old TV shows where the show would end with a character literally hanging off a cliff and you had to 'tune in next week' to see if they survived.

Dialogue - Everything that's in quotation marks ("X") is dialogue.

Exposition - This is where a writer creates the setting, gives the reader background and themes, and lets them know about the character beyond what others or that character have to say.

Feedback - Any and all comments about your story supplied by readers.

Main Character - The character around whom the story is written, where it focuses. You may have more than one main character in a book. A rule of thumb is to introduce your main character early in the first chapter of the story.

MC - Stands for Main Character.

Outlining - A way to organize the ideas and characters in a story to build a guide for the actual story.

Pacing - It can refer to dialogue or plot progression. Tempo is the pace at which something occurs.

Plot - The main action or actions in a story. Multiple events come together to make the overall plot. Plot should create character growth.

Posting - When you take that all important step and take something you've written and share it online.

POV - Point of View. This is the perspective from which a story is told.

Slowburn - When the romantic build up between two characters is slower and more natural.

Tense - A story can be written in either present or past tense: present tense - he says, past tense - he said. Be consistent with your tense when writing. Do not change tense mid story unless you are writing present tense and are specifically showing something that happened in the past. This is not for dialogue. People can speak in whatever tense is appropriate at the moment.

White Wall Syndrome - When a writer fails to describe the setting or characters.

WIP - Work In Progress. Many writers will have more than one story that isn't finished. Each of these is called a WIP. If you're hoping your favorite writer will post the next chapter to their story, you're reading a WIP.

Here is a link to some templates. I'm putting this upfront so you don't have to dig around if you're just looking for templates. Read on if you want. Also, if you have suggestions for other templates, please send them my way, and I'll be happy to build more.  

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1pCrpc6kwOEPKgGg1D3pt6WzB-mxBDyu1XLlI4xnj35M/edit#gid=860403998