How To Write A Wattpad Story [A Guide To Becoming A Better Author]

Lesson 1: Twists & Turns

Lesson 1: Twists & Turns

What makes a story exciting, intriguing and different from all the others? The answer lies above.

What are they?

They are unexpected, jaw-dropping events that occur in a story that the reader will NOT expect.

A character dying in the middle of the book is an example of a twist. 

Especially if it's the second main character, it makes the reader think, "Gee! Just when I had things figured out, everything changes! Oh my god, I have to find out what happens next!"

Do you get what I mean? It makes the reader excited.

How to create twists and turns:

1: Asking yourself "what if" questions usually help crazy, spontaneous ideas flow through the old noggin.

Example of a "what if" question: What if...my main character ran across the room naked and screamed at the neighbors, "Woo! Look at me! Look at me!"

That would be insane, right? Completely out of the ordinary and most definitely strange. But it's unexpected. Most people would NOT do that in reality (emphasis on 'most'), but it's a book! Use your imagination and see what happens!

NOTE: If you're making your book reality based, make sure you don't make things too extreme. Every reader wants SOMETHING to relate to in your book, so please don't go overboard. Make it unexpected but still believable. 

2: Think. What would make your story jump out from the others? Let's just say you want your story to be one of those romances where two childhood best friends meet up and fall in love.

How do you make something bad happen between the two of them, in other words, the plot? Or, how do you make it different?

Well, instead of the guy being hot and popular (typical cliché thing to do) or the girl beautiful with no flaws, make the girl however you like (ugly, average, pretty or drop-dead gorgeous) but don't make her perfect. Nobody on this planet is perfect, so don't make them perfect unless you have to and it's part of the plot.

And why not make the guy just decent-looking or average?

Why can't she fall for someone who is under the radar and mysterious? Does it always have to be the hot, good looking guy swarmed with beautiful women? I think not.

 3: Make a diversion. A diversion is something to steer the reader away from guessing the ending. Also, you use a diversion to make them confused, but in a good way.

Example of a diversion: All clues lead to a girl's father being the murderer. But in the story she makes a new best friend as well (who is not the main focus in the story). So, while the reader thinks it's the father who is the murderer, it's really the girl's best friend (make sure there are some hints leading up to the 'big surprise'). This isn't a great example, but I hope you understand what I'm getting at. 

4: Before the diversion occurs, a term called foreshadowing needs to be applied to your story. Foreshadowing is a device that teases the reader of a future event that will occur later in the story. It's like dropping little hints up to the big surprise, and when the big surprise hits the reader, they'll have that "ohhhh!" moment when all the little hints add up in their mind. This technique is what makes a great book, and can be found in large numbers throughout the Harry Potter book series (my nerdy side is coming out).

Example: Let's just say your character is doing her daily chores and she suddenly notices her things are slightly scattered around her room. She thinks nothing of it, and assumes it was her sister who earlier rummaged through her belongings. However, later in the book, she discovers that there is someone living in her household... 

The foreshadowing in the above example is the character noticing something "off" about her room. Although the character brushes it off, later when the plot unfolds, the reader can make sense of what happened due to the hint of foul play in the beginning of the book. 

Now, foreshadowing has to be done subtly, as you don't want to ruin anything for your reader by giving them too big of a hint. Think of all the great books you've read. I can guarantee you all of them contain foreshadowing. Think of the worst book you've ever read. One of the reasons you may have hated it is for the unexpected, random and/or out of place ending. It may have seemed like the ending just came out of nowhere! And it most likely did, again, due to the lack of foreshadowing.

Hope this helped! xx