Do's and Don'ts of Writing On Wattpad

High School Stories

Trigger Warning: mentions of sexual harassment

1. Don't..........let stereotypes hold your characters back too much. It doesn't make sense sometimes. Yes high school is a hellhole. I would know, as I am in freshmen year, and wow it sucks a lot. But honestly, if the only thing stopping them from being together is that 'she's a bad girl and he's one two and wow that just doesn't work' then you might want to rethink that. Maybe add a romantic partner, or overbearing parents, or perhaps some rude classmates, or just something that makes more sense than stereotypes. 

2. Do..........let triggers be told in the right way. There is no true right way, but I think there can be wrong ways that can be rude, insensitive, and just insulting. Some of these triggers include:

- Suicidal thoughts/actions

- Cutting

- Bullying

- Racism

- Sexism

Mental illnesses/disorders/problems

Sometimes these can be represented so well, and sometimes they just aren't. Like how can somebody be that blasé about bullying? "Oh, I was bullied today, but let's move on." No. Having been bullied once or twice in the past, this is just upsetting. 

And with suicidal thoughts/actions, please let there be a reason or a build up or something that makes sense. They can't be skipping along, rainbows all around, and then all the sudden jumping off a building. This is another subject close to my heart, as one of my friends committed suicide last year, and so it really makes me mad when it's depicted inaccurately. 

3. Don't...........have your character not grow at all. The character's arc of growth is one of the most important things to a story. Maybe they start out rude, but become nicer, or they are originally very shy and become more brave and able to speak up for themself. Either way, whatever you choose, let them realize something, and grow as a person. 

4. Do....... try to make your character likable or empathizable or hatable something like that. It doesn't matter what it is, just make the readers feel something for the character. Let their personality make us laugh, cry, yell at the computer irrationally, whatever. Please don't make your character a Mary Sue, a perfect person with no flaws whatsoever. The flaws are what make them interesting! Please don't give them a bland personality too, because I think that's even more annoying. 

5. Don't........describe clothes and makeup that much. This is a rule for all stories, but I find it especially in High School stories. For example, let's try to describe the image below. 

Here we have a black dress, boots, and mascara. Let's DEFINITELY not say: She wore a flouncy dress, black all the way through, and covered in many layers. It had a boat neck, a knee length skirt, and black sleeves in the type of A. Her black boots were thick and laced up by shiny laces. The heels were pointy and her mascara was thick. 

I made that all up, but you can tell how that might be annoying. Try not to do that. Maybe say instead: She wore a flouncy black dress, and boots with pointy heels. 

See how much shorter and easier to digest that is?

6. Do........try not to use these overused prompts:

- Good girl meets bad boy and sparks fly and romance happens

- Cheerleader/Quarterback meets Nerd and romance galore

- Hot new student meets Nerd, and why the heck are they hanging out with me? Oh. Because we're going to fall in love. Yay!!! 

- Older sibling has a best friend, and younger sibling loves them. They fall in love and live happily ever after after a bunch of drama happens. 

These are like the most annoying prompts ever seen before. Some cliche scenes:

- The party scene. Normally so so so much goes down in this chapter, like half of the plot. Maybe you could spread it out a little bit more?

- The guy saves a girl from sexual harassment. Okay, this one is seriously annoying sometimes. Like why can't a girl save herself? Or the girl could save the guy and defying stereotypes could happen!

- Flirty study session. Like why does this even make sense? Wouldn't people be around them if it's in the library and shouldn't they be told to be quiet?

Overused characters:

- Blond cheerleader who's mean, popular, cheats on her 'oh so wonderful' boyfriend, and ends up with a not so happy ending.

- Quiet nerd girl who's silent most of the time, smart, called ugly, but secretly beautiful if you take off the glasses. 

- Popular jock who's normally mean, but secretly nice and smart somehow? Like how does that work?

- The best friend. The only friend of the main character, who might have a romance subplot with the other best friend of the other main character if they're lucky. 

- The teacher that's the matchmaker. Are all matchmakers teachers? I don't think my teachers are and I sincerely hope they aren't.

And here we are, at the end of another chapter of my writing tips. This one is a bit rants and very specific, but I hope it is helpful to you!