"I only made this letter longer because I had not the leisure to make it shorter."

The above quote, by Blaise Pascal, indicates the torments that writers go through coming up with blurbs. Because how can you encapsulate your entire novel into just a few paragraphs?

Well, you don't.

One of the most common mistakes I see writers make is that they try to cram every little plotline into their blurb. Keep in mind that the blurb serves two purposes: One, get the reader to open the book. Two, make sure they're not disappointed when they do. As long as you convince the reader to open the book--without actively misleading them--your blurb is effective.

🗸 Did you accidentally bury the lede?

"To bury the lede" is an expression that comes from the world of journalism. It happens when writers fail to put the most important information first, where the reader expects it, and instead spend the opening sentences rambling on about unimportant things.

This is one of the most common mistakes I see Wattpad writers make in their blurbs. They bury the most compelling information and instead, do what I think of as warming up. They say things like, "Welcome to a world where danger lurks behind every corner and..." or, "Joe Smith lives an ordinary life in the small town of Suttenburg, until one day when..."

No, no, no. That too late. Your hook must begin immediately, in the first line. We must assume the reader has zero attention span at all. Which brings me to the next point...

🗸 Does each sentence compel the reader into reading the next one?

Sometimes readers are motivated enough to read your entire blurb, even if it doesn't exactly hook them. But let's not take that risk. Let's write our blurbs to be certain that we can attract as many readers as possible. So how do we do that?

We make sure the first sentence makes them read the second sentence. And the second sentence seduces them into reading the third, into the fourth, and so on, they've finished reading the blurb.

As I've said before, the secret to curiosity is the absence of information that the reader knows is there, but that they are deprived of. On paper, this sounds like a cheap trick. But it's the reason why mysteries are so compelling in both fantasy and mystery genres. When we apply this to sentences, we make each sentence "sucks" the reader into reading the next one.

Let's examine my blurb for The Chord of Creation:

"Nadia is a sixteen-year-old dancer whose body is about to break."

That's the first hook, because it questions creations in the readers mind: Why is her body about to break? In what way? And we give the reader answers in the next sentence, but more importantly, we do it while also hooking the reader into reading the sentence after that:

"Injuries, ruthless choreographers, and a whirlwind schedule are pretty normal at Laranger-Strauss Academy of the Arts, but Nadia's exhausting days are nothing compared to her sleepless nights."

Notice the but? That's where we've set up the second absence of information. Because how could Nadia's sleepless nights be worse than her exhausting days?

"Not when she dreams of a mysterious Temple where dance can sculpt the land itself..."

Ah! So that's why her sleepless nights are worse. But hopefully, now the reader has even more questions: What is the Temple? How can her dance sculpt the land? And, of course, the obvious question: Are these even really dreams?

🗸 Is the blurb too long or too short?

Ideally, your blurb should be between 400 to 600 characters. That's right! Characters, not words. Seem short to you? Well, it is, but guess what's even shorter? Readers' attention spans. Blurbs should only be long enough to convince the reader to open the book. 

Think of it this way: the longer you talk about your book, the longer it'll take the reader to getting around to actually reading your book. And within that timespan, there's a chance the reader might get bored or get interrupted.

🗸 Does it use too many complex sentences?

What if I told you that the average U.S. President speaks at the level of an eighth-grader? That's right, they speak at the level of thirteen-year-olds. And I'm here to convince you that--at least for blurbs--you should, too.

If you write your blurb at a complexity that only college graduates can understand, that means only readers with at least a college degree will understand it. Write your blurb for high-schoolers, and anyone with at least a high school degree will get it. And if you write at the level of eighth-graders, well, you never have to worry about people not understanding your blurb, because most people will.

🗸 What is the conflict, what is the objective?

Readers can read for different reasons: interesting settings, crazy characters, epic plots, and so on, but the glue that ties all story elements together is conflict. It's the key reason that stories are considered stories, and not travelogues, or diaries, or word-vomit. Readers want to know what's the objective of the protagonist (goal), what stands in their way of achieving this (obstacle), and what they stand to lose if they fail (stakes). Even the simplest, most compelling blurbs have this.

Bear with me as I pull the blurb from Twilight (yes, that Twilight):

About three things I was absolutely positive.

First, Edward was a vampire.

Second, there was a part of him—and I didn't know how dominant that part might be—that thirsted for my blood.

And third, I was unconditionally and irrevocably in love with him.

Whether you love or hate Twilight doesn't matter; this is an effective blurb. We have a goal: Bella is in love with Edward (and thus we can safely assume, wants to be with him). We have an obstacle: Edward is a vampire. And we have stakes: Edward might actually tear out Bella's throat. (And oh, how I wish that were the actual stakes of the series).