So I get people asking me for wattpad writing tips quite often, so I decided to put together....well, everything I know about it.  So here goes...

Wattpad Tips:

This section will be about getting and maintaining a fanbase.

1.) Make shiny, pretty covers. People judge books by their covers all the time. It's one of the reasons people click on stories. The cover looks interesting. Take a look at all the other covers in the genre you write, are they all dark colors? Make your cover bright so it stands out. In the fantasy category, I've noticed that covers with girl's faces on them are popular. Not popular: badly drawn cartoon covers.

How do I make a cover? Go find a picture on a creative commons website, like www.photopin.com and you can add special effects and the title of your book on a website like picmonkey.com. The reason you want to go to photopin instead of taking whatever photo you like from google, is because, if your story ever becomes wildly popular, and the photographer of the photo you took for your cover notices...they can sue you for using it without permission.

2) Keep Your Description Interesting. You know that little blurb that you read to see if you want to actually read the book? Think about what draws you in, what makes you open the book. Try to repeat that. It has to sound interesting, tell us right away what the story is about, if it's about someone trying to kill a girl named Abbey, tell us right away that Abbey is running from a killer. DON'T tell us that Abbey had a terrible childhood, loves cheeseburgers and dresses all in black. We don't care. In the description, DON'T give character background, there will be plenty of time for that in the actual story. Tell us the name of the character, what's at stake (Abbey might die) and what she's going to do about it (she runs to Chicago and joins a gang). Get right to the interesting part.

3.) Try To Avoid Grammar and Spelling Mistakes. Everyone makes mistakes. If you look at my stories on wattpad, you'll find spelling and grammar oopsies. That's because I write it, double check it once and then post it. Your wattpad stories are just for fun, so you don't need to hire an editor and a team of beta readers, BUT if your story is riddled with spelling mistakes to the point that it makes reading it difficult, people aren't going to read it. Check it over for simple spelling mistakes. If you're not sure how to spell something, google it, or ask someone. Use quotation marks and remember that each time a new character speaks, they get their very own line for their dialogue. Make sure the reader knows who is talking.

4) DON'T Spam Other Writer's Walls. I can't tell you how much this happens to me. Every few days I'll get someone who obviously hasn't read more than one sentence of Frost or Threads posting a "Great story, read my story 'blah, blah, blah' and vote for it! Thanks!' No. Don't thank me, because I'm not going to read it. I'm going to feel a stab of annoyance, delete your comment and forget all about you. Instead of spamming people, start interacting with people. Sign up for groups, chat with people. Swap reads with other wattpaders. Internet networking is always the same. You can't just barge onto a site where no one knows you and yell, "read my story!" You'll just annoy people. 

5) Post More Than One Story. Write one story. Finish it. Start another one right away. If possible, write in multiple categories. I've noticed the most popular categories are teen, adventure and fantasy (and of course, werewolf and vampire). Don't forget to tag your stories with juicy key words like Kiss, Romance, Murder, Secret. Find out what people are searching for, and if you can, tag your story with it. Make sure you've got lots of different books for people to read. If they don't like your werewolf book, they might like your contemporary romance.

6) Update Often. I can tell you this for sure, because I've noticed a pattern. As soon as I update, I get a bunch more fans. That's because your story shows up in "new story" as well as climbing the ladder of the other sections (in my case, adventure and fantasy). When I stop updating, like when I went on vacation for a week, the amount of new fans adding me slows to a trickle.

The thing is, it's a catch  22. Because the higher on the "popular" list you are, the more people see you. It's a snowball effect, if you can get people to click on your story and get more reads, the story becomes more popular and rises to the top. I know it's frustrating, because how do I get fans in the first place? Well, write well, have interesting covers, update a LOT and have lots of different stories in different categories. 

General Writing Tips:

1.) Show Don't Tell.  If you want to be a writer, this is something you're going to hear over and over. In fact, you'll get so sick of it you'll hear it for the millionth time and want to punch someone in the face. The fact is, it's essential for good writing. Here's an example:

Telling:

Mary goes to the same high school as me and she's really flirty.

Showing:

Mary opened her locker and stared at the little mirror she'd tacked to the inside. She carefully applied raspberry lip gloss, puckering her lips like a fish. When she was finished, she tossed her bleached hair over her shoulders and her reflection winked at me, "like what you see?"

It's pretty simple. Don't just state a fact about a character, write a description that shows what you want to say about that person.

2.) Avoid Cliches. It's okay if you write werewolf or vampire stories, but for the love of god, please try to give them an original twist. We already experienced the "mortal girl falls for big bad vampire/werewolf" with Twilight, and then a million times over with all the knockoffs. If you're going to write about something that EVERYONE writes about, put your own original twist on it. Try doing some research to see what everyone else is writing so you don't do the exact same story line.

3.) Read. Read. Read. I cannot say this enough. Read TONS of books in the category you want to write in. If you want to write fantasy, read every fantasy book you can get your paws on. Read your favourite books over and over and pick apart the sentence structure. Analyze the characters. How does the author do what they do? What makes them so good? Eventually, if you read enough, you'll pick up on the natural rhythm of good writing. 

Suffering from writer's block? Check out my video on how to beat it: 

So that's everything I can think of at this moment (it's late and my brain is fried). I'll be posting more tips for wattpad and writing when I think of them! I hope this helped you in some way! Keep writing and reading!