WARNING: A query is NOT the same as the description/blurb you write for your wattpad stories.

While I am talentless in writing story descriptions/blurbs/summaries/synopses/pitch for my own stories, I do know the elements a solid story blurb/query should include, which I'll outline in this How-To.

HOW TO WRITE A BLURB/DESCRIPTION FOR YOUR WATTPAD STORY

These should not directly summarize your story. Don't give a laundry list of "this happens, then this happens, then this happens...." Blurbs are supposed to entice your reader, spark their interest. You accomplish this by leaving it very open-ended. Give them the premise: the protagonist, the problem, and what's at stake. Maybe throw in mention of an Impact Character (which I describe below). Keep the readers guessing. Lay out several different paths the story could take, and leave it hanging so your readers have to keep reading to figure out which path is the right one. Leave a lot to the reader's imagination, and they'll subconsciously mold the story around their own ideas--to what they THINK the story can be. Then you have to blow them away with the actual story.

Being too vague is bad, too. You should give them an idea of who the protagonist is and what the original or main problem of the story is. Then leave your readers guessing as to what happens. Blurbs should make your readers curious without giving away the big secrets of the story.

If you find any Wattpad blurbs that you LOVE, that gave you a burning desire to read the story (regardless of whether the story itself was good or not), post them in the comments below so we can all see examples of good blurbs that provide strong hooks.

Here are a couple that I loved and that caught my attention:

JelsaSimoneMepsey's Secret Stalker:

Stalking is dangerous, heart-stopping, and, in this case, perfectly legal.

At least, everyone at Washington High doesn't seem to mind that Savannah Shay is the Secret Stalker they can go to for any question they want answered. In fact, the Secret Stalker is the most notoriously popular student in the whole school. But she's about to meet her match: salutatorian Evan Schultz, determined to find who the valedictorian ahead of him is and do something about it. He doesn't like the Secret Stalker, but he's desperate and willing to use her. What he doesn't know is that he's using the Secret Stalker against the Secret Stalker.

Supernatural 35's Kickback:

Death is just the beginning.

Rousseau Williams lives in a world where death is obsolete, thanks to a revolutionary technology known as Kickback, which can bring a person back from the dead, a 'get out of death free' card. Everyone around her takes full advantage of Kickback, jumping off of bridges, running through busy traffic, jumping off of dam to take a swim. There's no reason to fear death or play it safe. Life has become one big, reckless party, and if worse comes to worse a fifteen-minute stint in Kickback will send people right back.

But Kickback comes with a price. Rousseau should know, her younger sister died in Kickback two years ago. There are consequences to Kickback, consequences even Rousseau can’t comprehend.

Because when the check for the price of death comes, who’s going to pay the bill?

HOW TO WRITE A QUERY

When you query to agents, you only have at most 500 words to hook them into wanting to read your novel. A good query lays out the story and main protagonists. The query gives the agent an idea if your book might be worth investing in. It's the advertisement for your story. It gives the agent a quick taste of what they can expect from the story, not only in content in ways of plot and characters, but also in terms of the quality of writing. So you should definitely put forth some significant effort in writing a query for your story.

The query will be the only thing the agent sees when deciding if they want to read the story or throw your query letter in the trash. Queryshark.com is an invaluable resouce with dos and don'ts regarding queries. I've linked to it in the External Link, so please take your time to read through her posts. (Basically people send in their query letters, and the Shark rips them to pieces and says how to improve them.)

In general, do not use a gimmick such as a warning note or some kind of advertisement poster/tv commercial/ploy as your synopsis. Gimmicks don't have the impact you think they do. Let the story speak for itself without you throwing in psychiatric reports or letters. Stick to a clear-cut summary of your story.

Do not just copy and paste a few paragraphs straight from your story. That's being lazy, and that will tell us nothing of the overall plot and direction of the story. It won't draw in most readers.

Do not throw in your entire backstory. One or two lines is fine, but if more than half of your query is backstory, that is not good. It'll bore your reader. Get to the actual story as quickly as possible.

Now onto the structural elements of a good query. Here are things that you should include. This will be very similar to the plot outline you created in my How-To on plot outlines. It doesn't have to necessarily be in this order, though.

Who's the protagonist? You must, must, must introduce the name and character of the protagonist in the first sentence or two of your query.

Story goal: What is your protagonist(s) trying to accomplish?

Consequence: What happens if your protagonist doesn't accomplish the story goal?

Impact character (optional): This is the character that either changes your protagonist's way of thinking or fortifies their current way of thinking. These characters push your protagonist to take action, either directly or indirectly.

Inciting event: What event/problem starts the main story? This is the first domino to fall in your story (no backstory, remember! This is when Luke meets Obi-Wan, when Hagrid comes to take Harry to Hogwarts, when Eragon finds Saphira's egg in the forest.)

Sacrifices: What does your protagonist sacrifice in order to try achieving the story goal?

Basically, the biggest thing to keep in mind when writing a query is to start right off the bat with introducing the protagonist, tell us what the main problem of the story is, and what happens if the protagonist can't solve the problem (what stakes are on the table?). This will entice readers/agents into wanting to look at your actual story.

Below, I've posted a few really good queries that I found on queryshark that “won” (ie. The agent running the site said that these queries would get a full manuscript request.)

Query #1:

Andromeda Jaunsten isn't a very good alien. She can’t read minds like the rest of her class. She can't turn invisible or move things with pure willpower. She can’t even levitate, which is supposed to be downright easy.

About to be expelled and desperate to stay, she turns to performance-enhancing drugs. It's stupid and illegal, but it works. In fact, it works too well. She can suddenly see the most well hidden secrets, and it's not nearly as amusing as it sounds.

Her teacher Dr Ister has been searching the Academy for the missing princess of Narulon, and it's not for purely patriotic reasons. Now he thinks he's found her in Andromeda's roommate Grace Robin.

Andromeda tells anyone and everyone who might listen, and the next thing she knows she's locked in a bathroom and nearly burned to death. It's part warning, part proof that she's right. If only someone would believe her.

When Ister gets hold of Grace, no one is willing to help. If Grace dies, the future of Narulon dies with her, and Andromeda is certainly not living the rest of her life with that on her conscience. Of course, the rest of her life might not be very long once she confronts Ister.

Query #2:

Felix Ramos had always dreamt of working in space, but a journalism degree does not an astronaut make. Given an unlikely opportunity to fulfill his childhood fantasies, he leaps at it, unknowingly launching himself into a place balanced precariously between tedium and terror.

As a human kill switch in an artificial intelligence-managed resource exploration station on one of Saturn’s moons, he finds that ticking boxes and pushing buttons is awful, even when it’s done where no man has gone before. His counterpart and confidant, Cara Moretti, occupies another facility, where she discovered this unpleasantness months ago. Their days are rigidly structured by their employer, the Koyamatsu Interplanetary Development Concern.

And then the Russians invade—or at least Felix swears so, pushed into paranoia as unidentifiable lights and figures flicker on the horizon. These are the opening shots in the campaign of a group of militant conservationists who wish to stop private development in space; Felix soon finds himself the target of cajoling, gaslighting, and bribery for access to his station’s AI core. Deluded into imagining himself as a highly-paid double agent, he begins to make noticeable mistakes.

Cara, meanwhile, discovers that her company hasn’t budgeted for bringing both of its employees home. She’s been cleared to go, but her new friend has not. If she keeps her mouth shut, she knows she’ll see Earth again, but her conscience screams for her to risk abandonment to save his life. Her predicament could become moot, though: Felix has triggered a surprise visit from Koyamatsu, which threatens to aggressively smooth any embarrassing wrinkles in the operation.

Query #3:

Randi needs rock and roll to fuel her rise from the ashes of the past year. She's back on stage fronting her old band, RAPTOR SNATCH, and nothing is going to stand in her way! Certainly not the jealous rival band, Slutmaster - inaccurately named, and hell bent on stealing her place in the spotlight.


They linger at Randi's band's performances, slinging glares around like Mardi Gras beads. They cancel her gigs, and accuse her band members of theft. Their weaselly tactics are getting under Randi's skin more than Kelvin, her sexy lead guitar player.


But Randi didn't claw her way out of an emotional abyss to give up without a fight.

Can Randi hold her band – and herself -- together long enough to hit the stage singing? Or will this rock and roll phoenix's comeback go up in flames?

I HIGHLY recommend you go to QueryShark and read ALL the posts. It goes into so much more depth than I can go into here.