Writing stories with The Word Artist Website

This writing post will explain and break down the important elements of writing a good blurb.

All blurbs need to grab the reader's attention. It has to strike the reader and hook them into picking up your book.

You can have an introduction of the protagonist of the story, but with a twist at the end. Such as:

"Patrick Dane thought his life was going to be a boring, long one, until he discovered a baby dragon snoozing under his bed. 

This is the problem which many writers meet when making their blurbs. Here's the rule: if you can tell what will happen for more than one third of the story, you've written too much. 

Some blurbs tell way too much information until you practically don't have to read the actual book. So don't make this mistake. You will see what I mean:

'Megan discovers one fine day that she has superpowers, and can control fire. But before she can fully test them, an enemy organisation kidnaps her and sends her to a school for superpowered-kids, where she can train and they can monitor her. BUT Megan's powers are too powerful, and she burns her way out, before going into hiding with a very handsome teenager. They must find and defeat the organisation, JUBBER, without getting killed. It seems like an easy mission, with their powers, until Megan's sister is kidnapped. Oh well, Megan has always enjoyed such wild rides."

No, just, no.

No one would want to read a blurb that claims that everyone is now living happily ever after! Writing that would turn down 90% of readers, because readers want to see the stakes rise, and panic. 

Can Megan control her powers, before it's too late? Will Mark and Beth finally get together? Will Everblaze be able to defeat Black and the cougar?

You need to have the readers ask these such questions. You can write such a question in the blurb too. They will act as cliffhangers that will make your readers want to pick it up.

If I read a blurb about dragons and a magical world, I expect the actual book to be a fantasy, and not the dragons to be a figment of a dreamy teenager's imagination.

Sometimes, the blurb does not give off the right genre vibes, meaning that the wrong audience picks up the book. They will be disappointed, and your actual target audience night never open your book in the first place.

How do you avoid this?

First, double-check the blurb to make sure it has the right elements to hook the right people. Second, you could also show the blurb to a friend and ask, "What kind of book do you think this is?" For an unbiased opinion, don't mention that it's your book. These two simple actions will benefit you, as well as the audience so both can avoid a bad experience. 

Anthropomorphism is giving a non-human object human-like qualities, such as talking. It is very literal, meaning talking lions or moons with sleeping faces.

Flashbacks are very useful; an action-packed introduction can flashback to the past to give the reader some background information. A movie that portrays this is Uncharted (2022).

Dramatic Irony is when the reader knows something one character doesn't know. The character then will perceive event in the story differently from the character, which leads to suspense, as shown in Titanic (1997).

Foreshadowing is the act of writing about an event that in one way or another is bad before it actually happens. This trick is perfect as it will make your readers more connected to the story.

Cliffhangers have been used by authors for years. They end a chapter on a cliffhanger, prompting readers to continue to the next chapter in excitement, or maybe even the next book in a series. Cliffhangers are simply the act of ending an exciting idea abruptly.

A plot twist is an idea that twists the plot. Plot twists work well in most books, especially if the writer has Writer's Block (can't continue the story). Many movies and books use this trick too.

Some books write a prologue about the antagonist. This trick is good, as it allows readers to see things the protagonist can't, which will create suspense and anticipation.

If you switch between characters every now and then, you may also create a small cliffhanger if one of the characters is in trouble.