There’s a difference between being conscious of critique and preemptively denying that a critique is wrong because disagreeing with critique is seen as egotistical. That’s not true at all. I can show up in a bad mood, or not having had enough coffee, and eviscerate your writing with completely baseless critiques. And you’d be told, if you disagreed, that you were being too stuck-up or too attached to your darlings. This is a good lesson off Wattpad too: stick to your guns, and analyze suggestions and feedback level-headedly instead of blindly appealing to authority.
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I’m always skeptical. It’s my defining characteristic. 
I do appreciate Nick’s advice. While I don’t think I’ll fix my first chapter to be perfect by Nick’s standard, I’m using his feedback to spot where the issues are.
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I think it’s worth thinking about, but work through it in your own way.
I mean, I received advice from Nick that I didn’t follow (i.e. Lone Werewolf, lol). Sure, it’s not going to be popular, but in working on what he thought was wrong with the concept, at the very least I came up with a concept I myself like far more than the initial one.
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The bizarre thing is that in the seemingly light romance, the inciting incident is my main character essentially meeting the guy she’ll fall in love with later about a few seconds after existing.
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In romance, that’s pretty common.
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The exact context makes it more surreal, though.
They’re in space to say the least.
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This is the reason I haven’t thought about uploading to Wattpad for over half a year. More than anything, Wattpad is very niche and I find I’ve outgrown that small niche of things that do well on Wattpad, I don’t think I’ll ever really upload my work on there again.
As for the advice you were given, I agree with everyone else. I don’t think Nick’s advice is wrong, I think it’s just more fit for the “Wattpad criteria”, as he is a Wattpad director. In the end, story structure is very diverse, I’ve seen inciting incidents in lots of different areas of the first half of a book, go for what best incites the incidents for you lol.
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What do you mean by the dual hook? I’ve never encountered that term.
It’s this one.
I’ve lost count of how many first chapters I’ve tried.
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I agree that first chapters need to have SOME sort of hook to begin with, but not always be the inciting incident. So some change in status quo is necessary, but it doesn’t have to be anything huge. It can just be growing sense of unease from parents not returning home to the kids’ home. I think @Akje said this already.
But again, I think a lot of this changes based on what demographic you are writing for. If you’re writing for the “adult” category, having a slow beginning is perfectly fine. But writing for a YA target demographic, and even more specifically, those on wattpad, means you need to write something that’s fast-paced and has a big hook.
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I wouldn’t even say YA requires a writer to whip out their inciting incident right away. Katniss doesn’t volunteer herself for the Hunger Games on page 3 after all. If you consider the inciting incident on average happens around 10-15% of the way into a story, that’s only 20-30 pages into a 200-page book. An interesting blurb and tolerable prose should help to motivate a teen that far at least.
Writing for free for a Wattpad audience, though? You might be right about that.
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Yeah. Hook doesn’t always equate inciting incident. But YA books do require a stronger hook than adult ones would.
Personally, my adult fantasy has the inciting incident starting from page two, but I think slow beginnings are fun, too. There’s just got to be some thread, however tiny, to keep you going. Maybe it’s something you know is going to happen soon because of the description, or just something off with the characters’ normal life. Just some tiny thing is enough.
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I agree. You gotta leave breadcrumbs at least that set up for readers what important elements exist in a setting for the story to bounce around.
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Other people have already answered your question thoroughly, I just want to add my voice to those who say that ultimately it just depends on your goals for the story, your target audience–whether that be the wattpad-audience or more “traditional” audience–and your expectations for the book.
It’s not the same kind of feedback, but back when my book was being considered for Paid eligibility (I didn’t apply myself because I already knew what the answer would be, they just assess it as part of the stars programme I think), it received positive assessment but with the feedback that my writing was deemed “overly complex”.
I chose ultimately not to change it. Did it cost me a paid opportunity? Probably one of the reasons, yes. But I write high fantasy, which already has a more complex starting ground to begin with, plus I’m one of those cruel authors who prefer to put readers straight into the world and have them figure things out as the story goes along.
Sure, I could just be less coy with information and just tell readers things–but my target audience is intended for people who already have some experience reading high fantasy, not for people newly experiencing it and wants instant gratification.
Also, I found it kinda funny that wattpad staff liked my story enough to give it the Wattys for HQ Love award (back when there was a watty for HQ Love 
, but didn’t think their audience would like it to make it a paid story)
But the feedback from Wattpad’s team is absolutely spot on and should be taken into serious consideration if you want to increase your chances of hitting it big with the wattpad audience. At the end of the day, it’s up to you to decide whether that’s worth it.
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Even from critical reviews I received on Wattpad, I’d hear similar feedback like this being given out to writers. Which to an extent, I understand. Your first chapter should hook your reader in but it doesn’t mean all stories should start off with the inciting incident. Something I love about reading stories is how authors choose to tell their stories and what patterns they follow. Having them all follow a certain pattern would get tedious, but Wattpad has these target goals in mind for their audiences. Now, as for your story, I can’t say whether or not he’s right on advising this to you. Perhaps your first chapter doesn’t have enough to hook him in, but I’ve read stories with average beginnings that turned out to be amazing come the middle and especially the ending.
My advise would be to get more advice on the chapter if you really find issues with this advise. This is something I learned that is very helpful, having more than one person give your work a critical look over. Personally, I’m not on Wattpad much anymore and I’m not a fan of those paid stories like you mentioned either. But maybe you could even branch out onto other writing platforms too if you feel Wattpad isn’t a fitting place for your story?
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I get reviews saying my writing is “too complex for a Wattpad audience” not terribly infrequently, and it bothers the ever-living heck out of me. They’re selling themselves short, and the credibility of that advice (and everything else they say in that same review) is shot when I check their profile and they’ve written nothing of their own and are 14 or whatever. I love teaching freshmen—so much untapped potential—but I wouldn’t let them dictate our English curriculum.
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Being 40, I feel that one. Lmao
I was going to be a teacher, but decided I couldn’t stand the thought of being stuck in a school all my life, performing for an audience. Lol
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LMAO easier to take with a grain of salt when it’s coming from young teens… kinda discouraging though when it’s from Wattpad staff 
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This only solidifies how little trust they have in their readers, they think their readers won’t like what they do? Wow.
Also, congratulations on the Watty.
I’m not saying Wp shouldn’t cater to the mass audience. We shouldn’t discount millions of readers that do like these simpler stories, but I’m disappointed that they don’t try to appeal to more demanding audience at all.
Is that their idea of branding?
Wattpad, home of the easy to read stories…
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I would love my first chapters to hook a lot of readers tbh, independently of what anyone else might tell me.
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I do. I belong to a critique group that formed from the local NaNoWriMo and we used to even meet in person back when that was a thing. It’s a great group. Definitely 10000% better feedback than anything I ever got from Wattpad writers.
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