Watt - pad
What exactly is Wattpad?
It is basically a website where anyone can post their stories from around the world. These stories can either be full length standalone novels, full series of books, short stories, novellas, flash fictions and microfictions. They even have writing competitions and challenges of every topic and genre that happen rather frequently.
I discovered this site when I was about 14 or 15 years old. I remember I was in my 10th grade geography class and a few of my classmates were in the corner just giggling to themselves, showing eachother their phones. And what stook out to me the most was the word “stories”. This piqued my interest as I loved stories; always have since I was really little.
So, I went over to them and asked what they were talking about. My close friend showed me her phone and said to me: “This author updated her story on Wattpad.” What?! Someone can frequently update a book that’s already out for the world to see and read?! This new revelation made me confused but, overall, intrigued. So, I went home that day and searched up Wattpad and boy was my mind blown.
The vast ocean of stories: new, old, and reused, really made me a bit overwhelmed if I’m being quite honest with you. There was so much to read...to choose from, I had to close the app before I exploded with excitement. The next day was when I finally added the first book to my library: Storm and Silence by Robert Thier (@RobThier on Wattpad) and oh my gosh...I fell in love (it’s a whole series for anyone who wants to read it, it’s on amazon).
I don’t know if his book gave me a false sense of the reality of Wattpad, but at that moment, I didn’t care. Then I went on to find a few gems: Project X by _salacious or Frost by TheBiblicalSinner etc. and I was hooked on this site. And then, I started to fall victim to the generic wolf, vampire and other paranormal romances that ran rampant in my recommendations.
And I, too, became one of the mindless zombies that read basically every one of those books. It became a real problem. I would find books that were already completed and blast through those. If a book interested me but wasn’t completed, I would put it in my library and wait til it was done; which could take weeks honestly. But like I said, I didn’t care. I wanted more.
After about 3 years or so, I got bored of it. Reading stories with the same format was honestly exhausting. And when I say ‘same format’, I mean, you can take one werewolf story from one author with a generic plot of the Alpha falling for the runt of the pack, change some names and maybe the city they’re in and call it a new story. It’s being done over and over.
Granted, no story in the 21st century is original. But at least put some sort of a new twist onto it. It gives stories a fresh feeling when readers decide to pick them up. For example, if you’re going to do a werewolf story about an alpha falling for the runt, put them in space or make them a tiny werewolf species or make it grimdark and not so lightweight as it’s usually done.
People have always asked me: “Should I publish my story on Wattpad?” “Do you think my book will be like After by Anna Todd?” And I always tell them, even myself sometimes, don’t expect too much from Wattpad if you aren’t writing within the molds of the stories on there. Wattpad tends to gravitate to a much, much younger audience (maybe 12 to 18/19) and if you don’t write for those age groups, you are going to suffocate under the other stories that do. And don't get me started on the large variety of fanfictions out there of every kind, ranging from the lowest grade to ones that can be made its on entity and be great.
Don’t get me wrong, there are some authors that break the mold and hit it big, like E. L. James or my cousin who goes by NansiLondon; she writes adult romances to die for, you should check her out. But even she isn’t hitting reads in the millions like other stories targeted for teens.
But just to wrap-up my thoughts, Wattpad is an amazing place if you are looking to practice and hone your writing skills without wanting to publish elsewhere as yet. But do not go on there thinking you’re gonna be the next biggest thing to get a publishing deal.
So that all I have for you today! I will leave the links to the stories I have mentioned if you want to have a go at them. Until next time!
https://www.wattpad.com/user/NansiLondon
https://www.wattpad.com/user/_salacious
https://www.amazon.com/Storm-Silence-Saga-Book-ebook/dp/B01AALOWI4
https://www.wattpad.com/story/67781274-frost
Better Weird, Better Writing!
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