By: Emma B. and Autumn R.
[Emma] Wattpad is a writing platform
dedicated to writing and publishing stories of all varieties. Wattpad is most
famous is being the fanfiction platform where writers create novels with
controversial content. Writing on this platform is not garbage despite the content of some of the fanfiction stories. In fact, I
can safely say, my writing experience has changed drastically because of my
experience writing on Wattpad. Wattpad has allowed for more
accessibility and mobility in my writing life-style. Now because I myself (that
being Emma) is relatively new to Wattpad, Autumn will also be sharing her
experiences.
[Autumn] Yep! And I’ve got to back
Emma up on how Wattpad isn’t trash. There are just some writers who give it a
bad name. I’m not a terrible writer myself, and I believe in keeping strong language
out of my stories. As a seasoned writer, I think setting rules like setting
story boundaries would help Wattpad. An example rule could be any fanfiction
MUST stick at least somewhat close to the original character personalities, or details
on colors of eyes and hair, and other things of that sort. Yeah, if it’s got a
good creative license, and it’s well received, then kudos to you, but a lot of
readers are looking for something that fits a specific topic.
Learning About the Platform:
[Emma] Personally, I discovered
Wattpad through my friends who for the sake of this article I will call, Kiwi
and Mango. Now Kiwi, in particular had grown a decent enough amount of fame on
the platform by the time I had showed up. At first I kind of dismissed Wattpad
out-right, only ever seeing it as a web-site that was, in my opinion, somehow
worse than fanfiction.net.. However as I explored more of Wattpad, I came to
the realization that despite Wattpad having adult content, it was far more
controlled than fanfiction.net. There were proper content warnings but still
sometimes questionable content
occasionally does appear in my recommended reads list. However, as a
responsible nearly high-school student I am able to filter through the stories
and pick what I am comfortable reading.
[Autumn] I discovered Wattpad when I
first got my iPad. I wanted to find an app where I could read books, and
Wattpad was a recommended app in the app store. At first, I thought the stories
were “real’ books (No offense, Wattys!), so you can imagine my surprise when I
saw the function for writing stories.
I
didn’t know what to write! The function itself isn’t hard to figure out, though
it took me a few tries and still does to get my chapter uploaded exactly the
way I want it to be.
Learning the In’s and Out’s:
[Emma] Now one of the reasons I greatly prefer Wattpad
to fanfiction.net, is because it’s so simple to use. During the first
two days of learning about the program, it worked like a breeze and I caught
onto things very quickly. Writing on the website was super easy I didn’t have
to sort through months of complicated mess just to figure out how to post
something half decent. Furthermore the hashtag system on Wattpad, in some
respects, makes things easier to find.
Now
granted, I do sometimes prefer the fanfiction.net style of organization. They
organize everything into a category but this was also limiting. I could never
publish the crossover fanfictions or publish stories across multiple genres. However
with Wattpad, this wasn’t a problem. I also caught onto the site library system
without much trouble and was able to find the stories I am currently reading easily
which was a vast improvement above fanfiction.net.
[Autumn] When I use Wattpad, I will
definately agree that the open genres are a huge help. I can post something and
write my own category for it without having to worry about not finding the
right genre to fit it in. This comes in handy when I write about my all-time
favorite fandom, Five Nights At Freddy’s,
and my very close second, Attack On Titan,
Gravity Falls, Transformers, and Steven
Universe, or when I’m writing my own novels. When I’m creating a book,
there’s an actual cover with the title and a description, and I can post it
piece-by-piece all in one book. On a different forum I use, it’s in chunks and
you have to look up [Book Title] Chapter One:[Chapter Name]’ in order to find
the specific book chapter. Wattpad is better.
The Novel End:
[Emma] Now as for
what I personally write on Wattpad, I mostly write novels that involve elements
of science fiction, fantasy and paranormal romance with my current projects
being:
The Shattered Ones from
Somewhere
Seflindor
And Nymph of the Black Death
With Seflindor and The
Shattered Ones from Somewhere are two projects that started off as
fanfictions but have turned into novels after months of intense decision-making.
Now
writing novels on Wattpad has been quite a unique experience since despite the
plat-form being known for fanfiction; it’s most popular works are original
content. Now granted, I wouldn’t consider myself to be the perfect embodiment
of popular Wattpad stories, but I am growing my audience and being able to
check feedback almost instantly on my phone is great. Not only that but being
able to post status updates on the nature of outlines and when and where I’m
posting is a huge help especially during test season.
But,
I also think it’s a lot more work to become well-known for posting original
content on Wattpad. This is because well, fanfictions are bound to get more
views up front due to their novelty, while with original content you have to
work harder to sell your audience. But this has taught me so much about writing
and editing that I deeply appreciate it. Furthermore, if you’d like to learn
more about my novel project please follow the link here to my Wattpad.
The Publishing Factor:
[Emma] Another reason Wattpad is extremely appealing to most people is because when Wattpad stories become popular, there is an option to publish the story. This has caused millions of fanfiction and novel writers to flock to the website for a chance at fame. Wattpad is also somewhat credited for starting the “fanfiction to novel” trend that has affected so many writers everywhere.
[Emma] Another reason Wattpad is extremely appealing to most people is because when Wattpad stories become popular, there is an option to publish the story. This has caused millions of fanfiction and novel writers to flock to the website for a chance at fame. Wattpad is also somewhat credited for starting the “fanfiction to novel” trend that has affected so many writers everywhere.
Now
as previously stated, I am nowhere near as famous or popular as Autumn or my
friend Kiwi but from my understanding, the publishing factor is far easier for
novelist, since they don’t have to worry about fanfiction copyright insanity;
novelists have the advantage of keeping their work on Wattpad while it’s being
published and sold which makes overall marketing a lot easier.
Plus,
the nature of Wattpad gives famous authors the creative freedom to try anything
without losing too much money. This is because Wattpad itself doesn’t make
money on postings. They make money on site advertising and on the amount of
physical copies sold. This means an unpopular story will not ruin an author’s
name or sales records because it will stay unpopular online and not be printed.
This means the author has more freedom to experiment without losing profit as a
whole. This is especially useful if you’re trying a new genre.
In Summary:
[Emma] Wattpad is a very good site
for me. It is far more organized than
most other fanfiction sites and despite having some inappropriate content. So
really, be careful out there everybody; be careful about what you read and more
importantly, be willing to give things a chance.
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