(no subject)

[the_rck]

I’m listening to a podcast at Smart Bitches, Trashy Books right now that’s talking about Muslim romance on Wattpad. The focus of the discussion is original fic, but the person from Wattpad dropped an offhand mention of the fact that people on Wattpad freely fic anything that’s posted there, WIP or completed fic, original or fanfic. That struck me as a huge cultural difference between Wattpad and the fic venues I’m more used to. The discussion on the podcast is focused heavily original fiction, and the person from Wattpad keeps mentioning the popularity of the site outside of the US (I’m not clear about non-English language stuff being a focus or not).

I’m tempted to sign up for another fic exchange or challenge, but I worry that I’ll have the same problems with that that I’ve been having with my current story. I could sign up as a potential pinch hitter for the Narnia Fic Exchange, but I don’t write quickly most of the time, so I’m a very poor prospect for a pinch hitter. I’m pretty sure that, if I signed up, I wouldn’t end up writing anything.

I’m also looking at Iddy Iddy Bang Bang. The minimum for that is 5000 words. I’m just worried that I’ll start something and have it balloon to the point that I can’t possibly finish it. Most stories that I start on my own do that. I’ve got fifty five stories on my AO3 profile, and only eight of them of them are both complete and things I wrote without a prompt and/or some form of structured exchange/challenge.

I’m finding myself looking at my various long WIP and wanting to share them with people, but I keep stomping on that because I can’t actually promise that I’ll ever finish them. I want to, but I lose focus and wander off for months or even years before I come back. Right now, I do generally come back, but I don’t think I want to ask people to wait. Also, I promised myself that I wasn’t going to start posting another long WIP until I finished Rheotaxis, and I very much haven’t done that. It’s been two or three years since I posted another chapter of that, so I have no idea what will happen with it.

Comments

[tropicsbear]

When you say, "freely fic" what does that mean?

[the_rck]

I mean that, according to this person, the culture on Wattpad is such that anyone can look at any story posted there and write fic based on it without asking for permission. It's an expected thing.

[tropicsbear]

Ooooh okay. I think Wattpad has a big-ish user base here in the Philippines with authors writing more original fic. I know at least 3 local TV shows have been based off of Wattpad novels.

[the_rck]

I'm curious-- Do you know what languages people are writing in?

I know that, in the US, the stereotypical user of Wattpad is a thirteen year old girl, but I've also seen YA authors (specifically Marissa Meyer) posting short stories related to their commercial works there. I've also seen older folks from more traditional parts of fandom getting really frustrated with Wattpad because finding stories doesn't work the way they think it should.

The interviewee for this commented that commercial publishers don't do so well on Wattpad because they don't understand tagging at all. They tend to use things like 'juvenile fiction' and to expect that to attract readers. Which... not so much.

I haven't really ventured onto Wattpad because my niece has been posting stuff there for about three years now (I don't know her pseudonym, but I know she started with Doctor Who fanfic), and when I was her age, I'd have been appalled at the idea that there was even the slimmest of chances that one of my aunts might hang out where I did.

[tropicsbear]

I think Filipino users post in a mix of Filipino and English. The demographic sounds about the same—young teens—though I haven't heard of any local users from older groups. I think I've only ever been to Wattpad twice?