Here’s a writing site that flew under my radar until I saw a story about it in the Washington Post: Wattpad Anybody who wants to can post any kind of writing there—poems, short stories, novels (these are released chapter by chapter).
They get about 50,000 new stories each month. Many of these come from young people, who tend to access the site via their mobile phones. The site started in 2006 but it took a while before it started to catch on. Now it’s up to about 9 million visitors a month, and the average age has been creeping up as older writers—including Margatet Atwood—have joined.
You can post your material anonymously if you want, and get feedback from the people who read it. The comments tend to be kind and encouraging, a nice change from most of the rest of the internet.
If you appeal to the readers it’s possible to get some amazing exposure. For instance, I had a peek at the humour section. The top entry I spotted there had a total of more than two million reads.
Even if you don’t want to post your own writing, it’s a great tool for seeing what readers like. For example, here’s the story line of one of the most popular works, “Enjoying the Chase” by Kirsty Mosely:
Nate Peters is a player. He has great friends, a great job, no responsibilities, no girlfriend and LOVES it. He’s never failed to get a girl in his life, that is until he meets Rosie. She’s totally uninterested and he can’t stand it, she dents his ego and he’ll stop at nothing to win her.
So—a familiar plot, but easy to see the appeal to teen girls (I'm fairly sure Rosie will teach Nate the meaning of true love). The execution? Well, this is the first paragraph, judge for yourself:
“My cell phone buzzed in my pocket and I glanced at my Captain, wondering what he would do if I looked at my message. It was probably Sarah or Sasha or whatever the girls (sic) name was that I was supposed to be taking out tonight. He would be seriously pissed if I got caught checking messages, when I should be listening to his briefing about the raid we were on tomorrow. Screw it, he wouldn’t do anything’ I was the best sniper he had so there was no way he would take me off of point for the operation tomorrow.”
Considering that the site probably attracts a lot more girls than boys, the author does something smart in the next couple of paragraphs: she has the guy go all gooey over the fact that his best friend and the friend’s wife have just had a baby and have sent him pictures of it. “Shit yeah,” I shouted happily, jumping out of my seat.
A macho sniper who jumps out of his seat at the excitement of a friend having a baby, that has to appeal to the young female reader. Although I think maybe a sniper should be paying more attention to a briefing…
Of course the marketers are moving in—which might give you some creative ideas as well. The managers of “One Direction,” the boy band phenomenon of the moment, hired a writer to create fan fiction and post it to the site. It got over 100,000 views the first week and now has inspired fans to write another 12,000 pieces of fan fiction.
You keep the copyright to your material and the founder said that a few writers have used their success on the site to help them get contracts with publishers. If you’ve been looking for a way to get reader reactions to what you write, check out Wattpad.com.
(Would you like to have Charles Dickens, Anton Chekhov, Jane Austen and many more of the world's best authors give you advice on how to write your book? You'll find it in my latest book, "Your Creative Writing Masterclass," published by Nicholas Brealey and available from Amazon or your other favorite bookseller.)
