Bad Boy X Good Boy Wattpad

[Tarja Hempton]

WattpadCreator Mahum Tanveer (@mahumsheikh on Wattpad) has been writing on Wattpad since 2017. Her popular stories include Perfect Scars and The Workaholic's Wife. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of Wattpad corp. or affiliated companies.

If I could give one piece of advice to new writers, it's this: Nobody wants to read ten of the same books with slight variations on the characters and scenes. Yes, you can be inspired by your favorite writer and try out a new genre that excites you, but try to make the story yours. Be innovative. Create memorable characters. Don't just follow the herd.

One thing some new writers on Wattpad don't give much importance to is good grammar. When there are multiple grammatical errors, spelling mistakes and subject-verb disagreements in each paragraph, your readers may lose concentration. To avoid making these answers, I have a simple solution for you. Read as much as you can. Read well-written novels. Read magazines. Read whatever you can get your hands on. Remember, practice makes perfect. The more you practice, the better your books will be.

I am in no way against clichs. Let's be honest, who amongst us doesn't love some clichs like good girl/bad boy or predictable scenes like the car of a protagonist breaking down in the middle of the road. There is a time and place for that, but if your story is entirely made of clichs with no innovation whatsoever, it turns bland and you don't want that. So get your creative juices flowing, write innovative scenes, throw in some good clichs here and there and you have your perfect story.

Believe me, you do not want your readers to wait for a month for an update. This method has two disadvantages. One, your readers are bound to lose interest and two, you will lose your writing rhythm, making it harder to pen your thoughts.

Now, the question is, how many updates? Once a week or once a month? It honestly depends on your style and personal preference, but ideally there should be no fewer than three updates in one month. You can make a habit of updating once every week or you can set a day for updates as well. This way, your readers won't pester you too much for updates, and they'll be eagerly awaiting your next chapter drop.

There are many basics that every new writer needs to remember like what the appropriate word count for a chapter is. My sweet spot is 1500-2000 words. It's not too long that the reader might lose interest and it's not too short that they don't get enough detail. Some writers like to write less than a thousand words per chapter. Personally, as someone who has spent the majority of her teenage years reading novels, I find chapters that are shorter than a thousand words to be a turn-off.

Your story should be captivating enough to keep the reader's eyes glued to the screen and the only way to do it is to build up tension. Tickle the reader's curiosity. Make them eager to know what will happen next. That can also include sexual tension, i.e. not letting your characters have a steamy kiss (or more) early on in the story. Your way of building tension might be different than mine, but building tension is a proven way to keep your readers hooked.

Last but not least, you should choose an eye-catching cover and intriguing title for your novel. The above mentioned points will help the reader stick to your story, but this point will be what brings the reader to your story for the first time. Be unique; make a list of suitable names and choose the most captivating one. Hire a professional for your cover or use Canva (works perfect for me). I myself spend a lot of time choosing the perfect title and cover of my book and it has a lot of impact.

I hope I was able to help inspire you through this post. In the end, even if you don't have a lot of readers right now, be consistent with these tips. Readers will come and stick with you if you are passionate about your writing.

Writers Are Sensitive: I am clumping myself in this group as well, because of course you get hurt when someone tears into your story. However, when you actively seek constructive criticism and then get upset when your readers give you what you ask, maybe you need to grow a backbone.

Success Stories: There are several successful writers who started on Wattpad, and because of their gained following they were able to get published. Caitlyn Duffy, Kirsty Moseley, and Natasha Preston are some of these authors, to name a few. So Wattpad seems to have more potential to becoming a published author.

Horrible Search System: When I first joined the website, I remembering having an easier time navigating the site. However, now it is really hard to find new stories and limit your searches by preference.

Community: There is pretty much no community outside the comments. There are things called clubs, but to me they come across as weird Reddit posts that are completely random and have nothing to do with writing.

Weird Fanfics: On Fictionpress (unlike its sister website Fanfiction, which I am also a part of), everything is an original work. However, on Wattpad there are a lot of fan fictions scattered between the original works, making for some weird stories to come across.

Personally, if I wanted to browse through fanfics, I would can to Fanfiction. I would not spend hours shifting through horrible fanfics to find a good original work like I have on Wattpad. There are also published stories (like classics or translations of Chinese books) posting there as well.

In the end, I think the functions of these websites are very different. Fictionpress has been more about improving your writing through helping others and getting advice in return. Whereas with Wattpad, it seems to be more about promoting your writing.

Because, in my opinion, neither website really gives much back. I have spent hours (years, in fact) helping other writers with little in return. I improved as a writer more in the first month I was part of a writing club than I did in the years of being part of both websites. As you can guess, I am not really active on either of these websites, though I do read the occasional book on the sites.

Rant aside, I tend to be attracted to Quotev and AO3 (although the second is mostly for fanfiction). The target audience is pretty much the same on Quotev as it is on Wattpad, but the search engine is loads better and there are a surprising amount of serious writers and people who can leave good feedback. I find AO3 has a much better target audience range, but unfortunately, it is much smaller and there is no way to directly message people.

I agree. Fan Fiction is definitely alive. Like you, I made an account on wattpad just to read a story (which turned out to be horrible) and I used to find better stories on fictionpress too. Thanks for your thoughts.

Now, not everyone will approach Wattpad the way I did. I was essentially starting out with no reader base. How you use Wattpad will largely depend on what stage of your writing career you are at and how much time you have to invest in it, but even established authors with large fanbases and busy schedules may benefit from expanded worldwide readership by using Wattpad. One good way is to set up reading contests or share a short story, connecting directly with readers for a brief time. These are techniques that heavy hitters like Margaret Atwood and Amanda Hocking use. That way, readers can interact with you without a big time commitment.

So at this stage, you may be interested in Wattpad, but you want to know the efforts will translate into book sales. While it may be difficult to pinpoint exactly how many sales come directly from your Wattpad efforts, building a Wattpad following is definitely worth it. I had several Wattpad readers who went on to buy Born of Shadow, but also a large number who were introduced to the book via Wattpad links on Facebook, but preferred to buy the hard copy or Kindle version than interact socially. Keep in mind that most people on Wattpad have already read your story for free, so keep your sales expectations realistic. Here are some ideas of how to promote your book.

Sarah Benson is the author of Born of Shadow, a YA fantasy novel set in Egypt. It is available to buy on Amazon and BookDepository.com. She is a Jane Austen fangirl and addicted to green smoothies. Sarah is a binge reader, who is just as likely to consume books on how the brain functions or social injustice as a newly released YA novel or romance. She lives in a log cabin in the beautiful Pacific Northwest with her husband and four kids.

Wattpad has become a well-loved online writing medium since its launch in 2006. It is a venue for both amateur and professional writers to publish their work to the world. With more than 90 million users worldwide, many written stories have become sources for New York Times bestsellers and Netflix shows.

Are you a fan of horror, romance, or any genre under the sun? When choosing Wattpad alternatives, you should take into consideration your interests. As a writer, you have to look for platforms that can enhance your creativity and hone your skills with the right tools.

Some sites can also help you publish your story and turn it into a book or eBook for a wider audience. And, if you just want to write and share your work with the world, then there are plenty of sites for that, too.

Formerly named Mirakee, Miraquill is an excellent Wattpad alternative if your goal is to be part of a creative writing community. The website lets you write and read materials like quotes, blogs, haikus, stories, short stories, poems, or passing thoughts within the community.

Moreover, it has built-in tools to help you write and form your story. They also host writing challenges every day to develop your imagination through stories, poems, and quotes. Your performance will be tracked based on likes and comments.

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