This “Old” Chook’s Story

“You should serialise your books,” a friend said, showing me her latest e-reader. “Once you have finished the book, you can publish it. That’s what some of the authors I read do.”

And my friend reads constantly. You could say she’s attached to her e-reader.

Voila! Kindle Vella popped up as an option.

I looked into this enterprising option.

No go. Unless you live in the USA.

A suggestion at the bottom of the website I had been researching about Kindle Vella suggested a story platform called Wattpad. Wattpad seemed to embrace all those of the universe left out of the US Kindle Vella orbit.

Looked promising.

Further investigation revealed Wattpad was one of the top platforms for reading and writing stories. Millions of stories free. Writers could upload their stories, chapter by chapter, week by week in serial form. An added bonus was that they had an opportunity to receive feedback from their readers.

To me it looked like one big world-wide writers’ group.

Wattpad touted that its Artificial Intelligence (AI) searches with its algorithms, finding books of promise which it then highlights to readers. So, rather than rely on a bunch of readers to raise your story’s profile, as the rest of the World Wide Web does, Wattpad’s “robot” agents do the job.

They, I mean, I guess it’s their AI, will act as an “agent” and Wattpad puts out the “carrot” for aspiring authors that their book may be picked up by major publishing houses and film makers.

Right, let’s get to it.

Full of hopefulness and anticipation for some Beta readers, I launched the first chapter of my novel Diamonds in the Cave on Wattpad. Not sure about the AI but decided to try out the platform as a test case. After all, there seemed to be a healthy cohort of readership for Sci-fi.

Oops! Downsides.

On further investigation, I discovered that Wattpad is geared towards Millennials and Gen Z’s. Upside if you are in that cohort. But if you are not…well…um…

Suddenly, I felt like an old chook trying to sneak into a trendy (or whatever word my children use) nightclub.

Faced with this dilemma, I asked my younger musician son, if I could sneak in using his identity. No, not a good idea. I was afraid that Wattpad might have AI bouncers, who, upon seeing my ancient, in their terms, age, would kick me off the platform.

I applied and that didn’t happen. I was comforted to read that Margaret Attwood is on Wattpad. I will be following her.

Success, of sorts

So, this “old chook”, me, has entered the realm of Wattpad, under the guise of Tessa Trudinger. Funny story about that. When I tried to register under my real name, they, the AI refused to accept me. Hence, I resorted to my maiden name, “Trudinger” and they received me with much enthusiasm saying, “Welcome Home, Trudinger”. Perhaps Trudinger is a hip name in Wattpad world. Fortunately, I had already assigned my nom de plume, Tessa Trudinger, to my detective series which I am currently working on.

Anyway, a few days in, and the first chapter of Diamonds in the Cave steadily gained attention. Wattpad AI was pleased and awarded it the ranking #193 out of 31.6K in “Spiritual”. And something like #278 out of 44.6K in Dystopian. Two days later the story was still in the top 600 in those two categories.

From there, things went south.

As I said, I’m looking for Beta readers and feedback to improve my story. No comments have appeared on Wattpad. One WordPress reader gave me encouraging feedback, saying I write beautifully. Another reader who has followed me, my friend actually, gave feedback face to face. She suggested that I need more of a “hook” in the first paragraph and that it must be rewritten.

Upon that advice, I rejigged the first paragraph, bringing elements of what the story promises to deliver—a combination of chocolate laced with time/space transporting microbes and the fearful Wend community, driven to witch hunts.

May have to eat more chocolates and play around with the first para some more in the future…

Some technicalities

As for navigating the Wattpad website, I’m still getting used to the way Wattpad works. Uploading the story is simple enough; much like I do on WordPress. Copy and paste what I have already written on a Word document. An important strategy as I read in reviews about Wattpad taht quite a number of writers have lost their work by relying solely on Wattpad. One note, though, make sure track changes are off and not showing, or they show through on Wattpad. Messy.

I also found the story notes app provided useful in consolidating characters, the story and pitch. It made me think about my protagonist, Minna, and ensure her character remains consistent and yet grows in maturity and depth. I used the “logline” that I was asked to construct (had to be less than 150 characters), as a lead into Diamonds in the Cave on my WordPress blog.

Reading tips

I began reading a couple of stories on Wattpad. However, I discovered, when I tried to go back to them, they had vanished. Solution: apart from writing down the author’s name and book title on a separate piece of paper, I found that I could follow the authors, and put their books into my “Library” on Wattpad.

Another problem with reading in Wattpad—no bookmarks. Again, trusty old pen and paper come to the rescue. In this respect Kindle is far superior. It has bookmarks.

When I work out how to give Wattpad feedback, I will suggest that they programme some in. I checked the box volunteering to be a “Beta-user”.

Conclusion, so far

This is my story of my journey into Wattpad, so far. Check out Diamonds in the Cave on Wattpad, and please do give some constructive feedback. I don’t mind if you post your comments on WordPress, Facebook, or on Wattpad.

You may need to join up on Wattpad to read, follow or comment on stories there. Not such a scary thing, I’ve done it. Just think of the millions of free stories begging for attention.

Maybe, like my friend, then, the e-reader will always be by your side.

The adventure has only just begun.

© L.M. Kling 2023

Feature Photo: Chook on the run, near Mt. Field, Tasmania © L.M. Kling circa 2001