So. I have *a lot* of Wattpad thoughts.

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Title:	So. I have *a lot* of Wattpad thoughts.
Creator:	earlgreytea68
Date(s):	August 31, 2015
Medium:	Tumblr post
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External Links:	here, Archived version; WebCite
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So. I have *a lot* of Wattpad thoughts. is a post by earlgreytea68. It was created in response to Fansplaining: Buncha Lawyers.

The Post

So.

I have *a lot* of Wattpad thoughts. And if you follow me on Twitter, you know what those are.

But I think, reading this transcript, what it all boils down to is: I don’t feel welcome there? Not that I feel unwelcome, but it isn’t *my* community. I have a difficult time communicating there. I literally cannot understand some of the comments I get, because they’re using a slang I don’t know. I just haven’t been able to crack into it. I go to AO3, and I know what to do, how to interact, how to leave a comment or reply to a comment. I know how to connect AO3 to Twitter and Tumblr and I know how to use that to leverage into (hopefully) new friends as I enter new fandoms. I’m just at a loss when it comes to Wattpad. I don’t know how to do that. To be totally honest, I can’t even figure out how to *find* fanfiction on Wattpad. Like, their tagging and filtering system flummoxes me.

And for a long time I thought it was because I was old, and there’s a lot of discussion on that in the transcript, but now I’ve decided that no, I’m just *different.* I definitely have readers who are younger, who are teenagers. They’re on AO3! They’re not old! ::clings::

But no, really, I don’t think a lot of people use both AO3 *and* Wattpad. In fact, I’d be curious to see those numbers. I think people use one or the other because they’re interested in getting different things out of fandom. Or even out of writing? I want to be more coherent about this. Like, the whole thing about Wattpad being about editing is fine but it isn’t personally what I do with the stuff I post? (I thought the whole thing about lack of editing indicating LOVE and PASSION was weird. I’m pretty passionate about my fics, guys. I don’t stop and edit them because I’m lackadaisical about them, I promise. Quite the opposite.)

So I’m not sure it’s a function of age, so much as it’s a function of just wanting different things out of your online writing and reading experience? Or, maybe, finding different entrances to the online writing and reading experience and kind of getting comfortable there and not wanting to switch it up? Maybe that’s what it is? Maybe it’s like your first Doctor: You always love your first fanfiction database most?

Although, not true, because I think AO3 is way superior to any fanfic archive I used before, and I remember learning about AO3 and being like, “What is this?” and having to learn it. So maybe if all of you lot decided you were moving to Wattpad, I’d have to move with you, and then eventually I’d be like, “Man, Wattpad is awesome, I meet the greatest people on Wattpad and read the best stories!” But for now I just kind of poke around a little bit and then go back to AO3 where my transactional costs are less because I know what I’m doing already.

Blargh, this was a long ramble, and I don’t even know what my point is. I guess my point is: Please don’t leave me for Wattpad, guys. I guess, after all, maybe I *am* just too old to learn new fandom tricks! Isn’t it enough I learned Tumblr for all of you??? ::sobs::

ETA: Actually, maybe it’s just about where your fandom is located? I happen to have fandoms that are active on AO3 and not on Wattpad, so this is probably why I feel unmoored at Wattpad. If Wattpad had my fandom on it, I’d probably feel less out of my element. It isn’t my place because it isn’t about what I’m into, not because of anything more profound than that, probably?

Comments

[Flourish Klink];

I hope it works well for you! My advice to get involved is to go on the forums and post in the concrit threads, trading crit for crit - it’s a quick way to get in there. Some of that critting isn’t as visible on the comments because a lot of times those are sent on PM, instead of publicly.

One thing I would note is that on Wattpad a lot of the people are working on grammar issues, that there are a lot of folks who are relatively young writers and are struggling with plotting problems that seem pretty simple to me (from my fifteen-years-older-than-them perspective), so even though there’s a robust culture of concrit, some of it might not be as useful to you if you’re used to AO3 levels of writing.

Still, I’ve gotten great comments from Wattpadders that have improved what I’m writing and have enjoyed taking part in critting other people’s work, so hopefully you’ll have the same experience. :)

[destinationtoast]:

I really enjoyed [the interview], and also really enjoyed this response by EGT – and I have a lot of empathy for her response to Wattpad. And now I want to look at how many works are crossposted between AO3 and Wattpad (and also FFN) – I also suspect that few authors are posting to both!

[nianeyna]:

okay this is SO long but very interesting because I also am one of those people who are like “who the hell is wattpad” or whatever. anyway, it was kind of a pleasant surprise to see that there’s so much fandom engagement at like, the corporate level? because I feel like historically a lot of sites that aren’t explicitly fan-created have kind of acted ashamed of their fan contingent and kind of brushed that under the rug. Like “you can stay here, but we don’t care about you.” But wattpad has a community engagement specialist SPECIFICALLY FOR fanfiction? That’s awesome.