Wattpadding with You

Watty 2023 Prep #4: Areas of Focus

We have 9 weeks. It's impossible to embrace the unembraceable. Therefore, now that Wattpad released the rules, I suggest focusing on very specific aspects of preparing for Watty 2023.

A lot of folks have a negative reaction to the word Commercial in Wattpad's I.E.C. guiding principles. It stands for Immediate, Engaging, Commercial. Wattpad explains what each of this trinity means in their Story School--you can find a link to it if you scroll through the Watty 2023 page.

For me, the areas of focus are Immediate and Engaging, because Commercial means that there is a vast audience waiting for your book to happen.

I'm not a pro at creating an audience from scratch via social media. I believe that any book that is Immediate and Engaging has a chance to become Commercial. I saw time and again formula books sink, while oddballs captivate. Tons of people analyze their success at a later day and say, 'aha, that's why!', but I don't think it can be reliably predicted in advance. Agents bet that they can, Wattpad bets that they can when they pick the books, but it's not the writer's job.

Therefore, it's out of our control, and you all know that it's wise not to worry about things that are out of your control.

Immediate and Engaging are the writer's domain.

So, for me, the areas of focus when editing for Watty, particularly in the 9 weeks we have left, is on Immediate and on the documentation that accompanies your submission or that you want to have in your back pocket (Logline, Summary, Comp Titles).

For Engaging, I advise working on things that you already know about--you know, that scene that keeps you up at night--and you know how to fix it. I wouldn't go looking for anything new to fix right now, unless you are working with someone you trust.

My mom read through my Champion in Love this winter and identified a point where the fast-forward between two major events was too abrupt. I knew about it. I also realized it's an opportunity to shed light on the motivations of the Love Interest, who was always a closed box. Hence, I will be working on this piece while editing, as well as a few other inserts I had identified in the past few months. 

Two additional 'it depends' areas of focus are Proofreading and Ongoing Category prep.

Wattpad repeatedly said that an Engaging book, rather than a flawless book, is what they are after. 

If you have someone who can proofread your story, or you already has everything ready to go, by all means, proofread. But at this stage, if your grammar is overall competent, worrying about every single typo is counterproductive; and if your grammar is so damn poor, the book is unreadable (and I mean unreadable!), you are better off working through your issues with language and not worrying about the deadline.

QuickTip! Please, note, that once you submit the Watty form for a COMPLETED book, it's hands off! Do NOT edit the story after this point. It may result in your entry being disqualified.

If you are targeting the Ongoing category, I advise the following: be in the first third of posting a story that is over 120K in length overall; the story should either be finished in draft or has an outline that is sufficient for you to write from to the end or a combo of the two; and you have at least 20 chapters (more than 500 words each) backlogged and ready to go on a weekly basis starting the first week of June and ending the third week of October. The rules for this category remain convoluted, and it's better to err on the side of caution to avoid disqualification.

I want to talk about the nitty-gritty of setting up your story for Watty prep next.