Check out some helpful insights, writing peeves, book recommendations and more! Take everything I say with a grain of salt for most of the stuff here are based on personal preferences. I'd be glad if this somehow helped other authors as well.
Also...
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✍🏼 DISCLAIMER:
Before I begin, a friendly reminder that this is just based on my own personal experiences, speculations and opinions as someone who's been writing on Wattpad for six years now.
I also want to remind our fellow Wattpad writers to be respectful and open-minded if you're gonna migrate to AO3.
Unlike AO3, Wattpad works as a publisher and a company hence why they have to implement such strict rules. They have always been a PG-13 platform.
Ok, on to the main discussion ...
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Wattpad had just introduced a new policy that's driving a lot of users away and lemme tell you that it is basically the modern-day Hays Code.
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According to the new policy, anything that outright tackles violence (graphic or anything made for shock value), mental health issues and explicit s*xu@l content (not p*rn) are to be labeled as 'Mature.' Anything that is straight-up raunchy and inappropriate (e.g. age gap dynamics, kidnapping/trafficking, 🍇) with zero any plot are prohibited.
SIDE NOTE: For clarification, this covers non-con/s*xu@l relationships involving minors under 18 which are just made for fan service and glorifying it.
To be safe, just post the uncensored version of your fic on AO3, Tumblr or a personal website.
Any hateful or extremist content, graphic depictions of self-harm, sharing personal info, AI/deepfakes or anything that rewards any harmful acts are also prohibited.
Seems fair and dandy, right?
However, the problem is the lack of nuance and broad definition. Now, here's my take: 'Mature' can vary from something that is aimed at kids while also tackling complex themes, a coming-of-age YA novel for middle schoolers to straight-up R-18+. What about stories aimed at 12-15 year olds which best describe violence and other traumatic experiences in a sensible manner and how they actually affect people? Are they not allowed? If they're so worried about kids being exposed to inappropriate content, maybe banning all of the things that have a few scawwy stuff instead of giving them the proper tools to filter them out is not the right way to go! We authors shouldn't have to act like babysitters and sugarcoat ourselves just because some kids are too lazy to even read the disclaimers and understand to whom those works are intended for. At least fix their age categories (because not every work would entirely fit into Middle Grade/Young Adult/New Adult), algorithm and tagging system! If I were a thirteen-year-old looking for a YA book similar to George Orwell's "Animal Farm," I should be able to find the right results. If I see a trigger warning on a certain book (e.g. '#tw nudity', '#tw blood'), I should at least know what's in that book. Even AO3 has those! Only recommend me genres that I'm into. Like c'mon, Wattpad! I'm into sci-fi and horror, not spicy romance! 💢 It doesn't help that Wattpad is an inconsistent mess similar to YouTube. They get to promote these same inappropriate fics across the platform all the while flagging comments which contain a few naughty words and other authors for doing the same thing.
