Exclusively Opinionated: A [Wattpad] Writer's Guide

#2 Choosing Your Genre in Writing

First things first, what is a GENRE?

Ito ang term na ginagamit para i-classify at idetermine kung anong klaseng story/novel/work ang ginawa mo. It helps readers filter the kind of story they want to read. It's a standard classification para madistinguish ang pinaka-essence ng story mo.

Here on wattpad, they support 20 GENRES, where you can register your work for at least 2 genres per story. Ginawa to para mas madaling hanapin ang story mo. Para mas madaling mahanap ng readers na gustong bumasa ng isang storya na ganito ang theme, na ganyan ang possible plot.

Let's discuss each genre.

1) Romance - ang pinakasikat sa lahat ng genre sa wattpad lalo na for Filipino readers/writers. Mahilig dito ang halos lahat ng readers mostly girls, they love romance. Who wouldnt? Romance talks about love. Everything about lovelife. And technically, halos lahat naman ng story, lahat ng genre, napakalaki ng chance na meron yang halong romance. It's almost an essential rule na kapag may ginawa kang story, kailangan may hint of romance, for the readers to feel for it. Pretty much almost everyone can write romance stories, dahil isa itong BROAD GENRE. You just need to have 2 people rendering themselves into an intimate relationship, and that's already romance.

2) Science Fiction - personally, ito ang MAIN REASON ng pagbabasa ko sa wattpad. I love science fiction! This is not a very easy field to be writing about, dahil most likely, kailangan mo rito ng mataas na understanding tungkol sa isang bagay na gusto mong i-explain, lalo na't isa itong fiction. You have to make everyone believe that everything you write in the book is credible. Kailangan mukhang totoo. Science Fiction honestly requires a broad understanding. Kung gagawa ka ng story that would discuss things about stars, nandoon yung plot, you might need to do special researches to support ideas na ilalahat mo sa story. Matrabaho. But once na makabuo ka ng story under this genre, it's VERY satisfying.

3) Fantasy - it's almost as easy as romance. Almost as popular as romance, dahil lahat ng naging bata ay alam yan. You just need a very good imagination, and there! You can include supernatural things, creatures, events, etcetera. You can freely ridicule things, it's almost with no limit. Fantasy naman yan, eh. Hindi totoo, but the point is you have to make people believe that it is true.

4) Humor - this one's very popular with Filipinos. We love humor. I do, ang problema lang humor hates me, dahil honestly, weakness ko ito. Mababa ang humor level ko kung ako ang magkukwento, pero marunong naman akong sumagap nyan, fortunately. Humor stories are popular dahil nakakagaan sya ng loob. Nakakatuwang basahin. Nakaka enjoy. Kaya kung isa kang madaldal, maingay at walanghiyang tao (joke), you can easily write about this genre.

5) Paranormal - im not a fan of this genre and I hate this dahil madali akong matakot at madali akong gulatin. Not that duwag ako, I mean.. kapag sinabi kasing paranormal, most usually magkukuwento ka ng mga bagay na nakakabwisit.. (masyadong opinionated, haha).. mali. nakakatakot dahil kailangan mong i-describe ng todo ang gusto mong ipakitang karimarimarim na nilalang. Kung magkukwento ka ng tungkol sa aswang kailangang sabihin mo pa ang tungkol sa mabaho nyang amoy. Sa lapnos na balat, labas ang mata sabog na nguso nakahubad walang saplot nakakadiri etcetera. Iniisip ko pa lang nasusuka na ko. Haha! But then, there are good chances na bumenta ang paranormal stories. Kung talagang malawak ang imagination mo, kayang kaya mo ito. (at matapang ka, habang nagsusulat ka sa gabi tapos yung dinedescribe mo katabi mo na pala muhahahaha)

6) Mystery / Thriller - I love mysteries but I hate thrillers. Magulo ba? Kapag sinabing mystery, ang goal mo ay magtanim ng effective curiosity sa readers. Tipong mapapaisip sila, anong susunod na mangyayari? Bakit ganito? Bakit ganyan? Nasaan ito, nasaan yan, paano yon nangyari? What's challenging about this is... yes, madaling makakuha ng curiosity. But it's not that easy to make up reasons to satisfy curiosity. That's the tricky part. You might earn a lot of readers when you start driving them curious, pero kapag pumalpak ka into rendering the truth, boom. Ubos ang readers, may bonus ka pang haters. Thriller. I'm not a fan ulet nito. I hate thrillers, ayoko nang ginugulat ako o yung masyadong nakakakaba. Most stories na ganito ay horror na rin.

7) Horror - I hate this. Haha. Masyado na ba kong obvious na ayaw ko sa ganitong genres? I hate paranormal things. Thrillers. And saying so, syempre ayoko ng horror! What's the difference ng tatlo? When you say it's paranormal, you talk about supernatural things. Hindi normal. Abnormal. Nakakabano ba, mga bagay na hindi mo iisipin na meron palang ganoon. When you say it's thriller, it drives your adrenaline rush into its extremities. Pampakaba. Pampa-excite. While horror, hindi porke sinabing horror, multo lang. Minsan yung sobrang sama ng mukha horror na. De joke. As the term implies, horror. Horrifying. Nakakatakot. Ano pa ba ang mga bagay na nakakatakot bukod sa paranormal things? Fear of height? Fear of water? No, not just that. How about we say serial killers? How about we say someone wants to take your life? That's horror. That's also a reason kung bakit karamihan ng horror, thriller na rin. There might be confusions, pero basta natakot ka, horror yon. Kapag gumamit ng multo, paranormal na horror. Kapag natakot ka sa katabi mo sa school, normal horror. De joke ulet. Ang kulet ko no? Pasensya may trangkaso.

8) Adventure - very simple. Adventure most likely tackles about journeys. Kahit sabihin mong may halong romance yan, kapag adventure type yan madalas diyan it talks about travels. The scenes take place at different scenarios. Adventure.

9) Historical Fiction - another bias! Favorite! Maraming tao ang ayaw sa history, and it includes me. Pero when we talk about historical fiction, gusto ko yan! Dahil siguradong ang gagawa ng ganyang storya ay matatalinong tao. Syempre madalas historians. Geologists and all pero pwede ring normal na tao na nag research lang at nakabuo ng magandang plot. This is as challenging as science fiction, at medyo mahirap nga lang ito lalo sa panahon ngayon dahil kung ito ang gagawin mo and you would make the plot existing into earlier times, malaking malaki ang adjustment na gagawin mo sa writing style. It has to be VERY primitive. Malalim na salita ang gagamitin, pati ang mga bagay na makaka-interact ng tauhan, you would need to give out specific descriptions about those. You have to think as if you, yourself, are in the older times. Sa ngayon there's this historical fiction sa wattpad na sinusubaybayan ko. May love story pang bonus. English nga lang, but it was really good! If you want to know you could ask me para may mag comment .buwahaha. Im so bad.

10) Teen Fiction - one of the classics. One of the easiest. One genre kung san maraming nakaka 'hashtag:relate!' with smileys and all those sh!t. de joke. As it depics, teen fiction siya, so obviously it should be something that expresses youth. most probably teenagers ang lead characters para mas relatable ang story. Good examples: well halos lahat. Diary ng Panget, Voiceless, Talk Back and You're Dead, She's Dating the Gangster. Iba-iba man ang secondary themes nila, lahat yan teen fiction.

There are ten more genres, pero masyado nang hahaba so I'll just tackle about those na marami pa ang nakikita kong gumagawa nito.

11) Short Story - the simplest among all. Maikling kwento, almost a one-shot story pero hindi palaging one shot. Pwedeng maging mahaba sya yet short story pa rin sya, just like Edgar Allan Poe's The Cask of Amontillado. Scenes are relayed faster, hindi niya masyado kailangan ng sobrang descriptive values kagaya ng novel. If you wish to learn more, search nyo nalang, very basic siya alam kong kaya niyo lahat gumawa niyan. You just need your characters, the plot, the dilemma, the resolve and you have a short story. At hindi niya kailangan ng prologue o epilogue. Hindi yan nilalagyan non, pausap. Haha.

I would love to add more kaso.. I really don't feel well as of the moment. Proceed tayo sa #3 next update.

Would you want to ask for anything? Comment lang po, I'd be very happy to tackle about requested topics, though meron na akong nakapilang topics. :)

Enjoy writing!

external link> fb page.

Dated: May 15,2014

©2014 monsterclock