𝐘. 𝐈. 𝐓𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐫

@flamesword01 did you see a mirror?

@CanteringFlame202  Oh look, a poop stain 
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            jk maybe :P

@amayzed  Thanks! I honestly don't hate how this cover looks at all, just feel it doesn't have the sparkle an actual graphic designer could put on it. I also think a silver and red theme would work better with the vibe of the book; green and gold fits better with one of the forthcoming volumes. XD

@flamesword01 you can’t go wrong with a simple cover, it looks great in the meantime!

@flamesword01 -  I'm debating that, myself. On the one hand, I like the way it looks like I can check multiple boxes for all the various ways underrepresented populations get representation. Also, it tickles me pink to know that something as fundamentally and extremely unmarketable as _Ancilla_ will be read by at least one judge, and that judge will probably find my work confusing as hell. On the other hand, I'm worried about my contest submission being used to train AI to write Wattpad "originals." AI screws us all over, even though it can sometimes be very helpful by providing writing prompts, giving us spelling and grammar checks, etc.
            
            Blast it, why can't Wattpad let us GRAMMAR EDIT our comments?

@flamesword01 Yes I'd agree, and also, what happened to me and I think happens to other people, is maybe they don't age out but they grow out.  I simply got too busy to be on Wattpad like I used to be, and I branched out to the Young Writer's Workshop, Goodreads, and my own website.  I think that happens for a lot of people, real life starts happening and then they don't have the time for Wattpad like they used to.
            Yes we do ;)

@flamesword01 - I created an account in 2018 to read  (and sneer at) Anna Todd's AFTER series, which started out as an absurd and horribly written One Direction/Harry Styles x 50 Shades fanfic; once that mission was accomplished, I walked away, and did not return until this January. 
            
            I became active here because I had decided to put a free edition of my self-published novel online for anyone who couldn't afford to buy it. I care passionately about the human right to access reading material.
            
            I hadn't expected to get sucked into Wattpad culture, but here I am. 
            
            It's very close-knit. I love the way Wattpadians feel like family. I've never seen anything like it anywhere else. Yes, there's also a ridiculous amount of drama that goes along with the feeling of closeness and rapport, because there are a lot of teenagers, a lot of artistic egos, and a lot of teenagers with artistic egos, but the camaraderie has so far outweighed the melodrama and silliness.
            
            I don't like the way Wattpad as a whole is headed, though. I've heard a lot about what Wattpad used to be like before Naver bought the platform. We seem to be heading toward more monetization, more commercialization, more homogeneity, more teen content, and more bot involvement - algorithms that track our interests more closely than ever, censor-bots that rely on faulty javascript to enforce community guidelines (that's where the shadowbans came from), and bots that will write "vertical content" and "original" serials that teens and young adults with allowance money to burn can buy. I do not like that. I do not like that at all.

@BamBam707  Yeah, my theory is partially that Wattpad caters a little too heavily to a certain demographic, so users age out over time. There may be new users who would love our work, but it might take work to find them again. If my theory is true, then the strategy here isn't to find your audience and simply cater to them; you've gotta keep spending time putting out feelers, lol. 
            
            Ooh, I'll have to check that out, thanks for the tip! The good thing is even if conditions aren't like they used to be, we still have each other. :)