What Every Wattpad Writer Needs to Hear Before Writing on Wattpad

If you're reading this, I'm assuming you just joined Wattpad and want to put out this great story idea that you have. However, there's something you might fear?

There's that fear of getting criticized for something you worked very hard on. The fear of putting your work out there and exposing who you are. The fear of your work not being good enough.

When you first join Wattpad you'll feel nervous about possibly being criticized for your writing; you probably can't tell that this is every writer's fear because you're so intimidated by all the stories that got hundreds and thousands of reads. You can't see yourself being in the top 100 ranks like the more prominent writers. But as I said, you won't find many big writers telling you that it started this way for them. That's right. They struggle as much as any writer. We all do! It's not like we start with a big writing support system unless we did some school stuff and was acknowledged for it.

See, so many writers give up before publishing their work due to this fear but in reality, there's no perfect writer and we have to start bad to become good.

Okay, I know that sounds crazy but how else are we supposed to learn to get better? We do by failing. We can't be afraid of comments and criticism on Wattpad cause that not define you or your story. What you do next does! So you could take that comment as criticism or ignore it, but if you choose to let that comment hold you back from learning and progressing more as a writer, you've failed yourself as a writer. Remember, a bad writer is only those who don't want to improve and then give up. That's not you. Don't let it be you.

I understand that it's good to have great grammar and tell a story that makes sense, but the cool fact on Wattpad is that it's full of millions of different people willing to give your story a chance. It takes one reader who supports you to keep you going. If your grammar is bad or trying to write in a language where you're not fluent, don't worry! You can improve there. Just tell the story and move forward! You can correct your stories later, but you're holding back on a great story that could be something big.

A little fact about me is that my novel Hide and Seek won the Wattys 2016 Award when my grammar and sentence structure sucked. Not to mention how my dslexia nearly gave people heart attacks. However, some readers gave me a chance. Those few who supported me helped me push forward to tell the story. I fixed my mistakes later once I learned and took criticism as feedback. Hide and Seek has been featured in over 50 horror blogs, won a Wattys Award, is a game on Chapter: Interactive Games, and has 9 million views on Wattpad. Just don't stop telling that story.

You can be whoever you want on Wattpad. I almost used a pen name because I didn't want my family to see what I was writing. However, I eventually used my real name. Do what you're comfortable with. The fun part about not using your real name, there isn't much of that fear of people knowing who you are. It was harder for me to feel judged back when I had a pen name.

The truth is, criticism isn't the problem with writing. The hardest part is telling the story but everything else can get fixed. Why do you think authors have editors? I don't know if anyone told you, but writing is a LEARNING process. Not something where you wake up, and you're suddenly good. Don't fall into the pressure. Just have fun with it.