Hello everyone,

I'm Sevval (beautlies) and this is my second time on Wattpad Block Party. Some may know me and some may not. Either way, hope you like and relate to this post.

Happy reading! 

MY ADVENTURE ON WATTPAD (2014-)

I was introduced to Wattpad long before 2014. I've been a The Vampire Diaries fan back then, around the beginning of 2013, and had a fan account on Twitter. I remember clicking on the orange banner and checking it out. It seemed full of One Direction fanfiction so that I decided not to join. I posted my TVD fanfictions on fanfiction.net instead.

I was writing to satisfy my inner fangirl and improve my English. I had a few fans as well, and the more they wanted updates, the happier I felt. It was great to have people like me and my writing. Then, in my senior year, I grew out of my vampire phase.

I think I realized I wanted to write something different in a biology class. We were talking about total color blindness and I scrabbled Your eyes are my favourite tone of grey on my notebook. Hence, my favourite sentence of my first book—and only poetry book—The White Memories of A Black Life.

I knew that I wouldn't be able to post this poetry book on fanfiction.net but I didn't know where to put it. I have been looking around and in the end, one of my friends recommended me Wattpad. That was the second time I visited that website. Totally prejudiced, I observed the website and noticed there are some original stories apart from fanfiction. The first one I have read was Here To Stay by Noelle (hepburnettes). I think Float by Kate (ToastedBagels) and The Bad Boy's Girl by Blair (JessGirl93) were the ones that followed.

There was a tiny problem: I wasn't a novel writer. I was writing poetry and as far as I saw, people weren't into it. However, I decided to give it a try. I posted the first chapter. I didn't get any reads for days. I was too busy with reading to care—I didn't have many expectations. Then, I discovered Clubs and shared my book there. I read people's books and had them read mine in exchange. It was cool, sharing ideas and making new friends. The first friend I've ever made is Hali (book_rapper) and I'm really glad to say we are still in touch.

When I was done with that book, it hardly reached 600 reads but I was freaking happy because with 600 reads and 50 followers, I felt pretty cool. More than three people had noticed my existence and my writing. It was totally good. Then, I posted my second book on August 5th, Mitosis. That book still has a different place in my heart, for it is a transition from poetry to novel for me and the characters are so close at heart.

I remember posting a few story ideas later, and one of them got more reads than I expected. It was my first novel attempt and I really thought it was better than any of my writings so far. I noticed one of the great writers I'd read back then was doing a critique and I decided to join. I got too excited when I saw that she's checked out my book. However, the comment was so discouraging. I think, if I really took it so seriously, I wouldn't be here right now. I deleted that book a few days later, and didn't try to write anything for a while.

I made some friends in the meanwhile and they made me turn back to writing. Still, it was hard to post anything because I was scared to be criticized. Don't get me wrong but I can easily get discouraged, and I was even more vulnerable about my writing back then. I didn't believe in my writing that any negative comments turned me against it. I deleted lots of sentences, pages, books because of this. I wish I hadn't, but it takes time to learn.

I came back with Worth The Fight—my first full-length novel. I was so motivated to write it and had my close friend support me on that. I was doing well, writing in advance and also, making friends on Wattpad. I surpassed 2,000 followers then and it felt good. Until I've met another face of Wattpad: hate.

At first, it was just on my books. Though I was really sad about it, it didn't affect me much. It was on ask and anonymous. I would deactivate and reactivate but it would always come back. Then, it turned on me. People started to question my belief, my lifestyle and me. I tried to explain them it was none of their business but hate didn't stop. They accused me of being a liar, rude and even more. I wanted to quit—there was no reason to stay.

Then, I received some incredible comments about my book. People gave me motivation, courage, a reason to stay.

Here's the thing: DON'T send hate on someone. You don't know what they are going through, and you steal their escape. Don't turn people's life to hell. Words are that powerful. Work on your own thing and try to be your best. Pulling people down won't rise you.

DO share your positive opinions. Do love them. Ask people how they are doing. Tell them you are here—even if no one else is. It's important. Be friendly and nice.

Then, came my next book on 2015: Butterfly Jars. I think it was the most complicated book I've ever written up to date. The hate has stopped and I thought that was it—nothing could make me lose interest again.

PLAGIARISM is when you copy someone's idea—when you get inspired by them in a way that either you use the same title, the same words and the same names or all of them. Butterfly Jars was stolen by another user on this website, word by word, the same title, everything. The girl said that it was different from her other works since this one was more intense (her other works were stolen by Noelle). I remember waking up to lots of messages by many people telling me so, and I started shaking. I shook so hard because a girl used my words, my characters and labelled them as her work without a blink. It was the most terrible thing ever. I reported her but I knew it wasn't enough. I wrote her a long message. Tried not to give into my anger but I'm not sure if I managed.

That day was hell for me. It was just one freaking day, then she took it down, but it was enough to set me on fire. I couldn't focus on anything. And it was once again the same question: should I unpublish my works?

I didn't. I kept my works on this website because there was one thing that I love: I had more lovers than haters. I had supporters, views, and that made me going. By the time I was done with Butterfly Jars, it was around 250K reads and I started to compare myself with other writers.

You probably know how it feels—worthless, bad and discouraging. It's an illness that spreads in your veins. I still feel down when I compare myself to other writers. We all need to remind ourselves that Wattpad doesn't have a solid algorithm. Your follower count doesn't grow along with your reads or vice versa. Sometimes a writer who has less followers than you have more reads. It doesn't define your success or your talent in writing.

Another thing, DON'T BE AFRAID of trying new styles or plots or genres. I've been a drama/romance writer for so long. My readership has developed in that area and Baby Keeper is the book that topped my reads. Now, I am writing another book called Nobody, which contains mature themes and it doesn't gain reads as my other works. This got me worried and discouraged at first but I love writing it so why should I stop? This is the question you should ask yourself. My next project is a mystery/thriller and I'm planning on a vampire story, too. It's not weird to write different genres as well as it isn't boring to write the same genre all the time. Do what you feel confident in. Writing is the free world where you can be yourself and run your own world. Where no one can restrict you. Benefit from this privilege to the fullest.

I've seen many people who have incredible writing and imagination but have less than 10,000 reads. It doesn't mean they aren't successful—it means they are undiscovered gems. And now, in 2018, I want to raise awareness to them—to people who have been hiding in the depths of Wattpad, waiting to be discovered.

For this, we created a new project with my friend Mia (captainthorne) called iFindBook, in which we want to discover new talents in different topics and promote them. Maybe in the future, we can widen our purpose but it depends on how successful this will be. I'd be super glad if you checked it out and helped us discover new gems!

So, this is my Wattpad adventure. I sometimes feel happy, enough and content with my writing, with myself and sometimes I just want to drop it all and leave. It's pretty normal if you feel so. Just remind yourself why you're writing (for yourself or others?) and if your answer is the former, then keep going! You will get noticed one way or another.

Hope 2018 will be the year of people who deserve recognition!

Thanks for reading and I love you all.

If you need to talk, rant or just say hello, you can always reach me via my message board, PM or my Twitter (beautpanda).

With love,

Sev x

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