Why On Wattpad

I haven't been writing for ages it seems. And the new interface of Blogspot threw me off a little. I don't have any plans of putting out a blog since the pandemic and the nationwide quarantine has started. Because of the drastic changes brought about by the Coronavirus, my life and my creative inspirations seemingly has been off tangent and been swerving aimlessly.

I drown myself in books during the first few months of quarantine. I was able to finish reading an average of ten to twelve books a month and found a few of my new favorites with the likes of Uzumaki by Junji Ito, The End of the End of Everything by Dale Bailey and Sour Candy by Kealan Patrick Burke. 

As I found new ways of entertaining myself by not just sticking to the physical books that I own, I turned to books and stories that can be read online. During this scavenging process, I came across a comment from a YouTube channel I'm following that an online streaming mini-series, Mga Batang Poz, adapted from a novel by Segundo Matias, has an un-edited version that can be read online via Wattpad.

It became an eye-opener for me. I once shunned Wattpad as a type of literature that I wouldn't fall for. I deemed it too cute, too cheesy, too juvenile. Not the kind of reading materials that I would find myself invested in. But after I learned that a formidable writer of Matias' caliber would write for Wattpad made me change my perspective entirely. Upon further snooping, not only Matias has works published on this site. Even Tagalog pocketbooks and Pinoy komiks writer turned TV and movie writer RJ Nuevas even has an 'un-completed' story published on Wattpad. Bob Ong's Bakit Baligtad Magbasa Ng LibroAng Mga Pilipino was currently published on Wattpad as well as a number of his essays can be found under his Wattpad handle. Bob Ong also published a very inspiring note on Wattpad encouraging aspiring writers to pursue their dreams of writing their own story and gave a handful of pointers on how to hone the craft.

I posted the first chapter of my story Pinakatatagong Lihim on Wattpad back in September 2019. The story itself wasn't finish yet then. Pinakatatagong Lihim was conceptualized in February 2011. I initially wanted to write a novella about an innocent, naive lass who have been plunged to a very scandalous situation that led her to change her aura and persona. I intend it to be a supernatural romance but upon coming back to the story almost ten years later the supernatural angle doesn't deem fit to the story anymore. 

After posting the first chapter, I forgot about it until last August when I discovered Segundo Matias and company have also published some of their works via Wattpad. That propelled me to go back to the story and finish this bittersweet tale once and for all.

Going back to the story I've written years before indeed felt such a herculean task. For one, I'm not sure I'm still cut out for it. I thought I've already lost touch with my skills of writing prose. I did wrote a number of short novels during my high school and college years. I never get to publish them however a few of my friends and buddies have read them and said encouraging things. I re-read my unfinished story at least three times to get acquainted again to the feel of the narrative and the characters I've written back in 2011 (which were the first two chapters and the first part of chapter three of this novel)  and started writing the story again around the second week of August of 2020.

I intended Pinakatatagong Lihim to be a novella-length but the story seems to have a mind of its own and decided it wanted to become a full-blown novel instead. Writing scenes after scenes in the course of two months was exhausting and at the same time fulfilling as well. Although it is a romance novel, I tried as much as I can to avoid cheesy lines and dialogues. I hope I was able to achieve that. I also intent to write more while still billeted inside our house and might dabble into the horror and thriller genres while I'm at it. Who knows? I may not have the luxury of time in doing this once I'm back working on a full nine hour shift.

I still have some of the stories I've written over the years kept on my "bin". I just don't know if I'll ever publish those online like what I did with Pinakatatagong Lihim. Probably after much rewriting since I might find them too cringy for public consumption if I re-read them now.

If you're interested in reading my short novel, you can click the Wattpad link here. Please feel free to leave a comment on the story whether you like it or what would be the areas of improvement with the story or narrative in general so I could incorporate that since I do intend to edit the novel constantly as I see it fit. Maybe then, I would have the courage to put this work of mine as an entry to the yearly Watty Awards come next year.