Watty 2022 is here

The Necromancer's Lair
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Does anyone know what their attitude is towards using the same WP book, just republishing all chapters, vs starting a new book for the new draft?
I don’t see a point in keeping two drafts and I don’t want to throw away what the early draft gained.

I usually leave at least one chapter up so the book wouldn’t disappear from whatever reading list it’s on. Then once new chapters are up, I’d unpublish and publish that leftover chapter. I believe that resets the “started” date. But I wonder if WP would consider that cheating.

It’s just that expecting 2 years only disqualifies me from Wattys forever since I take longer than that.

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It doesn’t reset the date. You actually have to create a new story.

I don’t think they look that into it but I’m pretty sure it could lead to a lot of angry people if the participants found out someone cheated. Which could lead to cyber bullying, Wattpad removing you from the winners and revoking your winnings. I’d avoid it if I were you the risks don’t out-way the rewards.

The only way I think you could get away with it is if it’s so different from the original it seems like a new story.

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Yeah, you bring up good points.

And this very much discourages me from posting on Wattpad at all.

The whole appeal of WP is to get feedback on a new story idea which can be motivating to keep writing but it takes time to get from that initial idea to a brag-worthy manuscript that I’d want to enter for a contest.

I risk a lot by posting a finished draft online (theft, iffy first-publishing rights, etc). If to quality for a Watty I’d have to wait until I finish offline and couldn’t even get the advantage of the early feedback, then it’s not worth to post on WP at all.

That very remote chance of a Watty isn’t wort the risk. I work too hard for my stories to take a chance on them like that.

Feel free to skip my rant.

I’m feeling pretty sour about WP at the moment because they’re using all of us. We create the content for free and they profit from it all under the disguise of “giving us a chance of exposure.” Exposure doesn’t compensate me for years of work I put into my books.

And the chance of landing a paid deal is so remote, it’s like a giant scam. Especially since very specific type of stories have a chance of landing a deal but they don’t tell you that, do they? They encourage you to publish everything you’ve got because that gives them the bragging rights, look at the variety we’ve got free for you.

I’m not sure about the future. I’ve invested a lot of time and effort on this platform and there’s a chance that in my future endeavors I’ll have a use for the tiny following I’ve gained, but being so out of control of my own success makes me want to pull the plug.

Something is seriously wrong with this picture.

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✧･ﾟ: * ✧･ﾟ:* If today, all you did was hold yourself together, I’m proud of you.✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ: *

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It is basically what it is. Some people write far slower than others and/or have longer books. So, to actually finish the book and work through the book in workshops etc, they need more than 2 years.

If that’s the case, if they want to shoot for Watty, their only chance is a new book with all the edits. It is not cheating, because they only enter this book once as a result. Basically, under the current rules, you can enter a book a maximum of 2 times. Obviously, you delete or rename the old copy.

Say, if I decided to rewrite Space Spinster, that’s what I would do.

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I’m just saying if people who lost found out I absolutely think it would go down that way as Wattpad would rather resolve the issue by retracting your win then deal with angry people who feel like you cheated because you purposely put something in a new draft to be able to qualify. Aka bending the rules.

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No, because it’s officially allowed. Like, nobody stops other people from workshopping and writing for years, then making the best, shiny draft and posting it for Wattys entry. They cheat no-one.

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Yeah, and I can understand why they want these kinds of rules because they don’t want to be swamped by the same entries year after year but rather focus mainly on a new crop of stories. But it does suck for people who take longer than that to finish their stories (but still want to post the start of the story to get feedback on early on).

But as you say, as long as the story hasn’t been entered before, and the original draft is removed, I hardly think it would count as cheating (because I think the rules is put in place to prevent people from entering the same story over and over).

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Exactly, the point of the rule is not to force everyone to pump each story in under 2 years. It is to avoid seeing How Alpha Forced Me to Love Him via Beating Me Tenderly for 10 years straight.

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That is a solid approach. My eternal problem is that my motive for writing things is to tear apart characters, and thereby has nothing to do with the category. Lmao

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#Watty2022 prep convo 5
Here’s what I did with my story to start my editing run.

Unlike with Kacy’s Haven, I know Raised by the Mafia inside-out and I’m happy with its overall structure–I just am, don’t ask me why, lol. I’m editing for a range of issues based on the already accumulated feedback (more on feedback gathering enterprise in another post).

So, instead of dividing the story, the first thing I did was to create a new cover.

It sounds like a waste of time with a tight deadline, but psychologically it helps me to refresh and reset.

I haven’t worked with the characters and events in Raised by the Mafia in many months. Such pause is great for editing without agonizing about every little change, but I need to get close to the story again. Hence, making the cover to reconnect.

Another thing is, for me, the major block to editing is that I’m not creating new content. Adding a new cover helps me to experience the same intoxication with the story as I have with a new book. Once the infatuation is back, there’s no tearing me away from editing.

Finally, while Raised by the Mafia wasn’t submitted to the Wattys last year, your book might have been. It still can be eligible this year again. In this case, taking another run at the cover, logline and summary is the best practice.

Quick Tip! Psst, Canva has premades for book covers that refresh often. I also find Smartmockups, Photogenic, Text Effects and giant collection of clip-art in Elements (handy for vector covers) a Godsend.

State tuned to see my process and tell me about yours!

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Had a chance to rewrite the logline today.

When her crime-family-approved fiancé brings home a battered prostitute, a hard-core mafia princess marries his ex-FBI nemesis only for revenge; but when the newlywed’s trap backfires on them in lawless mountains, she must overcome her mob baggage to save her unexpected love: her fake husband. (45 words)

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I gotta read that now

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Lol, don’t poke fun :slight_smile:

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Seriously, it’s a good logline

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Thank you! I felt I was at the point in my editing when I could use Save the Cat to do the logline. The blurb and the 500/1000 summaries will have to wait till I am done with the full edit though.

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I respect anyone who uses semicolons and colons in their loglines and summaries, even though people yell at me when I do the same.

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It’s in the template. I would happily do two sentences, but by whatever reason, the logline has to be one. So, it turns into one long sentence to fit in the necessary parts. I kinda don’t get it, but :man_shrugging: :person_shrugging:

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I guess I’ll also stick my “new” logline here in the spirit of mutual sharing:

A misguidedly idealistic high school student founds a club to teach his classmates philosophy; when it becomes a cult, he must change course before the whole school drinks the Kool-Aid.

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Crap… do we need a 500-word summary? I’m 40k into Lio and still dunno what’s going on in it.

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