Salty Rants

Shady Wattpad Competitions

I never thought I'd have to rant about these, but with every day comes new disappointment. 

So here I am. 

I used to be a really big wimp about Wattpad competitions, and I avoided them like anti-vaxxers with measles. I'm one competitive bitch, so to me, it's all about winning. Okay maybe not 100% of the time, but I'd say that 99% of the time, I take part in a WP competition because I believe I have a shot at the crown—the other 1% is the rational me that does it for the experience, for the writing improvement (as if). 

Currently, my win to lose ratio is 1:3, which isn't bad if you ask me. Even though I may have lost more competitions than I've won, I don't feel too salty about it—I congratulate the winners and move on with my life. After all, it's just a WP competition that won't mean jack shit in the long-run.

But before I get to the part that made me hella salty the other day, I think it's important for me to differentiate between the different types of WP writing competitions.

~Prompt/challenges

These are the comps that ask you to write 500 words from scratch. You can't submit an already ongoing work—you have to come up with something completely new with the prompt you're given. These are a little tricky depending on what genres are your forte. If you're a natural at writing horror, being given a horror prompt is as like giving a math major basic addition and subtraction; it doesn't take too long for you to come up with something. But if you're more into the romance/chick lit genres, it may be a little hard for you to come up with something scary/gory/etc. simply because it's outside of  your comfort zone. 

I find these to be the best comps because you're pretty much given the leeway to write about anything, as long as it fits the prompt you're given. It also helps get those writing juices pumping through your brain—it's perfect for when you just don't feel like continuing Tiffany and Brandon's love story, or if you have enough writer's block to stop a village of authors.

~Submit your story competitions

In these competitions, you have to submit an already ongoing story of yours. You don't have to start from zero. You basically just put up your story, add the tags/sticker or whatever, sit back, and wait for the judging. I'm currently in a couple of these 'ongoing' ones where the winner still has to be announced—there's one particular competition that pissed me the fuck off, but again, that will come later.

The issue with these competitions is that with every competition comes a different judge and a different, subjective opinion. If the person who runs the competition claims that each work is judged objectively, then cry bullshit. Most often than not, judges will pick works that adhere to their personal interests, not based on how good it is. It's stupid, especially when the works that end up winning are always the ones with a storyline that has been repeated a thousand times, just with different characters. 

Plus, it kind of stings when your work isn't chosen over someone else's—your writing is your baby, and  as such, you tend to turn into a defensive mother when someone talks bad about it.

~Wattpad run competitions

Can be either of the two I've already mentioned. 

Prompt-writing: The OnceUponNow writing contest hosted by Target.

Submit your Story: The Wattys.

In these contests, the stakes are not only high, they're up there in the atmosphere. The prizes offered are more than the simple "15 votes for your story", "1 follow" lame crap that the lesser competitions can offer. With these bad boys, you can win a chance to get your entry PUBLISHED, your other works advertised, tons of stickers/sashes, and the like.