Win a Watty Award With a Past Winner’s Proven Advice

Feeding Frenzy: Curse of the Necromancer Wins a Watty Award

Have you ever read a story on Wattpad and wondered if you could win a Watty Award? This post explains how I used serial fiction techniques to write a novel, finish it, and learn while practicing in public. Winning the Watty Award was just the icing on the cake. The real victory came from the discipline of posting a new chapter each week and reaching readers for the first time. This post updates the announcement I made in 2015.

Announcement

I can hardly believe my supernatural thriller won an HQ Love Award in The Wattys. This award is given to the handful of stories most read and recommended by the Wattpad staff. Wattpad holds the largest online writing competition in the world with a community of 40 million in 2015. In 2023, that number jumped to 90 million. Feeding Frenzy was selected from among 75,000 entries. It appeared on the Wattys list and earned a Wattys Winner badge.

“Each year with The Wattys, we celebrate our community and recognize the stories that have captured the hearts of millions of people around the world,” said Allen Lau, Wattpad CEO and co-founder. “We launched The Wattys in 2010 as a small writing contest. Today, it has grown into the world’s largest online writing contest, and it brings the entire Wattpad community together in celebration.”

Founded in 2006, Wattpad is a free app that lets people discover and share serialized stories… in over 50 languages. The company is based in Toronto.

(Wattpad.com)

Updated Advice for 2023

Don’t I sound enthusiastic? It’s a great feeling to win a Watty Award or any other writing prize, and reaching that goal is easier than you think. According to a survey in 2002, 81 percent of respondents wanted to write a book. That’s a lot of people, considering few ever do. It’s a daunting task, especially the first time, but breaking the book into serialized chapters can help.

On Wattpad, I learned to update regularly, cheered on by readers who commented and voted for my chapters. Whether you get into serial fiction or not, the steady cadence of one chapter per week diffuses the intimidating task of writing a novel. All it takes is 1500-2000 words per week, a quantity that most people can produce in a couple of hours.

Finishing the book puts you ahead of most people, who never finish, giving you a huge advantage to help win a Watty Award.

Tips to Win a Watty Award

My other tips include quality and making yourself happy. Write the book you want to read and keep up the suspense by leaving off each chapter with a cliffhanger. Wattpad readers adore cliffhangers which force them to check back for regular updates. Fans of your work will save your stories to get notifications each time you post a new chapter.

As a writer, the cliffhanger ending will hook you into the next chapter and spur you to resolve the suspense.

The best cliffhangers aren’t always a case of life-or-death jeopardy. Try a revelation that puts a spin on events, a character admitting a secret or vulnerability, a shocking surprise, or a juicy event like the moment before a kiss. Fans will read on to discover what happens next.

There’s a rhythm to cliffhangers which comes with practice. Sometimes the easiest thing to do is write to the end of the scene, back up a couple of paragraphs, and start a new chapter.

If you are ready to write serial fiction and try to win that Watty Award, you can find more tips in my recent Medium article. You’ll also see the gorgeous cover of my published novel.

Happy writing!