Science Fiction, The Struggling genre

@pariship thanks for the info :D I'll have to check that out! I actually do have a sci-fi fic on my profile if you want to check it out, how about you? Are you a sci-fi write, reader, or both?

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@InhaletheRainbow both ;) ...my writing, however, is not as "serious" as most scifi. i tend to sway towards political novels, and therefore the dystopian (which falls under "science fiction," but obviously isnt star trek or anything). but at the same time i feel like im funny--haha, if thats even ok to say--and so you might could put me in the same writing styles as douglas adams. not that im as good as him, by any means, but im not at all refined.

i just posted a thread in "fantasy" asking for any good recommendations (on or off wattpad) for scifi or fantasy. you guys have any? ...i enjoy a good non-paranormal-romance-urban-fantasy ;)

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@parishsp I know what you mean. The sort of science fiction I write isn't like star trek either, haha. Although I LOVE Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and stories by Tom Holt, which are definitely on the nerdier side of the spectrum. When it comes to writing it I do more of the futuristic-dystopian thing myself, but as a fair warning, there tends to be an awful lot of crude humor and sarcasm, because I enjoy making myself laugh XD. As for fantasy, I haven't found any on this site I really liked yet and can remember off the top of my head. I'm more into the traditional type of fantasy with a little uniqueness to it. (I LOVED the Inheritance series). I'm also writing a fantasy, which I noticed I have a completely different voice for. It's a more serious tone, whereas when I write science fiction I tend to be a little crude and just let my funny side run wild. But Fantasy and sci-fi are my two favorite genres to read and write most definitely :D

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I've noticed a lot of WattPad stories are marked incorrectly as far as genre goes, though. That might play a part in it. For example I didn't know what genre my The Last Lion story fell under, so I marked it as sci-fi/teen fiction, when it could hardly be called sci-fi (at least not the kind anyone thinks of when it comes to that genre).

A good book outside of wattpad would have to be the Chaos Walking series by Patrick Ness. Very sci-fi, though not over powering. It's something anyone could enjoy reading. For example the main character is a teenage boy, and I'm a chick - I still loved all those books. Patrick Ness is just awesome like that, though. The first line of the first book is what pulled me in.

"The first thing you learn when yer dog can talk, is that dogs ain't got much to say. About nothin.

"Need poop, Todd!"

"Shut up, Machiiee."

"Poop Todd! Poop!"

"I said shut up!"

See? An epic start, if there ever was one. ^^

@parishsp

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To add to the above comment -

That dog is awesome! Just had to say that...

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@DarkestDreams26 tht reminds me of the iron Druid series by Kevin hearne. there, too, is a talking dog. but he loves bacon. those are good urban fantasy of you ever want to check them out.

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@parishsp I probably will, I'm running low on good books I haven't read yet. My reading list used to be miles long, but in the last few months I haven't found any books worth adding to it. :\ Thanks ^^

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Okay, actually, vampires had multiple "forms" before Twilight. One was the ruthless killer, but one also seduced their victims and then but them. But there was no sparkling or anything dumb like that...but also we sort of paved the way for that to happen by making these seductive vamps. And how are werewolves and vampires sci-fi?

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@iFantastic Depends on how you write them. Vampires and Werewolves could be a creation of mankind, a sickness, and so on. At that point I would consider them sci-fi with a horror sub genre. Fantasy vamps and horror vamps (werewolves too) are completely different in the sense of how they came to be. At least that's how I've always seen it.

But I agree with you, there were authors who really paved the way for Myers and those who followed her.

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On that note - I know of a writer who created a new name for vamps because the ones in her story were more terrifying beasts than they were humans, and she didnt want to upset the fans of twilight vamps. If you look at it like that then I say let them have vamps and werewolves. It's easy to call them something else, after all, and a bit more original too.

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To be honest, I don't get why so many of the awesome scifi stories on here aren't getting any reads. My story gets about 20k a day, and it's not even that good!

I don't think it's that people aren't reading scifi on here, because I almost never advertised mine and it got tons of reads, so it might just be a matter of luck.

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I find it interesting that people on this site consider vampire and werewolf stories sci-fi. I always thought they fit into the horror category before everyone wanted to date them. I personally think that most good sci-fi writers have gone down the electronic media avenue. There is a hunger in the film industry for anything and everything sci-fi, as they know that it isa multiple viewing niche. I also think the demise of the space program has impacted on reader interest. I think it is the duty of all sci-fi writers to foist their genre on readers. I wrote a short story sci-fi and I have advertised and promoted it as hard as could and the most common comment is "I don't read stuff like this but I like it." Instead of lamenting the age of Wattpad readers. Embrace the chance to make teens read sci-fi. Go forth and conquer!

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@Parogar That's not just sci-fi, but every genre. I've found some really awesome stories on here, and most have little to no reads. Wattpad is game of luck, I would have to agree.

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@AlexisSims I try not to write with any sort of fan base in mind lol. But wattpad requires you to list a genre, which I'm not used to having to do with my stories. As I said before i think a lot of stories on wattpad (my own included) are listed wrong. I think that's why a lot of the great ones fall through the cracks.

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@DarkestDreams26

It seems like the best way to get your stuff read is to just be friends with everyone and post on the forums a lot. Generally your friends and people that talk to you on the forums will check out your profile and if any stories interest them they will read it. Hopefully you can find ones of those crazy people that will recommend your story to everyone they meet haha

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@DarkestDreams26 @TimMcFarlane

No, see that's the misconception. The people who are active on the website are NOT the readers. In fact, most people don't like reading at a computer.

90% of the people here to READ stories, do so on their phones tablets, and other devices, and they only find your story when it's on the what's hot list. If you can't get your story to within the top #15 or so in your genre, then you'll never get tons of reads. It's for this reason promoting exists, the votes from other people here can push it up to that point, and then after that it's in the reader's hands.

I actually did an article on why people don't get reads today, for the SYS club. http://www.wattpad.com/3804999-reasons-why-you%27re-not-getting-reads-for-the-sys

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@Parogar

I was lucky enough to get mine up to the top 10 but when it comes to votes look no further than friends.

I, also, am a reader from my phone and the app is tough to search for stories on. The best way to work that is look for people while on the computer, fan them, then call up their work from the "My Profile" screen

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@TimMcFarlane

holy crap, 80k views and they've ONLY given you 200 votes? Wow, that's really not nice. Well, you could always try doing what I did. I went with the honest route. I left an author's note one chapter, and I'll copy and paste what I wrote. Let me pull it up.

AN: (My promise to you: I will never, ever, ever, require votes as a condition for me to keep posting, as so many other authors here do. There will never come a time where you will be forced to vote. That being said, it would mean the world to me if you could vote if you liked this chapter. I've been getting fewer and fewer votes, and I wonder if it's because people are liking this less. My last chapter has over a thousand reads, and only 15 votes, and I wonder if it's because people are losing interest. Please vote (ONLY IF YOU LIKED)

^^ Since then I get way more votes. In fact, right now I'm #1 in both Scifi AND Fantasy!

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@Parogar

I was hoping it would have to come to posting that but it seems I'm going to have too. Maybe you'll be seeing my story hovering around number 2 or 3 soon ;) haha

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@TimMcFarlane

Just make it clear that you will NEVER EVER force them (and mean it) to vote.

Point out how all the popular authors on here are always forcing people to vote, and you don't do it, and your story is hurting as a result. People will understand.

I meant what I said, though. I will never ever force people to vote, I'll always continue to update, but I will always also appreciate the votes.

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@Parogar Have to say i've never seen people ransoming there stories to votes, on youtube i've seen it with likes but they were just simple things like video games walkthroughs. The user would still upload it, but if they got enough likes they would upload it the same day rather than the next.

Do people seriously hold there stories to ransom? I cant get my head around the logic to do that =/

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@TheRobot

Well I just had a look at your library, Robot, and you're into the kind of stuff with authors that woulnd't do that.

Try looking at some of the chapters at the tops of the romance, humor, or fantasy lists, and you'll see.

"Will update when I get 300 votes"

Many of the stories on the fantasy list do that. Speaking of which, I'm still shocked that I climbed to #1, I never thought I would make it that far!

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@Parogar

I just did a simple authors note on my new uploaded chapter of my story thanking everyone for their votes and comments and that every vote drove me to make the story better. I didn't want it too come off as forcing them at all. I believe a person should vote if they like the story not because they have too.

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@TimMcFarlane

Yeah, of course that's the right way of doing it! I hope to see you next to me on the list soon... just don't take my #1 spot!! I've had it for like a month now, lol. I usually lose it for a day or two whenever I update, and the short stories that have been there for MONTHS take it back, and then I usually get i back soon after.

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@Parogar And also, congrats to you being Double #1. Your story is on my list to read in the future :)

haha I won't take your number 1 spot. I'm a top 10 guy at best

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