Science Fiction, The Struggling genre

@Parogar @TimMcFarlane ...nice words, guys ;) haha. i have enjoyed reading your conversation! @parogar, i agree that people usually only read when it is on the "whats hot" list-- i think the highest mine has climbed is #4? but i had reads pouring in then. if youre looking for votes, you have to advertise (either on the forums, or by getting on the whats hot list) and, you do have to remind the readers to vote. when im reading a book on my couch, i hardly ever stop between chapters and think, "hmm, that was a nice one" hahaa ;) i am as guilty as the next person at not voting on a longer story (my later chapters, even though they dont have as many reads, have an even fewer ratio of reads:votes). but, i agree--this is a wattpad problem, not just a scifi problem.

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A story of mine has over 300 reads, and 13 votes. So for about every ten people that read it, I get a vote (i figure). I agree that this is a problem. Thanks for the tips on solving it, I'll give it a try with my next update. As for the what's hot list...I think I reached #51 at one point. Getting up any higher seems far too amazing and impossible lol.

As for the voting problem...well, why don't we all (in this discussion) make more of an effort to vote on any chapters we like of any story we read? It might catch on, who knows?

Just a thought ^^

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@DarkestDreams26 One step ahead of you ;) it wouldn't surprise me if i had voted on 500 chapters already haha I vote on everything because it's a great way to encourage writers. Especially the ones that aren't writing vampire/warewolf romance stories haha

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@TimMcFarlane Sweet deal then ^^

Yeah, I'm sick of those as well. I dont mind vampire fiction, and I wouldnt mind a romance of it either. But no one seems able to pull it off. :\

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(Finally got caught up again in my forum) The big thing with the reads is as you have said before @TimMcFarlane @parishsp @DarkestDreams26 that the whats hot list is basically the main hunting grounds for readers. The werewolf/vamp/romace genre keeps getting so many reads because there are people that just read the genre because it is exactly that. They beleive that any book in that category will be good so they read it because its their first instinct. They dont take the time to look for anything good really

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@Leopold Exactly!

I got so fed up with complaining about vampire stories on here that I sat down and starting writing one myself. It has a pretty standard foundation, but I've found it's not that hard to make it unique and give it some twists. Doing so makes writing it more complicated, but a good writer loves a challenge.

On another note: has anyone been yelled at (basically) for writing Sci-Fi stories, and then other genres like Fantasy and Teen Romance? I had someone message me about it, saying that I was "betraying sci-fi" by writing in those other genres as well. I mean...I dont think it's true but...do people really see it that way? O.o

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@DarkestDreams26 Well yes, I've dabbled in almost every genre there is, I am even currently working on a historical fiction and people have yelled at me saying that I shouldnt jump around and just stick with only one genre, personally i think its a load of crap but whatever, people can say what they want, it doesnt make it true.

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@Leopold Wise words there!

I must say, Sci-Fi is actually pretty hard to write. You have to know your stuff and do some research to see if things are "scientifically possible".

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@dipsyz Well not always, you dont need a really long scientific explanation as to how something can happen, if you have something where it is like: If X is possible in the near future then we can use it for Y effect going on then it can be quite easy to explain

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@Leopold But it must be plausible. You can't have something that would defy science if you can't explain how it does so.

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@dipsyz Of course you are right. Thus, magic cannot be sci fi, it would be improbable, yet the quote on quote science fiction channel, has shows that are all about magic. It cannot really be explained in a science-like manner. Say, however, that it is not magic, but the human's brain power being unlocked by an experiment or supernatural phenomenon, then suddenly it moves into sci fi, not a big dividend of difference but it can make a world of change in plot of any book

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@Leopold Exactly.

Then, the writer must make the difference apparent in the story.

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@dipsyz Otherwise then the story would be at fault for an unstable plot line, some stories do. I have read several on Wattpad where they distinctly define the rules at the begging of their own book and then scramble them near the end. It makes the book rather random and questionable. Not the ideal read for some.

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@Leopold How so? Sorry.

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@DarkestDreams26 I would love to read your vampire story! ...maybe we should a "take back the vamps and weres movement" (it, of course, would need a catchier title).

@Leopold welcome back =) haha.

& @dipsyz i think your point about differentiating between science and magic is valid, but if you look at some of the best science fiction stories--shorts, especially--they are notorious for just naming something, and not only not telling you what that "something" does, but also not mentioning the science behind it. does that make sense?

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@dipsyz @Leopold @parishsp It's true they do that, which is weird because explaining that stuff isn't that hard. You just mix it in with what's currently happening in the story.

For example there's a weapon called a KickStick in my sci-fi story Protostigma. The name sort of tells you what it does, but during the action scene where its introduced I go on to show what it does, and also what it looks like. I think that's enough for most people, no scientific explanation needed. I didn't give one, but it didn't make it seem less possible. It's when you get into the way out there stuff that you actually need to put in some research.

But then again, a lot of things in Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is impossible, yet that didn't take away from the story.

I think it's a question of writing skill versus the type of story you're writing. If it's a goofy story, of course no one will care if the things in it are possible or not.

@parishsp And it sounds like a deal! I bet a few good sci-fi writers (or any kind of good wirters) could take back the vamps and weres no problem. ^^ We could call it "No Sparkling Allowed" lol. XD Or "Suck My Blood, Not My Face" haha. Oh man, i could have so much fun with that! And thanks, if you do decide to check out my vamp story. It's only the prologue so far, though. Right now I'm trying to focus on my newest sci-fi story The Last Lion, so my other stories dont see uploads as often.

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@DarkestDreams26

Yeah, but why would we want them? Scifi writers thrive on creativity, let the 12 year old girls have their sparkly vampires.

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@Parogar Aw, but they're so much FUN to mess around with! Having your main character be a cold blooded killer? Never boring. I think sci-fi writers thrive on a good challenge as well; how do you explain vampires? That's a challenge, if you want to explain it from a standing point of science.

Then again, that was somewhat covered by Daybreakers. But they didn't really explain how it all started, they only hinted.

I think vamps have yet to be truly tapped into. It has so many possibilities, yet everyone stops at hot and dangerous on this site. I'd love to read a story that turns the view of vamps on it's head.

And i WISH the readers of Twilight were all 12 year old girls. That way my fully grown MALE boyfriend wouldn't be a fan of one of my most hated books. -_-

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@DarkestDreams26

I just think that for Scifi stories to do well, we need to steer so far from cliche, that nothing resembles our stories. Then again, that's always impossible, our stories will ALWAYS resemble something. I've had so many people tell me that Psych Investigation Episodes reminds them of a combination of CSI and X-men that I no longer doubt it.

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@DarkestDreams26 it might not be that "hard" but sometimes it is not imperative to the story. it doesnt make sense to spend a full paragraph explaining a "whateverscifithing" if you arent going to come back to it, or if you dont want to interrupt the flow of your story. i also think a bit of "impossibility" is something that makes a scifi story ;) agreed that it is part skill.

& i know what you mean about trying to focus on your story! i am in a scifi smackdown competition right now, and my primary story is being seriously neglected. i was joking about the vampire take back, but it still could be fun ;)

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@Parogar ...i meant "taking them back" as in putting them back in their roles as satans spawn/killers; writing them back in to some solid scifi instead of paranormal romance ;)

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@parishsp

I understand what you mean, parish, I just think that there's no reason to bother with it. All we'd really end up doing (if we succeeded) was making vampires EVEN MORE popular, even if in their rightful place. I think that the best thing we can do in regard to vampires is ignore them.

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@Parogar Yeah, I get the same thing with my Protostigma story. Sounds like ff13, they say. It's only on chapter two, so I dont know how they could think that, but whatever. It happens. I do believe you're right, though. But I don't think vamps fit into sci-fi very well anyway. What sci-fi needs is to target a larger audience; young readers. The amount of young readers in the world is higher than ever, after all.

@parishsp Haha, yeah I know. I just like making up names for it. XD Any excuse to make fun of twilight, and I'll take it. I got nothing against the fans, but the books themselves are a whole other story.

Exactly! It's the important stories of mine that get neglected. The ones I write for fun get uploaded all the time. Weird how that works lol.

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@Parogar -- agreed! vamps wont be showing up in my work any time soon ...but that would also mean not complaining about them ;) no press is bad press!

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@DarkestDreams26

Ah, by the way, Darkest, I forgot to tell you when I was reading this thread earlier. The reason that your stories aren't getting many reads is because of how short they are.

I've been doing a lot of research into WHO is reading WHAT on wattpad, and I've discovered many things,. Primarily, there are five reasons why stories on wattpad go ignored, and your stories fall into reason #1. They're very well written stories, that are too short to draw device-reader attention.

What is a device-reader? The most IMPORTANT kind. The people who "really" read things on wattpad, are the people who don't post alot. They read stories for free from their mobile phones, nooks, kindles, tablets, ect... These people look for well-developed stories usually 100 pages or longer to sink their teeth into.

I know, because I've managed to contact many of my readers, and I've done a bit of research on why my story became as popular as it is. One of the first things they tell me is that the pitch (the description) looked interesting, and they saw that it was 120 pages at the time.

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