The Bad Boy Computer Programmer At Wattpad

IAN'S APARTMENT (Part 1)

**Ian**

Ian stood in the center of his one-bedroom apartment and stared at a giant corkboard hanging on the white wall over his dinette table. Filled with written inspirations and ideas, the corkboard contained everything from lines of code scribbled on scraps of paper to images of future hiking destinations. Focusing his attention on the center of the display where a Robin Williams' Mork from Ork quote was pinned, Ian read, 'I don't know how much value I have in this universe, but I do know that I've made a few people happier than they would have been without me, and as long as I know that, I'm as rich as I ever need to be.'

With hands on hips, Ian whispered, "How can we make people feel that richness with fictional stories?" Staring at some scribbled code, he pondered ways to get the right stories to the people who needed to read them most. Is Mouth right, he thought. Maybe separated communities on Wattpad would solve things. Because how in the hell do we make a site welcoming to Baby Boomers and Millennials--or relevant to Generation X and Generation Z? And that's just age variables. If you consider things like--.

A doorbell rang disrupting Ian's thoughts. He opened the door to find several bags of groceries dropped off by a local delivery service. Within minutes, he put the food items away and was back in front of his corkboard--searching for answers to questions he hadn't fully clarified in his mind. As the weather channel played on the TV in the background, a string of atmospheric percentages and probabilities influenced his subconscious. Ian was positive the answers he searched for could be computed. If OKCupid could produce the data to calculate love and happiness, surely he could find the statistical keys to revolutionize storytelling.

Frustrated by his inability to manifest a solution, Ian glanced around his minimalist living room, the décor slightly more personalized than a nice hotel room. As he scanned, his eyes came to a halt on his three roommates--Plant 1.0, Plant 2.0 and Plant 3.0. Drooped over in a most pathetic way, the vegetation appeared both hungover and desperately in need of a refreshing beverage.

Although he was as loyal and caring as any man could possibly be, the three plants were the only living things Ian had ever personally been responsible for--besides himself. A lifelong commitment to another person scared him. Bonded relationships of compromise and mutual investment for survival were outside his calculable comprehension. Another soul came with too many variables and uncertainties beyond Ian's control, and the unknowing nature of it all unsettled him.

Ian filled a pitcher with water in the kitchen, then proceeded towards Plant 1.0 located on a stand where the giant TV sat. As he moistened 1.0's soil, he scanned his collection of books and movies housed in an adjacent bookcase. Blade Runner. War of the Worlds. Indiana Jones. Metropolis. The Matrix. Planet of the Apes. Avatar. 2001: A Space Odyssey. The Dark Knight. Goonies. Spaceballs.

The world has always been influenced by fictional stories, Ian thought. A confusing mixture of enlightenment and disappointment bubbled up inside him. What are you innovating, exactly? Silence greeted his question.

Plant 2.0 was perched on a shelf across the room alongside mind games and brain teasers. Rubrics Cubes. Tangrams. Interlocking wooden block puzzles. Despite their varying levels of irritation and complexity, all were solvable. They were a physical representation of how Ian perceived the world--a collection of decipherable riddles containing hidden answers for the person diligent enough to decode them.

As Ian poured water into 2.0's pot, he reevaluated his true mission at Wattpad and beyond. Instead of vague ideas centered around changing the world with stories, he focused his attention on new methods in which fictional stories could be accessed worldwide. Traditional publishing and movies have limitations, Ian rationalized, glancing back at his shelf of movies and books. A huge percentage of the world will never have access to those. I want to make stories available to anyone who needs them.