Monday 4 February 2013

On Filipino E-books

I guess you've all heard of Wattpad.
If you haven't, it's a website that hosts stories made by their members, whether they be original or fanfiction.
Basically, everybody who's been on Fanfiction.net moved to Wattpad, so thanks to Wattpad, Fanfiction.net is pretty empty.
Anyway, a large number of Wattpad users are, not-so surprisingly, Filipinos! They've coined the term 'Wattpaders' for themselves, and most of their stories are written in popular Tagalog/Filipino, the kind of language used in everyday conversations.
Most of the stories are actually read via phone and are called 'e-books', which are actually just different text files (like PDF, .doc, and .txt files) of the whole story. They are then read via cellphone or whatever electronic device available.
How do these stories become so popular? Simple. They're shared via Bluetooth to one friend to another until the story gains so much popularity, it hurts.

Anyway, I actually have a thing for these Filipino e-books. They're kind of like a guilty pleasure of mine.
The stories are so light, and the narration so relatable, you can't stop reading.
But then there comes the part where authors need to have an editor for their stories.

I recently finished one e-book that I honestly thought was amazing until the ending. Everything was so good, so real and relatable, then- BAM! Stupid cliche events. Stupid plot twists that don't contribute to the growth of the story at all!
I felt so cheated! I was actually thinking "Man, these e-books are pretty funny. Sometimes they're better than all those really pricey novels", but I was so wrong! Just when I thought that I had found an alternative to my craving of Meg Cabot-ish chick lit, I was wrong.

These Filipino e-books are actually nice, if you turn a blind eye to everything cliche in them, and if you want a light read when you're commuting home. But trust me, if you're a fan of the written word, don't trade your novels for these babies just yet.

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