EDITORIAL PAGE
LET THEM WRITE.
– Augustin.
It seems that our collective shaming of today's form of modern literature manifests our toxic intellectual and cultural superiority. It is time that we question elitism in culture, and give the spotlight to writers of today's time.
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There is always this argument about generalizing Wattpad stories and other text-message fiction as "mababaw" and "jeje". From time to time, there are several posts about the stories published in this community - posts that criticize the plots, show dismay over how there are overrated writers who write usual cliche stories, and how they became unliterary.
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Wattpad has become a platform for letting people share their stories with their readers for free. It was also described as a “social media of its own - but with stories,” as it is very interactive with readers having the ability to leave comments, messages and creates a community that allows writers and readers to bond more. It has also opened the door for aspiring writers, who have difficulty receiving recognition.
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On the other hand, the idea of formatting an entire story through the use of fake social networking sites (SNS) apps have gained recent attention in social media. Twitter has always been the go-to platform to know #WhatsHappening at the moment. In fact, Filipinos worldwide seem to be hooked on a phenomenon that has been making the rounds in the Twitterverse lately.
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Since Twitter has its unique feature of having threads and replies, it makes Twitterserye—series or stories on Twitter that are more likely fan fiction, interactive, and convenient to the readers. One of the famous writers of this trend is ‘Along Espana’ author @gwyomi or Gwynette Jan Saludes who has around 300k followers. Up to this day, she has continued to inspire her readers to write as well using the same platform and proved that the 280-character limit is not a hindrance in creating a compelling story.
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Today, it is still evident that Filipinos’ ideas of literature are somewhat inspired by Western culture. It is instilled in Filipinos that literature should be foreign. And isn’t the concept of being “cultured” in a sense just another bad excuse to have a hierarchy in such things? Wattpad, Twitterserye, hugot culture, chick lit, komiks, and other popular forms of literature should not be deemed as low art.
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Elitism is the defense of a high-class group to create a sense of superiority toward people you do not share the same status. Elitism is feeling superior to most Filipinos because you went to America to study, or because you went to Canada for a vacation.
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At the end of the day, the digital age still appeals to most Filipino writers and has contributed a huge part in keeping the genre alive and well in the country. This community became a safe space for young writers and is still growing along with their skills, and an environment that allows these people in the process of discovering more of themselves. This has also helped the youth to develop a love for writing, inspiring them to become storytellers on their own and more importantly, share it online for everyone to enjoy.
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Popular fictionist and 2014 SEAWrite awardee Jun Cruz Reyes related that “Lahat ng panahon may juvenile generation. Ang Wattpad ay bersyon ng literature ng mga adolescent na may pambili ng load, may access sa net, may laptop at ang gustong kausap ay screen. Dahil sila ang nakararami sa populasyon, kaya napapansin sila.”
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“We'll go through readings that hook us because they are an extension of our secret teenage fantasies. I guess these stories are the same,” he added.
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In a tweet, Juan Miguel Severo, a multi-hyphenate: a poet, writer, screenwriter, playwright, and actor, has also shared his thought.
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"Marami namang nagsisimulang magbasa ng kalandian, muna bago magpakalalim. (At may kalandian na may lalim at malalim) na pinipili pa rin nilang magbasá sa bilis ng panahon ngayon ay mabuting bagay."
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An even better way to look at today’s form of modern literature is to examine its possibilities as a tool to modify our cultural landscape. Instead of dismissing it as a mere community that enables "kababawan", it should be seen as a gateway to engage readers to indulge themselves more in the field of literature.
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All things considered, it has paved the way to appreciate more of Philippine literature. It is true that literary appreciation in the country still has a long way to go, and it is a good thing to know that the youth is now starting to gain their interest to become storytellers.
IN THE LIFE OF SOCIAL MEDIA WRITERS
– K.J Baudelaire.
Every writer has a struggle to get over with. It’s either the writers themselves or the criticism the society gives. Despite that, it is pretty quite interesting how writing can stimulate the brain’s memories. Many scientists have done studies on how people understand reading and writing, with interesting results. They have found out about why such stories can help us remember information better than lists of facts and how our brains react to descriptive passages.
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Due to the fact given above, most people today use the internet to write stories and publish it through their social media accounts. The most used app is Wattpad: wherein people can read other’s works and write their own as well, according to their interest and publish it via their own account signed in the said app. But as time passed by, Wattpad became a worldwide trend due to the books written not just by famous writers themselves, but by the people who have hidden talents in writing. Wattpad made a way for people who wish to become better writers, as their works are to be read by other users of the app.
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Yet in the country Philippines nowadays, the majority of social media writers, especially Wattpad, are said to be focused on writing about one certain genre: Romance. But these writers do not simply concentrate on teaching about love, flirtation and such. Some stories may be based on others, or from their own personal experience.
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Wattpad writers, along with other social media writers have brought this society entertainment, and not just lessons. These fascinating works written by “soc-med” writers didn’t just bring the people the entertainment they needed, but an inspiration to become one of them, too. And if not, maybe they gave them the urge to have more interest in reading stories made by this kind of writers.
One example of a social media writer is user @KnightInBlack. He is a famous Wattpad writer, who wrote the famous book entitled “Hell University” which has 3 million reads and counting. This book and its prequel “Chasing Hell” has been outsold nationwide by Filipinos across the country. His other works contain romance with a bit of gore, and others contain thrillers and suspense. His work thrilled a lot of people and his concepts opened the eyes of the readers to somehow, much more unique scenarios.
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Another great example that I’m about to give you isn’t a Filipino, but could be persuading to readers out there; and that person is Anna Todd. She is an American author who wrote the After series. She started writing on Wattpad, and ended up becoming the #1 International and New York Times best selling author.
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In this case, not every Filipino writer coming from social media, teach only about things concerning love of a human being. Some Wattpad books with the genre romance could offer self-care, prioritization of one’s self, and much more to the readers and the writer himself. While Wattpad books with the genre gore, thriller, and such may offer uniqueness, creativity of graphics, and self-confidence which applies to the writer.
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They may teach about flirting, love, angst, but that’s just a part of the story itself. Each love story written by these writers will always have a lesson to each and every one of us because each story has different meanings. Whoever they are and whatever their story is about, still, they’ve worked hard enough to write it and publish it for the society to read it. Therefore, the works of social media writers SHOULD be a part of our country’s literature.
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There is always more to the story.
THE NEXT GENERATION OF PHILIPPINE LITERATURE
– Combative.
With our technology consistently advancing, the internet has been our go-to in times when we feel the need to be entertained or informed. Most people use the internet as a tool to share their works and improve their artistic abilities. Among all the websites existing on the internet, the most popular sites would be those related to writing. Since the internet is huge and is used across the globe, there is no doubt that writers would like to publish their works on websites or applications such as Wattpad in order to reach a massive audience.
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However, the most debatable thing to consider is to wether let these "seryes" be included in our literature in the Philippines or not. Some people insist that they shouldn't be included since most of these seryes only teach "kalandian" to its readers. Furthermore, this can also affect the younger ones' ways of thinking and their approach to love.
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Although most of the existing stories found on the internet and platforms, such as Twitter and Wattpad, revolve on the topic about love, these stories should be given a chance. First of all, not all of these seryes focus on "kalandian" but rather, some of these stories teach us that "love" shouldn't be taken lightly. Take Jonahmae Panen Pacala's, better known as Jonaxx, stories for example. Although her stories revolve around love, it doesn't merely teach falling in love with someone but rather, appreciating yourself first before involving yourself in a romantic relationship. This type of love can't be labeled as "kalandian" since it's only considered that way when love is rushed in the story.
Second, most of these stories should also be given a chance since they show the traits of a Filipino. If you read most of these seryes, you can see the words "po" and "opo" which embodies our culture. Another example would be "The President's Son" by Matilda Bratt. All the characters in the story are Filipino and to top it all, the main character, Samantha, shows traits of a Filipina. She is presented in the story as kind, a woman with etiquette, loving and friendly which are some of the traits of a Filipina. It would be really nice to support stories that promote our culture and values.
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Lastly, according to Wikipedia, literature most commonly refers to works of the creative imagination. All these online "seryes" we see have potential and still deserve to be recognized as literature. They should be recognized as such because they were the product of a creative writer's mind. Not every story can just be written out of the blue, they require the talent and creativity of a writer.
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Every person has their own unique talent. We shouldn't hinder them from doing what they love and should support them instead. These stories found online should be considered as part of our literature here in the Philippines since a number of them don't just focus on "kalandian" but rather give love a deeper meaning. We can then call these seryes the "Next Generation of Philippine Literature".
Illustrated by: Manlilimbag.
Social Media has been a part of today’s technological advancements, with Filipinos quickly adapting to the environment, it is no wonder that Philippines spend most of their time on social media. According to We Are Social and Hootsuite 2019 report, Philippines spend an average of ten hours and two minutes online. Social Media’s role in teaching its users has became more widespread with the emergence of applications like Wattpad, Twitter, Archive of our own (AO3), and Facebook, this are the users accessory to make anyone a writer and express their creativity.
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Some Filipino would like to believe that anything that is written on any platform regardless of the subject is still called literature. Literature does not pertain to published or printed books. It talks about the four main genre which is poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and drama. Works in Wattpad, Twitter, AO3, and Facebook has been a tool to provide writers more platform in sharing their works. Not all writers teaches “kalandian" on its readers rather it is the interpretation of readers on how they take in the works. Wattpad, Twitter, AO3, and Facebook made many undiscovered writers be put into the spotlight with their amazing pieces of literature.
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Writers dream of sharing their work free or paid to people, and since the emergence of Wattpad, Twitter, AO3, and Facebook many writers were able to share their works of literature and be known in the community. Wattpad writer Jonah Mae Pacalan or famously known as Jonaxx, now authors thirty six stories, the application made Jonaxx be able to share her stories freely to the people. The new update of Wattpad by making stories paid might have restricted readers to read freely, however there are still writers and applications like AO3, Twitter, and Facebook that let readers read their stories for free.
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Today’s social media content mostly centers on millennials, the applications targets teen audiences and up to read their stories. Works that focuses on fictional love stories are more favorable to the readers, which is why people generalize that those are the only stories writers make, however writers have specialization in different genres or depending on what genre they would want to write.
Readers interpretation of the stories they read has a big factor on what lesson they’re teaching, if some thinks that “kalandian" is the only thing they learn, other would take in the works as teaching them about life, family, love, friendship and a lot more things. The way readers would interpret the stories takes a big change on what would others expect from the stories. The fact that a story has a genre of fiction, nonfiction, drama, and poetry should already be considered as a literature, no matter what people would label them.
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Writers often share their stories to be known and express their ideas resulting to more literature works made. The expansion of literary works, proves to be great for gaining more knowledge not just in academics, but generally in life. Applications made the writers be known and share their literary works , therefore expanding literatures in the Philippines. According to a report made by United Nations, Philippines has the highest literacy rate, however there are still numbers of people who has problems with literacy, the application which provides literary works might be able to help more in solving their problem with literacy.
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Literature is a big part in growing as a person. Literature has four genre which is fiction, nonfiction, poetry, drama which writers has already presented in their work. It teaches everything we need to know about life, however because people generalize that you can only learn “kalandian" , it prevents people from learning the real lesson that writers would like to deliver through their literary pieces.
Anything that is published and written in the year 2000s per se may it be on digital or physical is considered as 21st century literature. The approach most author of this generation conduct is a dialogue reaction of an expressive culture, of course with a touch of digital ways. Long way gone the "Maria Clara" portrayal of a girl protagonist. Youths are hooked - up on reading stories especially on wattpad, where access to literally work are easier. Stories still tackle issues of significant human experiences such as family and love conflict of interest. However, the approach on how these are written is in a liberal and unfiltered way. In this essence, the language and tone commonly used does not follow the traditional way of writing.
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Exposing teens on a vulgar way of viewing situations particularly when it comes to love is the primary concern of elders who find reading wattpad stories as a bad take. And of course as they say, wattpad stories confines teenagers on a fantasy far away from the real world on an early age, but aren't all literally work does? A study conducted by Pianzola et. al (2020) shows that, teens who are more dedicated on reading teen fictions eventually learns to read classics and be able to judge not only emotional response of character's behaviour but also focusing more on contextualized interpretation of a text. Literature does not only stand with aesthetically pleasing reality but its one important reflection is the ideas and the feelings of the people at time of age. Why discredit an author and its works if it can give a beneficial impact to its readers?
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Stories written in wattpad does not have any greater difference to a printed book that you can avail on the bookstore. In fact, as the mass grew particularly fond on stories written in wattpad those digital stories are now published as physical copies and contributes to the economy that involves our literature. The steak difference of wattpad stories is mostly those stories does not undergo crucial judgements before being shared to the public, the sole responsibility is on the author himself. Not because a group of individuals finds the story just plainly about "kalandian" it means the other group sees the same. Issues tackled on books may be digital or printed are all the same it only matters on how the author writes and how a reader interprets.