As of today, June 30, MODEL RICANS is ranking #1 out of 185 stories in Wattpad’s Futurism Category.
What does this mean?
First, it means I tagged my story with “futurism.” Why? The A.I. on Wattpad’s back-end auto-populated that category after I added “sci-fi” and “timetravel,” so I figured, hey — why not? The main character of MODEL RICANS time travels when she is stressed out, so hey, this is a “futurism” story.
Second, it means readers who are interested in this category are reading my story more than the other 185 stories in this category. Awesome!! But this data got me thinking…
Does the story truly belong in the futurism category?
To answer that question, I followed the scientific method: research the topic area, develop a hypothesis, test with experiment, analyze data, report conclusions. OK, so starting with the research:
Step 1: What are the other 185 stories in this category?
- BORN A REDHEAD opening sentence is FIRE. It literally takes place in the future, so I think that’s why it’s in the futurism category. Very honored to be included in this category with you, William King.
- ZERO offers a summary of the world in the opening chapter: “Displaced workers, a robot uprising, billions of lives lost.” It was published by Edward Mullen a year ago, and offers its futuristic/dystopian view of AI entering mainstream culture. Def cool, plus it is marked as a “Complete” novel, so I’m also very honored to be grouped with this title.
- THE MAN IN THE MACHINE, a Robocop fanfiction, also takes place in the future. I’m not really into fanfiction, but it must be noted as part of my research.
Seeing that the top 3 books all take place in the future, it seems like MODEL RICANS is mis-categorized. The first chapter is clearly marked: 1989. And somehow it is still ranking #1 in futurism. Will this confuse people? Apparently not if the story has been ranked #1 in that category for more than a week!
Step 2: Develop a hypothesis.
Hypothesis #1: Readers understand that MODEL RICANS is the origin story of a futurist, and this is why it’s #1 in the futurism category.
Hypothesis #2: Readers do not understand that “futurism” is not about futuristic worlds. Futurism is an Italian artistic and conceptual movement in the early 1900s. And a Russian movement of literature and visual arts.
Hypothesis #3: Readers have a different understanding of futurism than that of Italians in the early 1900s. If you type “futurism” into Google, the first link is Futurism.com, a media company based in NYC. The homepage story today is quite “futuristic:” Gizmodo and Kotaku Staff Furious After Owner Announces Move to AI Content. Every story is like an episode of Black Mirror starring Elon Musk.
Hypothesis #3: Readers see in the first chapter that there is a time travel element in this story, which fits into their idea of “futurism.”
While the other stories in the category take place in the future, and focus on what the world looks like in the future, I am focusing on a character who unconsciously thinks and lives “ahead of her time,” and the consequences of trying to survive in that state of mind. It’s also not clear if she is actually time traveling or if she is suffering from a mental health issue.
Sidenote: “Ahead of her time” is in quotes because my husband Tic gets annoyed when people say that. He even ironically titled one of his art pieces for City Arts in Orlando “Ahead of Your Time.” So, let’s be ironic like Tic…OMG, I love Tic’s beautiful, artistic, talented mind, I just want to say that right here, right now, so grateful that I get to be your wifey, and you’re my last hypothesis…
Hypothesis #4: Readers ABSOLUTELY love the book cover, illustrated by Tic Bowen, and have decided that his aesthetic of “goth meets futurism” is clickable. I know. That sounds very, very pretentious. 🙂
Step 3: Test with experiment
Ask followers: Does MODEL RICANS fit into the Futurism category on Wattpad? How do I test this?
- Post a braggy kind of post on Instagram that MODEL RICANS is #1 in the Futurism category (out of 185 stories).
- Post another braggy kind of post on Instagram that MODEL RICANS is also #1 in the Boricua category (out of 49 stories).
- Post a less braggy kind of post on Instagram that MODEL RICANS is #5 in the Borderline Personality Disorder Category (out of 1,000 stories).
Step 4: Analyze data
As of today, there are 203 reads, 8 votes, 15 chapters published. 9 more chapters to go, wrapping up all the unresolved conflicts introduced at the beginning of the book. Will the data show which category boosts these stats by end of July?
Step 5: Report conclusions.
Conclusion? Now that I’ve worked out the meaning of “futurism” for my specific story, I think it’s fine and dandy that MODEL RICANS is #1 in the Futurism category of Wattpad. But we shall see by the end of this month if that is accurate, especially as I post the final chapters of the story in July during Camp Nanowrimo.
I’m thinking the futurism, boricua, borderline personality disorder categories are a unique mash-up of genres that hopefully entertain while educating the Wattpad audience.