INTRODUCTION

[ELDREIN]
*transate mo sa tagalog, basahin mo lang siya tapos saka mo isulat sa tagalog yu
ng naintindihan mo.*
yun lang :)
The Toronto-based, teen-centred, mobile-friendly, amateur-fiction publishing sit
e Wattpad is boasting impressive successes this year. Their engagement
measured
by number of posts and comments
has doubled. At the end of 2012, the number of u
ploads was around 10 million; it now stands at 30 million stories. More than 91,
000 new stories are shared on Wattpad each day. More than 7.5 million fan-fictio
n stories were posted in 2013. Last month alone Wattpad had 24 million unique vi
sitors. They say that at least one person from every single country in the world
has contributed something to Wattpad. The number of languages used by writers o
n the site has increased to more than 30.
Those who love and support Philippine contemporary literature are all familiar w
ith Eros Atalia. His published works enable us to see the extraordinary out of t
he ordinary. Although Eros could be a wee bit difficult sometimes for some bookl
overs to understand, putting so many thoughts in a small page, one cannot argue
that his fans keep on coming back for more.
why Eros Atalia conducts lectures all around the country. As a Filipino writer,
it is also his duty to change the filthy mentality of those Filipinos vying for
the wrong side. It is also the duty of the government, which is to help its citi
zen promote Philippine contemporary literature and intellectual growth besides t
he formal education. Everyone can point fingers. But most of all, the duty belon
gs to you.
There is no doubt that the remarkable name of Eros Atalia will never be erased f
rom Philippine Literature. But even if that ever happens, Eros Atalia minds not.
He is not afraid of new-generation-writers coming to fame and taking his place
in the limelight of novel writing. In fact, he encourages the youngsters to grow
fast as writers and replace their seniors.
That is why Eros does not seemed threatened at all with the coming of Wattpad, a
n online site and phone application where members can freely upload their storie
s for everyone to read. And Filipinos, being the number one consumers of social
networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, found love on this one as well.
Maganda ang Wattpad, dahil nade-decentralize ang power. Dati nasa kamay lang ng m
ga editorsat publishing houses kung sino ang pwede magsulat at sino ang pwede ma
-publish. Dahil saWattpad at e-books, nabawasan ang kapangyarihan ng mga nagsese
ntro, said Eros.
Wattpad is a new avenue for every Filipinos to read and write, but already, some
critics have raised their eyebrows on this growing application. Some says Wattp
ad promotes illiteracy. Some says Wattpad promotes story stereotyping. Some says
Wattpad will someday destroy the bookprinting industry. While all the claims remain unjustified, Eros still sees the
beauty behind the application.
Philippine literature has a new wave of books that quite interest the youth toda
y: Wattpad fiction. Wattpad is a website that allows its visitors to read and wr
ite novels, and the said books
such as She is Dating the Gangster, Diary ng Pang
et and Break the Casanova s Heart
were once published on the World Wide Web, befor
e they rose to phenomal fame. But then, while they DID capture the hearts of man
y teenagers today, others disdainfully remarked that those books are insults to
literature, particularly creative writing students and English majors. They clai
m that because of these books, Philippine literature is plunging into ultimate l
ows, what with the grammar, structure, style and not to mention, the content. Th
e latter is not substantial enough, they say, and that the plots are overly repe
titive: the underdog chances upon a bad boy, and unexpectedly, they turn out to

be an item.
Advances in technology promote the advent to freedom of publication. It breaks t
he boundaries made by editors and big publishing houses in the country that tend
to establish monopoly over the print industry. With the coming of Wattpad, the
once thick wall of domination cracks.