Watt’s the Big Idea?

In recent years independent and “print on demand” publishing has challenged the traditional publishing industry and opened a medium for thousands of “content creators” who self-publish and create their own work and make it available directly to their end consumer.  Popular culture tells us that anyone can become a YouTube sensation and quit their day job to do what they love. Of course, very few actually get that kind of traffic and ad revenue, but the fact remains that the internet has produced a very decentralized publishing format for a variety of mediums. One such medium, aimed at fiction writers rather than video producers, is Wattpad.

Wattpad is a relatively new platform for fiction writers to publish their work, and I’m giving it a go.  It is sort of like YouTube for writers insofar as anyone can publish their work, and if it becomes popular enough the “channel” can be monetized.  There is a large cache of work there, already categorized by genre, with contests and other incentives for both writers and readers.

I chose the username of “Ranger45” and this is where you’ll find me camped out on the Wattpad prairie. My first foray on Wattpad is “Law of Iron,” which is a short story built as a fictional retelling of the famous Marty Robbins’ song “Big Iron”. The original can be heard here:      www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzICMIu5zFY This song is set in a real Arizona town and features an Arizona Ranger in a showdown with a fictional outlaw.  I chose this song because it’s a tale of Arizona and so is close to my heart.  My short story “Law of Iron” retains the central plot structure of the original song with some of my own artistic license.  It is the premiere story in what will be a short series in which I revisit older narrative songs in fictive form.  Think of them as “cover versions,” transferring a song narrative into fiction.

I got a stock cover for “Law of Iron” through Capta, which is embedded in Wattpad’s platform, and I’m pretty happy with it. But I’m very excited to be collaborating with my artist son Ferno the Knight for future cover art, so look for those in upcoming stories.

Check out “Law of Iron” at Wattpad:
​www.wattpad.com/890601911-the-law-of-iron
Check out Ferno the Knight’s Twitch page at:
twitch.tv/ferno_the_knight