Proud and unexpected. That was what Vanesa Marcella felt when her writing has been published when she was only 16 years old. At that time, Wattpad was a popular platform for teenagers who loved to write and read stories. Of course, Vanesa has become one of them.
She succeeds to write four stories on Wattpad, unfortunately only one story desired by the publisher. It’s called the "Friendzone".
In the beginning, Dila Maretihaqsari as an editor of Bentang Belia found Vanesa's stories on the Wattpad platform. Knew that the "Friendzone" story was very relatable to the teenagers those days, Dila decided to contact Vanesa.
"Because I thought the idea about Friendzone is quite interesting and relatable within life. Vanesa’s writing for me feels so real, exciting, and alive. It contains humor, romance, and some scenes in the novel are so thrilling. "
In 2016, Vanesa got an email from Bentang Belia who was a book publisher company. Doubt was the only thing that crossed her mind. Was it a scam? Immediately, Vanesa came to her parents and told them about the e-mail. Same as Vanesa, they had some doubts about it. However, Vanesa felt so sure about the offer, so she tried to reach out to Bintang Belia and they got an agreement.
Knowing that her writing will be published, her parents were shocked and proud of her at the same time. How amazing, they have such a young talented daughter. In the beginning, Vanesa only wrote for fun. But apparently, she became a writer. Her book, “Friendzone” is one of the bestselling books in town.
The trend of writing stories in Wattpad, making many publishers compete with each other to find the best writing to be published as a book. The method is considered easier than having a writing competition and filtering the incoming script.
Vanesa’s writing hobby turned out to be an extraordinary result. Her writing "Friendzone" has obtained the bestselling level with more than 10 times printed out, with a total of 3000 copies for one time printed out. Of course, the money from the sales of books is quite a lot for a 16 years old teenager.
It's not hard for Vanesa to write a story. The best ideas are usually coming out from when she is relaxing, whether while sleeping or in the bathroom. Also, the time management between school, study, and writing is not a problem for Vanesa. She only writes in her spare time.
However, it could not be denied that Vanessa also had some struggle with her writing, sometimes she did not know what to write. Although, she holds a great achievement.
