E. M. Rivera

**E. M. Rivera** (born May 3rd, 2003) is an 18-year old bilingual American novelist. She is currently beginning her career as a writer on the popular writing database called Wattpad. She specializes mainly in action, science fiction, and dystopian genres, although she also writes teen fiction, high fantasy, and romance novels. She began writing as a hobby when she was 7 years old, having developed a deep love for literature, and later focused on it as her future career at around 15 years old. Since then, she has been focusing on developing her writing skill and reaching a larger audience.

She has currently completed three novels: Orytron, which is the first installment in her science fiction series, The Orytron Trilogy, as a rough, rewritten draft of the first draft written at 15 years old; A Love-Hate Relationship, a stand-alone teen romcom novel; and Big Bros, the main book of a YA fiction duology. She is also working on three other novels: Eleven, the first installment of her autobiography series; and the first installment and prequel of a rising sci-fi dystopian series called The Roboscape Series. The books in question are Roboscape, the first installment, and Robotake, the prequel that centers around the deuteragonist of the first book. She has another book called Versus, a stand-alone action/sci-fi book divided into five sections, which she has left on hold for the time being due to a writer's block and the future rewrite of the story. She translates all her books into Spanish and publishes both language versions simultaneously on Wattpad.

## Early Life

Rivera was born on May 3rd, 2003 in Camden, New Jersey. Her parents describe her as a "miracle", since initially, her mother was confirmed to be incapable of having children due to a fibroid issue. She was born premature (her estimated birth date was July 30th, 2003 for full-term pregnancy) due to the lack of room for her body to grow during the pregnancy. She was raised Christian and now gives biblical messages through her novels, stating her firm belief in God.

Her mother spent her time reading to her from a young age, and by 2 years old, she was already capable of reading properly, though she still couldn't speak or read aloud very well. At the age of 4, she loved reading every book in sight. In kindergarten, she was sent to the first grade classroom because of her advanced reading, and she was named the "Librarian" in her school yearbook.

She grew up in Vineland, New Jersey and attended public school until the age of 6, when she and her parents moved to her mother's native country, Guatemala. She was initially bullied in school when she started first grade at a private bilingual school in Antigua, due to her lack of knowledge in Spanish, her "tiptoe problem" (a recurring tic that causes her to walk on her tiptoes instead of her heels), and the fact that she was from another country. She changed to a different private bilingual school for second grade, where she was also bullied and/or left out by her classmates until fourth grade, where she was finally accepted into the social group.

She won two English spelling bees in school and won second place in the Spanish spelling bee, as well as winning another English spelling bee held in a different school. Her spelling level was considered above average.

Due to the long distance from her home to the school, she switched to a closer private bilingual school for fifth grade in her neighboring town. After two months into the school year, she transferred to a private Christian school in her town, which was the first non-bilingual school she attended.

During fifth grade, Rivera was severely bullied by the kids in her class, and she even begged her parents to homeschool her or switch her to another. She suffered severe emotional damage from the treatment she received. In sixth grade, the emotional damage caused her grades to drop and for her to be constantly hollered at in class because of her irresponsibility and bad habit of daydreaming, especially when the teachers were talking. In the middle of the year, she and her mother had to leave to USA because of her dying grandmother, who passed away from lung cancer at 85, and she remained in the US until January of the next year, where she was sent homework online. Her uncle and aunt, who were housing her and her mother, refused to send her to public school in their area due to gangs and threats of ISIS.

In seventh grade, she started middle school, and lived a happier school life thanks to the worst of the bullies having left the school that year. She rekindled her relationship with some boys in her class that used to bully her, and received better treatment from the other kids. She was integrated into the school worship band as a soloist and backup singer during eighth, ninth, and tenth grade, but quit after the students making up the band graduated. She wrote a few practice books during that time, but did not pursue it as a career until ninth grade. At the end of ninth grade, she received her first pair of glasses, having been diagnosed with myopia from her mother's side. She remained in the Christian school until graduation in eleventh grade, and considered it her second home. In high school, she studied graphic design during tenth and eleventh grade, and graduated with the title.

Her Language teacher knows her mostly for her outstanding performance in her class and her advanced level of spelling; she often double-checked with her to verify the correct spelling for different words.

Rivera is now studying an English teaching major in San Carlos University (Universidad de San Carlos, USAC); since her country does not offer a career in creative writing, she saw the teaching career as her "only option". She started virtual classes in the college towards the end of January. After her first day, she described the experience as "different, exciting, and ambitious". She has had a good first impression from her teachers, and is especially excited about her Composition course, which is a writing course. She still hopes to move back to the States soon, and use the credits from her university to transfer to an American university, so she can study the career she truly wants. She states she is "praying for a miracle to get a scholarship to a good college", and experience American school life.

## Rising Career

At the age of 13, Rivera started writing various sample novels, such as *SuperNatural*, *Wings*, and *Madeleine*. At 15 years old, she discovered the writing database Wattpad, and proceeded to publish her rough drafts online. Over the years, she developed her writing skill and has started rewriting her old drafts, as well as writing new stories.

### The SuperNatural Series

**The SuperNatural Series** is an eight-book sci-fi series Rivera started writing at the age of 13. She completed two books before scrapping them and deciding to rewrite them at the age of 16. She has started rewriting the first installment, but has left it on hold for the time being.

The planned installments are:

**First Generation**

* SuperNatural
* AntiNatural
* ExtraNatural
* UnNatural

**Second Generation**

* JuniorNatural
* UltraNatural
* PsychoNatural
* ParaNatural

### The Orytron Trilogy

**The Orytron Trilogy** is a three-book sci-fi/action/dystopian series Rivera wrote at 15. She initially wrote the first two installments and started the third one before rewriting the first book and starting to rewrite the second book at 16. She finished the first book in May of 2020.

The planned installments are:

* Orytron
* Orytron: Elder Warrior
* Orytron: Planet Plague

Rivera plans to write a series of short stories detailing the main characters' lives in between and after the main trilogy. She also plans to write a prequel series that details the origins of Planet Orytron in the future.

### The Roboscape Series

**The Roboscape Series** is a four-book sci-fi/apocalyptic action thriller series Rivera started at 16. She initially started writing *Roboscape* as a stand-alone children's book when she was younger, but scrapped the idea and left it untouched for years. After she revisited the idea, she started developing the entire series. She is currently writing the first book and the prequel.

The planned installments are (in order of publication):

* Roboscape
* Robotake (prequel)
* Robokill
* Robocalypse (spin-off/second prequel)

### Versus

**Versus** is a five-part stand-alone action/sci-fi novel Rivera began at 16. It was supposed to be a high fantasy book, inspired by J. K Rowling's *Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire*, until the Wattpad story *The Gauntlet* and its' sequel *The Gauntlet: Iron Heart* written by Wattpad Star Jamie Harris inspired her to change it into a science fiction book. The book will contain 100 chapters (not counting bonuses) and is, by far, the most difficult of Rivera's works. Due to its' length, she split it into five different parts marking each section of the main character's life. The parts are composed of 20 chapters each and the story has been put on hold on Wattpad since May 12th, 2021.

* Part I: Preparation
* Part II: First Round
* Part III: Pressure
* Part IV: Change
* Part V: Final Showdown

At the moment, she has finished up to 83 chapters, and has left the fifth part of the book on hold due to a writer's block. She plans to rewrite the entire draft to improve the story and her characters.

### A Love-Hate Relationship

**A Love-Hate Relationship** is a stand-alone teen fiction romcom story Rivera began at 15. She left the book on hold until revisiting it at the age of 16. She rewrote the beginning chapters at 17 in order to fix the timeline (it initially was placed in November 2020-February 2021, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the set timeframe wouldn't make sense, so it was moved a year later), fix many inaccuracies in her high school setting (her lack of experience in an American public high school required her to research and interview real high school students to know what it's like), and make the story more realistic in accordance to an American teen's life and "not another clichéd Wattpad story". She finished the book on New Year's Eve of 2020, and published the book on Wattpad on February 14th, 2021. She is now publishing it every Sunday until Christmas.

She has considered a sequel to the book, but is leaving on a stand-alone for the time being.

Rivera asked high school students on Discord to guide her through the high school system, and also browsed the Internet to get ideas. She also grabbed ideas from the iconic 2004 film *Mean Girls*, this being the most realistic teen film she'd seen, and tried to make her characters real and relatable. She also had help from Rainbow Rowell's teen romance novel, *Eleanor & Park*. She states that "she knows that romance is kind of supposed to be clichéd, but she wants to make it a type of cliché that is still interesting, and not another Disney Channel Original Movie, or another bad boy-good girl story from Wattpad". This novel is the one that required the most research, since her private Guatemalan school differed a lot in terms of culture, scheduling, social groups, and curriculum from American public high schools.

Her inspiration for part of her main character was one of her best friends from South Carolina, who gave her the idea of making the character a ballet dancer on ice.

### The Rivera Diaries

**The Rivera Diaries** is a non-fiction autobiography novel series Rivera started at 16, but left on hold temporarily. The books are supposed to be based wholly on her life from 11 years old to her current age, with many changes to protect identities. The series is supposed to contain seven books from 11 to 18 years old. She writes the events in the books as she would any novel in order to keep it like a story and not an autobiography. She is currently working on the first installment.

The planned installments are:

* Eleven
* Twelve
* Thirteen
* Fourteen
* Fifteen
* Sixteen
* Seventeen
* Eighteen

### The Big Bros Duology

**The Big Bros Duology** is a teen fiction tragicomedy duology Rivera started at 17. She was inspired by many brother-sister novels on Wattpad and by her own desire of having an older brother or brothers. She also took inspiration from *My Sister's Keeper*, *Miracles from Heaven*, and her own experiences with family members with cancer, as well as her own experience with stomach infections and viruses. She was required to do research about stomach cancer and look up experiences with cancer, as well as research about foster care, foster care laws, and foster care abuse. She also did some minor research about American public high school, but had gathered enough knowledge from *A Love-Hate Relationship* to write her high school scenes accurately. She completed the book in March 2021 and plans to publish it on Christmas.

The planned installments are:

* Big Bros.
* Lil' Sis. (prequel)

Rivera is also planning a sci-fi dystopian novel called *Woman*. She also has a young adult, musical duology composed of two books called AKAPELLAS and AKAPELLA2 lined up (with, possibly, AKAP3LLAS, AK4PELLAS, and AKAPELLA5, depending on the success of the first two books), and another sci-fi book in mind called *Terminal Velocity* which is inspired by the films *Jumanji,* *Ready Player One*, and *Wreck-It-Ralph*.

## Temporary Home on Wattpad

Rivera states that Wattpad will be home to her books until she has a stable audience and enough income as an adult to officially publish her books. She doesn't trust the opportunities Wattpad offers and sees it as "a mediocre way of achieving a career". She chose Wattpad as her official platform, since other websites don't offer the same user-friendly database that Wattpad does. She firmly states:

> "I chose Wattpad because it's basically the only choice I have. Other websites either require some shady contract, or don't have that many people in their fanbase. As embarrassed as I feel publishing my stories on this site, I don't see any other way to reach people, and even then, it's difficult; especially in a country like Guatemala that doesn't have many readers and doesn't even have a creative writing career in college."
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During the two years spent on Wattpad, Rivera has found most popular and featured stories to be "cliched, unoriginal, and nauseating", also noting that about 98% are romance novels based on "good girl and bad boy" premises. She dislikes the fact that many popular stories are purely erotica, and worries that many are being influenced to like toxic relationships, such as the popular novel series, *After* by Anna Todd. Though she didn't read the entire book, she read a couple pages on blogs shared by critics that also disliked the books and movies, and they were enough for her to know that the series depicts "a relationship you should definitely run from, but instead it's making people believe that it's normal", and despite the author's statement confirming that she wasn't *promoting* the relationship, Rivera sees that it's still influencing the "impressionable people that don't want to read anything but sex. These people are guaranteed to end up in a relationship just like in *After* and regret it afterward."

She also criticizes Wattpad's annual Watty Awards, which offers opportunities such as being published through Wattpad Books and being adapted into a film through Wattpad Studios. She quotes:

> "I honestly don't care if I win those awards or not. But I do care about the other novels that deserve the awards. I've read so many good books on Wattpad that either deserve an award but don't get it, or are amazing but don't have any readers. So many that blow my mind, and have been applied to the Wattys, but don't get anything. And I think, why? These people are so talented! Meanwhile, in the featured stories, there's another erotica or bad boy-good girl story written by some 13-year old that everyone's already seen. It's like Hallmark; the same plot in different movies."
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She believes that the Watty Awards are "a cheat", since they firmly state that anyone can win and that popularity isn't required for the awards, but every book that has won the awards is always popular, with at least over 20,000 reads. While some of the winners do deserve their awards, some of them are "just the same old trash being shoved down everyone's throats."
She also dislikes that opportunities like Wattpad Books and Wattpad Studios are limited to chance; the users have to wait until someone on the Wattpad staff decides to consider their story for publication or adaptation. She has done research on how to apply for these opportunities, only to find that there is no way to get the staff's attention to be considered or recognized. She has also researched steps on how to find a bigger audience, but doesn't reach hardly anyone despite following the steps indicated on Wattpad.

> "Wattpad doesn't even have like a form or something to send in their opportunities so we can have a chance. We basically have to sit there waiting for someone to stumble across our stories. And of course, it's obvious that the staff is biased; all they ever pick is the same old stuff. Been there, done that. Almost nothing original. And they're all popular, always with tens of thousands of reads, and they say popularity doesn't matter, supposedly. I've been on this platform for two years, and I only have one person that regularly reads my books, and that's hardly ever. What is this website's deal?"
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She expresses that if she did come across an opportunity on Wattpad, then she would "know the story is BAD, if they want to add it to their collection of rated-R Hallmark stories." She feels that being recognized solely for being a Wattpad writer is "embarrassing", since many people make fun of the published books and movie adaptations originating from the site, and see their stories as "mediocre". Many unsuccessful novels and films that are not from Wattpad, like *F the Prom* and *Tall Girl*, are often compared to Wattpad stories, which displays the idea that the public looks down on writers participating in the site.

She does, however, praise the customer service of the site; she strongly compliments the staff for being "hands-on" and "quick to fix any problem on the site". They are known to pay attention to reports about bugs, outages, scammers, and bullying, unlike many other social media platforms.

> "Unlike Facebook and YouTube, these guys actually do something about a problem. They delete accounts that are scamming or sexting, and they take care of any bug or glitch in the system. If I send a report, they're on it. That's something I really like; that they care about their users' accessibility to the site."
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She also counts Wattpad as an opportunity to make new friends online. For almost a year, she has been friends with another author, who is her only real reader, and because of that friendship, she was introduced to a Wattpad Discord server. She is grateful for the friendliness online and for the staff's ability to eliminate any toxicity within the community.

However, she does plan to either take down all her stories, or just leave the first drafts of the stories on her profile as soon as she grows her career and reaches an official publishing company, stating: "I'm not going to be known as some writer from Wattpad. I want to come from big companies and actual moviemaking studios who know what they're doing. I don't want to be a Netflix Original film or anything else mediocre. Even though people will know I started on Wattpad, at least they know I didn't stay there. Sure, it'll take *decades*, but the work will all be worth it."