This is a chapter that I don't expect to go over too well with everyone. I wouldn't be surprised if I lose a few followers just by posting it, but I feel like it is something worth saying to the lot of Wattpad writers and the overwhelming base of teenagers that make up the majority of them.

Many teenagers are entitled. I know, I know, most of the adults and parents out here are treating this statement like I just said water was wet. Meanwhile, most teenagers are raging with indignation, claiming that it's the adults that are truly entitled. Then you have the young 20s, just out of the teenage age who think they're adults just close enough removed from teenagers to "get them". I'm just an old fart that has long sense grown out of touch with this generation, what with your smart phones, and your touch screens, and your loud music.

The major point I want to touch on in this particular article is an attitude amongst some of the writers on here that I've run into from time to time. That is the attitude that you deserve more.

The conversations usually run something like this:

Me: I really think you handled this bad, I really think that could have been written better, this part needs improvement. The grammar was shotty. Their is room for improvement.

Teenager: Well, It's there, not their, so clearly you aren't as qualified as much as you think to criticize my work!

Me: I'm 30, earning my doctorate, with published scientific work that I've earned awards for. I think my opinion is valid here.

Teenager: I don't care about your education. I write as good as people twice my age! My writing should be published as easily as any 25 year olds! It's only not because people don't respect teens!

Now, clearly the teenager in this scenario isn't taking criticism all too well. I have a chapter on that if you'd like to read it. However, it's really the last statement here I want to focus on.

I recall a few years ago getting into a big argument with a large heaping of 16 year olds (because that doesn't speak to how sad and pathetic an individual I am) on the grounds of that last comment. Many teenagers believe that their writing should be taken on their writing's merit alone, and that that merit easily equals those of an average adult based on their limited experience on Wattpad.

"There are 30-something year olds whom write like crap! Therefore, if I don't write like crap, then I must equal to the capacity of a 30 year old!"... the logic seems to go.

Naturally, this philosophy goes much deeper down the rabbit hole. It is not abnormal for teenagers to think they know everything. They are developing into adulthood. They'll be getting hair in places they never had hair before, learning about things that had previously not learned about, and thinking they know more than their adult counterparts.

Some will learn exactly how stupid adults can be, and then globally decide that if adults are stupid, then that somehow means kids are actually smart. The fact that these teenagers will one day be adults, and to become stupider would literally involve them forgetting or unlearning large quantities of what they already know seems to go beyond them.

There are shows that even capitalize this: Peter Pan and his continuing battle against adults. Are you smarter than a 5th grader? The resounding answer seems to be that adults are not. Although most of us realize that there is a large range of "intelligences" that can't be measured by IQ tests or grammar scores, however, that doesn't seem to factor into this logic.

So that brings us back to the entitlement. The internet happens to be the great equalizer of all things. It's a place where a doctoral student can have an argument with a 13 year old girl on whether her One Direction fan fiction deserves praise. It's a place where experts and non-experts get lumped in together and every opinion, no matter how asinine, is given weight.

When I grew up, the internet was in its infancy. I didn't post works on line or even write all that much, because word processors were in their infancy, spell check was barely existent, and websites like this one were hard to come by. However, I imagine if I had access to these tools, I might have started writing in the same way you guys have, and in much the same demeanor. Of course, that doesn't mean we're right, does it?

One thing that always amused me is that a student will defer to her English teacher in all things. When having arguments from others, they'll quote things their teachers told them and use it as definitive "proof" that the world is one way or another... and they'll carry on this argument against someone who might be considered an English teacher's equal.

And then they'll get confused... and I don't blame them. Adults don't agree on things. Even teachers don't agree on things. Yet teachers try to create a unified front. We come up with common core and teachers will refuse to take criticism on "standard" knowledge, especially when that criticism is delivered by a student, no matter how wrong the teacher's opinion may be. We don't teach students to be self-thinkers, we teach them to be automatons regurgitating information that are more often than not "interpretations" given by someone who didn't necessarily understand the material themselves.

And as you grow, you learn that most of the things you thought you "knew" were wrong. The Newtonian theory of gravity isn't always true. Your blood isn't blue only to turn red when it "hits the air". Textbooks rarely are written by the people whose names are on the cover, and are usually selected less on your best interests and more on a series of political maneuvers, bribes, and laziness.

As you realize this, you come to conclusions where you convince yourself that you're better than everyone else. You're different. You're unique. Your story is unique. Your writing is unique. You are smart. You read a badly written fanfiction and that just makes you feel like you're on the right track. You see that the person who wrote it is a 20 year old and suddenly you're better than 20 year olds.

And it builds, and it builds, and it builds until you become entitled. You not only think you're better than your elders... you think that you deserve to be better than your elders.

However, at the end of the day, the one thing that the entitled doesn't realize is that everything has to be earned. Respect has to be earned. Quality of writing has to be earned. Trust has to be earned. Publications must be earned. Doctorates must be earned. Everything, everywhere, needs to be earned.

And frankly, a 16 year old has not lived long enough to have earned it yet. You're too young to be an expert. Enough years simply haven't passed. I always find it strange that 16 year olds are insulted by not being given respect that they haven't earned. While at the same time, claiming their writing is as good as a 30 year olds can be taken the exact opposite way... they're telling a 30 year old that their writing is as crappy as a 16 year olds. It's equally insulting.

That doesn't mean there aren't 30 year olds who have yet to grow, mature, and evolve enough to be great writers. That also doesn't mean there aren't 16 year olds who have grown, matured, and evolved enough early on that they can be considered great writers. It simply means that you're putting your cart before your horse.

Growing up takes time. It does. And no matter how mature you think you are, you could use more maturing. If it's not in your writing style, it's in your capacity to take criticism, if it's not in your capacity to take criticism, then it is in how you develop interpersonal relationships, if it isn't in how you develop interpersonal relationships, it's how you present yourself in front of others.

Either way, it takes time to develop. It takes time to grow. And even if you're the best of the best, you have to spend that time earning your place. Either by going to school and earning degrees, or publishing work, or winning awards. You need to build up your CV (resume for professionals), and you need to build up your experience.

Experience trumps everything. This is how the world works. You don't have experience. No matter how awesome and great you are, there is a very good chance you won't start out working an ideal job. The better part of most of your first jobs will be at some fast food restaurant or something else. You'll earn work experience, then you'll move on to the next thing, crawling up the ladder of success. Even Einstein was a copy writer before he became a world renowned physicist.

Many a college graduate become shell shocked when they graduate and realize that can't start working their ideal six figure job. Turns out, you need a lot of experience. You need to grow to the point where companies can trust you with the bigger supervisory roles.

Now, the main argument I hear against this is a finger at Christopher Paolini, the writer of Eragon, the book made into a movie that managed to publish at the young age of only 17. Apparently, because he managed to do a thing, that somehow makes that thing doable for all people.

First off, Chris's parents were editors. If the kid of a football player ends up in the rose bowl in a college football team... you can't exactly be surprised. Clearly the parents had a giant roll in his capacity, his drive, and the fine details of how to do this. Even with that going for him, his parents self-published the story before it got picked up by another publisher. This could just have easily been a disaster or a forgettable event. Like, for example, Rebecca Black, whose parents paid for her to self-publish a music video, which became viral.

What I'm trying to get at is that this isn't a usual case. Chris, and most of the other authors that have managed to publish young, were incredibly lucky. And really, you need to not bank your future on the equivalent of winning the lottery. It's unlikely to happen... and the time you spend thinking about how great an author you are and how you "deserve" to be treated like an adult, you could spend practicing your craft, so when you actually become an adult you can be an amazing one.

I don't write this overly long essay to be harsh. I write instead to keep your future in perspective. Your young, and you have the time to develop and think. The adult world is a harsh, critical place, and Wattpad is not representative of the adult world. So think about your future, grow, and learn. Use the practice and the lessons here and take them with you to adulthood. Don't presume you already are as good as any adult. Most of all, keep writing, keep growing, and keep learning... and that's a lesson for everyone. I'm not done growing up, and I'm not done learning, and I haven't even begun my writing career yet. You have the whole world in front of you, so don't be so eager to jump ahead, less you jump right off a cliff.

I also warn against the double standard that forms from this entitlement. The idea that you can compare your writing to adults, but when people criticize your writing by comparing it to adults, suddenly you're just a kid again and they should just lay off. You didn't even write it for them, they're not like your target audience!

Being entitled ends up hurting you. That kind of belief that you're better than people who have been at this 20 years longer than you have will just crush you when you try to compete with them. The only person you should be competing with is yourself. Make the person you are tomorrow better than the person you are today, and earn the respect from others rather than demand it, by force of will, by trying, and by showing your work... work that is criticized right alongside every adults.