Today's blog is brought to you as a result of a suggestion by my snarky "Welsh Corgi stage mom" friend (thanks Stacy). So yeah, what about those darn writers who always think they HAVE to rant about everything? Was that a hint that I just need to shut it and not go off on my daily tangent?
I will leave my tirades out of the equation today and turn to other writers' rants and raves. I dug around the Internet to see what other writers are complaining about these days.
I stumbled upon this bitter fellow who has a beef about characterization.
" You know what's more important than story?
Characterization.
I'd much rather read about a guy I like hanging out at Starbucks than someone doing something interesting who I don't give a sh** about."
Woah, simmer down there, Mike C. I'd hate to see you have a heart attack over characterization.
One of my favorite rants is "The Whispers and Warnings" section of one of my favorite freelance writing sites. http://writersweekly.com/whispers_and_warnings.php Ripped-off (and pissed off) writers email the site owner, Angela, about their bad experiences and she goes to town on these companies. Angela does give the company owners a chance to respond so it's not a complete rip-fest on the company/scammer. It's all done in a forum setting and quite civilized really. You can check it out on their site (and no, I'm not getting a cut from Writers Weekly--just a good site who puts writers first).
Angela is a relentless renegade (and a faithful advocate for writers) when it comes to busting scammers and loser companies who refuse to pay their writers, and won't honor contracts. I always wanted to be an investigative journalist so props go out to Angela for taking on these scoundrels. There are some tawdry, scumbag companies who try to weasel their way out of paying their writers (or copyright issues). Thanks to Angela she nails their slimy butts to the wall. Way to go, Angela!
One of my favorite sites for rants and raves is RipOffReport.com If you are mad at a company or feel you were scammed out of money, you can go there and let loose on anyone who did you wrong in the world. Although, you do have to have a legitimate claim and the comments are moderated. It's another alternative to the Better Business Bureau and you can see direct comments from other consumers. This site is for anyone (not just writers) but be careful that your "rant" doesn't backfire on you.
I'd like to share a very amusing "rant" from a writer who got caught plagiarizing (I'm sorry but Wikipedia does not count as "original" material). I was a part of this particular writing project and we were told that this person had been thrown off the project for "egregious plagiarizing." When the word "egregrious" is used by an editor, you know it's lights out for Wonder Boy. If you aren't familiar with the word "egregious", it means BAD, BAD, HORRIBLY BAD!
This doofus complained about the publishing company on RipOffReport.com and proceeded to include the email that the editor sent to him "outing" him as a plagiarizing fool. Smart move, Mr. Plagiarizer. You just showed the world what a complete moron you are AND just proved that you plagiarized your work. He was just mad because he finally got caught after ripping off other people's writing for years. No mo' writtin' for you! So kids listen up...take a lesson from this man and don't plagiarize your essays!
My friend Stacy brings up a good point. Do writers need to rant about EVERYTHING? It just makes us feel better. Us creative sorts work in mysterious ways, and we sometimes need an outlet lest our brains explode and our brain matter spatters across the Big S's wall (you know the one, that coffee chain that puts crack in their coffee so writers run foaming at the mouth for their next latte fix).
I don't need to rant about everything, but it does make life more interesting. Also, the name of my blog does have the word "tirade" in it. It would be false advertising if I didn't "rant" at least every other day on my blog.
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