So I may or may not have spent a few days in the forums recently and it scared the sh*t right out of me.
Why?
Simple, even though the forum is a 'genre' forum for werewolf writers there was little to ABSOLUTELY NO LOVE THERE.
The majority of the threads were opinions from self entitled people complaining about how the werewolf genre has literally gone to the pack, how every single story is complete and utter sh*t and how there is no originality.
But wait...just WAIT!
Those same people complaining either have extremely underexposed stories or write cliches themselves. Hypocritical AND salty writers in one thread, what could be better...right?
Well for starters, their blatant hate for a genre that they're clearly giving the time of day. Okay, I get it...I get that their hate and dislike is aimed at the writers that keep on producing cliche after cliche. But guess what? No one f*cking cares, there's a reason there are so many cliches in this genre and it simply is because your opinion doesn't matter.
People don't care that your opinion is against what they're writing because the demand for cliches is so high. If you think it isn't...well what are the top plots on the hot list? On the popular list? What is it?
If you're unwilling to admit it, I'll admit it for you.
IT'S CLICHES YOU KNOBHEADS!
I used to be one of those ranters, dredge up any post older than a few years and you'll find me ranting. But you know what? I realized I was only getting attention for myself, creating these little mobs of zombies tat were happy to have an outspoken person raise their concerns about the state of the werewolf genre.
My rants didn't help the genre, it didn't help new writers and it sure as f*ck didn't change anyones opinions of the werewolf genre in a way that would benefit it. In fact, it did the complete opposite.
People started leaving the forum, they stopped commenting and they stopped challenging. When people stop responding that's when the real problem occurs, and I don't mean the people who stop responding in favor of your opinion. I mean the people who stop responding that were against your opinion.
That's a sure fire way to kill a forum and it's happening time and again.
I decided to change, my opinions needed to change....my level of care and worry over something I couldn't influence needed to change. I wasn't a salty writer, I had been quite successful but I felt entitled to my sh*thouse opinions.
So all you ranters and ravers out there, take note of a few things.
#1: You can't influence the werewolf genre with your opinion, it's too big and people really don't give a sh*t what you have to say as a whole. A handful might care and share your opinion, but that's a tiny f*cking blip on the radar.
#2: Your constant ranting is killing the werewolf forum. When you get extremely vocal with your negative opinions and you try to force those opinions on others...those really genuine people leave the forum and you're left to stew in a pot of negativity with your potato head friends.
#3: Stop being a negative c*nt, no one lines the negativity and you're reflecting bad on the werewolf genre.
So if you're reading this and you're a serial ranter...put your effort and energy into something more useful.