Unless you’ve been living under a rock or miraculously, you have everything you need, including water, electric and gas, for the next several years, you are probably getting hammered by stupidly high prices. I can tell you that I am completely fed up with this PAY PAY PAY society. And as fiction and freelance writers, its our job to write about these atrocities. However, it might be more difficult if you’re a fiction writer. There’s just a lot to unpack for a fiction plot.
What’s Wrong with Today’s Prices?
The GIMME GIMME GREEDY GREEDY Corporations Are Taking Our Last Dimes! I hate to break it to these whiny, toddler crying corporations, but there’s no money left. They are stealing people’s last dimes, and I’ve had it.
- 900 square foot homes in my area are going for $150k.
- The gas company is triple charging people.
- The electric company is double charging people.
- My (lot) rent has doubled in 9 years.
- My local grocery decided that the $5.69 18pk of eggs should be $7.99.
- We have to pay to file taxes. AKA: Pay to pay taxes. Seriously?
- We are taxed to hell and back. Sales tax, payroll tax, property tax. And for what?
We Are Just Getting Nickled and Dimed into Severe Poverty. How Can Anyone Get Ahead?
The truth is that we can’t get ahead, and that’s the problem. These companies are stealing money faster than anyone can make it because they need more. More. MORE!
I think they need less. Less. LESS!
Maybe they need to be the ones to stop buying all that coffee and avacado toast. Maybe they need to cancel their gym memberships and lower their insurance limits and get their goddamned hands out of my pockets. I’m so sick and tired of paying for shit that doesn’t enrich my life, and I bet you are too.
What Can You Write as a Freelance Writer?
As a freelance writer, you just need to pick a topic. For example, let’s say that you want to talk about the unaffordability of the housing market. In 1960, the average home cost just under $12,000 ($11,900) and was 1,200 square feet. That was roughly 2.1 times the median household income. That makes the median household income in 1960 $5,666 or $472 a month.
The average income today is $59,384, which is actually below what it should be when adjusted for inflation. The inflation rate from 1960 to 2024 is 963.5 percent. That means that if all things were the same, those individuals making $5,666 per year should be making $60,257 today, and the average house should cost $126,539.70. The average house in the USA right now costs $426,900 or 7.2 times more than the average annual salary. As a freelance writer, you can just keep going in your article or hit this topic from another angle in order to further illustrate the point that this is stupid.
What Can You Do as a Fiction Author?
This is a little more tricky. Unpacking all of this robbery by big businesses is a big task. Not to mention, a fiction book really can’t accommodate all of these themes. However, if you wanted to do a series based on greed and how big business promotes poverty, you could hit multiple topics and possibly all of them.
However, it’s best to start with something simple. Start by breaking it down. We’re basically talking about greed. We are talking about corporate greed. Now, think about how you want to hit that. If you’re having trouble breaking it down, that’s okay. It’s a big topic.
But if you have problems, think back to your childhood. What did you think then? Were you going to get a job and a car and drive the world? Were you going to finally have your own money and do everything you ever wanted to do? Like buy the biggest ice cream cone you possibly could? Or the largest container of fries?
What were you going to do for a living? Was everything going to be perfect after you got your degree or into your career field?
Going back to your childhood can help you simplify your thoughts so that you can create a plot for your book that isn’t too complicated for a single book. Now, if you plan to do a series, either chronological where each book comes after the last book or just a series that is a theme, like most mystery series, you can cover more topics.
We Really Need to Say that This Is Not Okay
You could even write your congressman and boycott the most expensive places. Even I’m doing the latter. When my grocery store raised the price of eggs by $3, I stopped going there, and I haven’t been back. I didn't even go back to get their $ 4-a-pound bacon. I am THAT fed up with it. I don’t think writing a congressman is going to help much in the short or even long term. It might help in the long long long long long term though.
So, let’s get these slice-of-life stories out there so that people today and in the future can understand what’s happening right now.
