Richard Brittain is a self-published amateur writer. He’s also a felon.
Brittain, a 28-year-old man living in Great Britain, had posted an unfinished version of his current novel, The World Rose, on Wattpad, an app where writers can post their work for reviews.
Here’s Brittain’s description of his novel:
An epic fairytale romance set in a semi-fictional ancient world, containing elements of action, adventure, poetry and comedy. The title has a triple meaning: the central character is a renowned beauty – ‘the rose of the world’ – while the rose flower features heavily in the plot, and it also implies that the world rose up. When Ronwind Drake discovers treasures in a distant paradise, a new golden age seems set to begin, but Ella Tundra will find that all which glitters is not gold as she faces many obstacles in her quest for true love.
Brittain claimed in his blog that he had received “remarkable” responses to his novel, and “was compared to Dickens, Shakespeare, Rowling, Raymond E. Feist and Nora Roberts.”
One reader, teenager Paige Rolland, disagreed. Here’s a harsh excerpt from her lengthy review, visible in its entirety on Amazon:
As a reader, I’m bored out of my skull and severely disappointed in what I might have paid for. As a writer (albeit an amateur one) I’m appalled that anyone would think this was worthy of money.
Not only does it begin with “once upon a time” which you could argue is perfect as this is a fairytale (and it doesn’t work, it’s incredibly pretentious), but it’s filled with many writing no-nos. Way too much telling, pretentious prose, and a main character that I already hate. Ella is the perfect princess (true to fairytales, so we can at least give him a little credit despite how painfully annoying this is coupled with a complete lack of real personality shining through).
Brittain was, to put it lightly, not pleased with Rolland’s feedback. He found her Facebook page, discovered that she lived in Scotland, and tracked down her workplace, which was 500 miles from his home in London. As Rolland restocked cereal boxes in the grocery store she worked at, Brittain clocked her in the back of the head with a full bottle of wine. Rolland was left unconscious and with a cut on her head. Later, Brittain pleaded guilty to the charge of assault.
And it gets crazier. According to the Daily Mail, Brittain has a history as a stalker. One of the women he targeted was, apparently, the inspiration for Ella Tundra – the princess in his novel. She was forced to get a restraining order against him – which he quickly violated. He wrote about the experience on his blog, in an insane post entitled “The Benevolent Stalker.”
Be aware when you’re posting those negative reviews – you’ll never know if the author is a crazy stalker who might travel hundreds of miles to assault you in your place of work. But, if you’re fearless, you can still buy the book here.