Suggested by Barbara:
Ive seen many bloggers say that what draws them to certain books or authors is good writing, and what causes them to stop reading a certain book or author is bad writing. What constitutes good writing and bad writing to you?
This is really hard to put into words for me. Of course, good writing includes the traditional hallmarks of proper spelling, grammar and punctuation, unless these rules are being bent or broken for a good reason within the text. There should be interesting and well-drawn characters, enough description to give you a sense of the time or place of the story, and a plot that makes sense within the setting and characters that have been presented.
Bad writing for me would be things like the overuse of favorite words or phrases to the point where they become annoying, plot twists that go beyond what is conceivable for the characters abilities or natures, and over-simplistic or just plain boring prose.
And, although I don’t mind a certain amount of mystery or confusion, I can’t stand it when a writer opens a book with too little information about how things are connected or what they mean, or when they seem to be trying to mislead you in thinking a certain thing when something else is actually true. A good writer can pull this off, usually in a couple of sentences and in a way that makes you smile when the truth is revealed, but otherwise, it shouldn’t even be attempted.
I’m not sure if I’ve expressed that in a way where it would make sense to anyone but me, and I can’t think of any examples right now. If I find any, I will share them in the future.
What do you think constitutes “good” or “bad” writing?
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