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Old 12-22-2010, 12:56 PM   #22
Lemurion
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Yes, a best-seller can be atrociously written. Popularity and technical merit are totally different things.

Twilight has become immensely popular despite the writing, not because of it. Regardless of the writing, the book itself struck an emotional chord with its readers and they bought it in droves. It's essentially a wish-fulfillment fantasy, and it met enough people's wishes that they catapulted it to the top of the best-seller charts.

It's also very common to rag on Dan Brown, and yes, his work doesn't show a lot of technical merit. However, there are many skills involved in writing a novel, and he's a master of page-level pacing. Even though the writing may not be that good, he hooks the reader so they want to know what's on the next page.

Stephenie Meyer and Dan Brown succeed not because they write well on a technical level, but because they do other things exceptionally well; and their readers respond to those things they do well.

It's also why so many people denigrate their work. If you're not someone who responds to what they do well, you're probably not going to be able to get past the sub-par writing and will throw the book across the room.
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