Quote:
Originally Posted by gmw
Perhaps even badly written? 
You are absolutely correct, seeing the responses here I can see that people have take "bad writing" to mean all sorts of things. I was trying to be all-inclusive. Not just grammar or plot or character but the end-result, how did the story reach the reader. I don't think it's practical to assess the quality of a novel or it's writing based on isolated criteria. The writer has to balance all the aspects to try and obtain a result. Some writers use lots of description, some almost none. Some have very complex plots, some almost none. Some go to great lengths to achieve realism, some leave lots of holes. The final result works for some readers and not for others - and (it seems to me) these latter tend to get offended and accuse the writer of poor writing. |
I agree with you when you say that there's a lot more to the experience of reading a book than just the quality of writing, and yes authors do have to balance things like character, action, and description.
Having said that, and putting my professional writer's hat on, when I talk about poor writing I'm talking more about how a technique is applied than what technique an author chooses to use.
Take description for example. I don't worry about whether a writer uses a lot or a little, but whether they use it well, and also whether they use the right amount for the story they're telling. Good description illuminates character as much as setting. Bad description bores the reader - regardless of the amount.
Do they use direct discourse and grounding details to draw the reader in close to the character in emotional moments, or do they use indirect discourse and irrelevant details that distances the reader from the character at just the wrong time. Do they use technique deliberately, looking for specific effects, or does their focus wander?
A book can be enjoyable even if the writing is poor, but poor writing is not simply a matter of taste. There's a craft to writing, and not all writers have mastered that craft, even when they've mastered other aspects of storytelling and are selling books on the strength of what they're good at.