|
Definitions... that's really what it comes down to.
In this entire thread, no one really defined 'good' writing. Is 'good' writing just grammatically correct? Properly punctuated? Staying power? Entertainment value?
I'll give you MY definition of 'good' writing, and then you can rip it to shreds.
I take a pragmatic view. A writers job is like a teachers. To get the information across to the reader/student in a clear, concise, understandable, and entertaining, manner. For me, 'good' writing equals entertainment received, minus effort involved.
Examples:
Harry Potter is a series written for adolescences that has been embraced by adults. My wife went to a used book store with a friend, many years ago. She came home with the first two HP books, because they sounded good and thought our first-grade daughter might enjoy them in a year or two. I had heard about them, she hadn't, and decided to see what all the fuss was about. I read both in five hours, my wife read them over the next two days and my six year old daughter read them in the next two weeks. We were all entertained well beyond the effort we put into them. To me, they are very well written and I believe they will become classics in the years to come.
The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings are a good example of how an authors writing skills improve over the years. In my opinion, the Hobbit is hard to read, but its entertainment value makes up for that. Lord of the Rings, written years later, is much easier to read.
Another example of this, is Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire. Lestat was much better written.
Stephen King has been bashed for bad writing, but I consider him to be a good writer and find his style similar to another favorite of mine, John Steinbeck.
I found The Descent by Jeff Long hard to read, but entertaining enough that I want to read the next book. If I have to keep rereading paragraphs to figure out what is going on, then the plot and story have to be very engrossing.
Good writing is a combination of a number of things, and is subjective to the individual reader. I think that in many instances popular does equal 'good writing.
|