Benjamin Clayborne
Auror
Okay let me try to elucidate...
There are strokes that are made. With a painter, it's strokes of a brush on a canvas; with a writer, there are keystrokes. Both the words and the paints build a foundation upon which the final image or story will be upheld and revealed. In both cases, there are plainly evident techniques that are totally measurable.
Could you give a specific example of such a technique (in writing) that is measurable, and what exactly the metric is by which it is measured?
So, that is what I mean by it's not subjective: one can measure and recognize genius in literature just as in any other field or art or science.
Again, I'm interested in how exactly this measuring is done. Mostly I ask because I've never actually come across any description of measurement systems for genius before. What's the unit of measurement for genius?
That's why things that are simple and have simple appeal do well. Harry Potter and Twilight both fill this niche perfectly. It's just enough flair and pizazz to make it entertaining, but ultimately they contain very little substance.
Can you give an example of a piece of substance that other works contain, that (for example) Harry Potter doesn't? Having read all seven HP books, I think they say a lot about responsibility, sacrifice, and friendship, so I'm not sure it's reasonable to say they contain little of substance.