Xitra_Blud
Sage
In your opinion, what constitutes as bad writing and what constitutes as good writing?
Whenever the author needs the story to proceed a certain way, the characters act in just such a way as to send it down that path. Rather than having a single characterization, each character has a cloud of characterizations he switches between each time he's observed, feeling less like a complex human being than like a plot delivery vehicle.
I may be wrong, but aren't developed characters *supposed* to be complex and multifaceted? Having each character have only one trait seems one-dimensional to me. Certainly people are going to act differently when varying situations put them in different light.
That's why I said "less like a complex human being." The switches aren't based on any clear context, they're just based on convenience. (For instance, let's take a character who has issues with romance but is currently in love. As a complex human being, he'll switch between "romance is bad" and "I'm in love" according to the situation he's in and his own emotions. In a quantum-characters story, he'll switch whenever the author needs him to do something to steer the story in a certain direction, even if that doesn't feel plausible given his previous behavior.)
In your opinion, what constitutes as bad writing
In your opinion, what constitutes as bad writing and what constitutes as good writing?
I'm a serious grammar, spelling, and usage nazi. If you can't write a coherent sentence without breaking elementary-school grammar and usage rules, do not publish.
I don't want to get into the whole "rules" discussion again; I'm not talking about stylistically breaking rules. (See? I did one there. And now I'm doing it again. And again. I have no problem with people breaking usage rules as long as, you know, they adhere to a deliberate form and voice. Go nuts.)
I mean for all intensive purposes when an Author doesn't know, there not supposed to abruptly change you're "point of view" and etc. than it effects me as a Reader and I loose interest cause you know they could of done it an other way.
If that sentence read fine to you and you think you should self-publish, you are killing the craft.
This is a snarky post, but market research for self-published fantasy is making me insane. I wanted to track down the author of something I was reading last night so I could carve the Strunk and White second chapter table of contents into his back with an ice pick.
In your opinion, what constitutes as bad writing and what constitutes as good writing?