WHAT IS GOOD WRITING THESE DAYS? By Penny Hutson

 

Don’t we all know what good writing is? It’s certainly not repeating too many words or using too many of the same words in the same sentence. That’s what I’ve always been taught and taught my students when I was an English teacher, teaching English for many years. Not using incomplete sentences, either. And you should never start a sentence with a coordinating conjunction like “and” or “but” or use a preposition like “with” to end a sentence with.  Anyone annoyed yet?

Okay, maybe that was a bit over the top. However, as a former English teacher trained in avoiding such writing faux pas, I wonder if I notice them more than the average reader. For instance, when I pick up a novel with a ton of repeated words, cliches, or adjectives, I stop reading it and likely refrain from reading other books by the same author. Perhaps that’s unfair, but with so many excellent books and a limited time to read them, I can’t justify spending it on poorly written ones that I truly don’t enjoy. I find myself getting annoyed, often ruminating aloud, “How many times is she going to swallow or bite her tongue? No, his eyes didn’t flash. That’s not even possible!” I believe you get the idea.

Yet, when I look at many of the best sellers and award-winning novels on the market today, I can’t help but notice how often these devices are used. It appears that a vast majority of readers don’t care about such things; and the writers (and publishers) are raking in big bucks to the tune of millions. According to several sources, James Patterson and John Grisham are worth over 800 and 400 million dollars, respectively. They are among the top-selling authors today, but they are certainly not alone. Many others are earning close to or as much and with worse writing, in my opinion.

So, what gives?

Now, I’m not asserting that either Patterson or Grisham are terrible writers whose works don’t deserve to be in print, although I’ll admit I’ve seen many whose publication successes are quite mystifying to me. I have read several books by Patterson and Grisham, including some of their young adult novels, and I enjoyed them. Truth be told, they manage exciting plot lines, interesting stories, and compelling characters even with all the cliches and what I’d call average writing. In fact, it makes me wonder if I’m overly concerned with such things in my own writing, when it appears that most readers in our current society don’t seem to care about or perhaps even prefer such writing.

Of course, I know there’s always been a difference between good literature, like the kind we read in high school and college, and what is often called junk or pulp fiction. You know the kind - those steamy romances, swashbuckling adventure, or detective mysteries essentially telling the same story over and over except with different characters and settings. We know they’re not winning any Pulitzers, but we love reading them anyway. However, there appears to be so much more of the latter being published and purchased today.

So, I’m asking you, as writers, how much do you worry about such things? Do you think readers today care more about the story than the writing itself, perhaps even preferring that style of writing over the more polished, literary kind? Essentially, I’m asking if you think “good writing” has been replaced. What else could explain the enormous profits made by those publishing works without it? I’d love to hear your responses.