What makes a book poorly written

This is a tricky one, but try a little exercise. Think about two books. The other book you read over and over again. Oftentimes, the difference between the two is emotional resonance. How did Harry Potter reach so many people? The stories and characters transcended the details of the magical world to tell a story of a boy who longed for a family that loved him, who just wanted to feel at home somewhere, who struggled to figure out the line between right and wrong, and who learned that some things are worth fighting and dying for.

I have a theory about why some books with one or two of these bad qualities still become bestsellers. Reading is subjective. Look at that list and rank those qualities from least important to most important for your reading enjoyment. We should. We should try to write the best book we can possibly write. But we also need to understand where our strengths and weaknesses lie and be prepared for bad reviews.

No book is ever perfect. No book will appeal to absolutely everyone. Do you think my theory is right or a load of hog-wash? Interested in more ways to improve your writing? Deep Point of View is now available! Steven M. Moore Jan 12, Such points, of course, can often be genre dependent. Marcy Kennedy Jan 12, I think genre plays a big role.

There are so many genres in part because each caters to the preferences of different people. Fani Karamanou Jan 12, Hello Marcy and happy new year! Emotional resonance is my 1 reason for loving a book,but I pay attention to the structure as well. I think my 1 is the characters. In the other series, there was a lot of repetitious fighting. It got boring. Not for me at least. Alana LaGrand Jan 14, It is definitely a correct list. If the book has too many mundane details, I will skip to the dialog.

Another issue that bothers me: when a character often makes common sense mistakes unless a reason is specified. I lose respect for the character, and if it continues, I lose respect for the author. Marcy Kennedy Jan 14, Thanks for the great comment! Moore Jan 14, Alana and Marcy, You have to be careful with that attitude. In a comedy, maybe characters are trying to out-buffoon one another just for the hell of it or to gain attention?

So the most dangerous kind of writers for bad writers to read are what I call excuse writers — writers of the sort who seem to grant permission to others to borrow or imitate their failings. Bad writers bulwark themselves against a confrontation with their own badness by reference to other writers with whom they feel they share certain defence-worthy characteristics.

Bad writing is written defensively; good writing is a way of making the self as vulnerable as possible. When Updike began writing Rabbit, Run all in the present tense, it was either going to be a great technical feat or a humiliating aesthetic misjudgment.

Often, the bad writer will feel that they have a particular story they want to tell. It may be a story passed on to them by their grandmother or it may be something that happened to them when they were younger. And, ultimately, they lack the will to betray the material sufficiently to make it true. Bad writers often want to rewrite a book by another writer that was written in a different time period, under completely different social conditions.

Any attempt to write fiction in order to make the world a better, fairer place is almost certain to fail. Holding any value as more important than learning to be a good writer is dangerous.

Put very simply, your characters must be alive before they seek justice. It is a very destructive thing to believe that you are very close to being a good writer, and that all you need to do is keep going as you are rather than completely reinvent what you are doing.

Bad Was very confusing. Had useful details 1. Read my mind 2. Teen, 14 years old Written by paris76 March 19, The worst book I was ever forced to read! This book makes no sense. My school made me read it over the summer and I needed my mom's help reading the book because it was very hard to understand. Also it talks about random things and goes off topic the whole time. There is no main thing that is happening in the story.

And because of that it becomes boring to read. I don't recommend reading this because of the lack of interest it will bring to you. This book is waste of time! Teen, 16 years old Written by arcadeist April 26, Quite possibly the worst book I've ever read I'm being forced to read what I can only suspect of being some sort of ancient torture device in class.

The chapters have no coherence and can last a single paragraph before going off into something completely different. I can't remember a single chapter in any great detail, despite having to read multiple chapters over and over again in order to create a vignette that somewhat resembles the authors style and is related to my life.

Send help. Helped me decide. Had useful details. Read my mind 4. Teen, 13 years old Written by harrypotterismy September 5, Deserves all the Hype! I saw many reviews talking about how inappropriate this book is and how it is "being used to indculcate our boys" but I believe that to be untrue.

This book is great for students to read because you must pick up on context clues to understand the depth of this book and it is a window that lets people view a poor neighborhood and understand what it is like to live like that instead of in a well off, priviledged neigborhood.

Some people disliked this novel because they don't want to admit how real all of these situations in the book are. This book was amazing and I recommend to to everyone above the age of 13 so they learn more about other cultures and understand hardships of the world. This title contains: Educational Value. Read my mind 1. Teen, 15 years old Written by nanashi December 7, Thought provoking, but confusing, frustrating, and has triggers that aren't addressed.

To list some possible triggers there is child death, abuse, and neglect talked about in detail but the author paints these very dark situations into a fantasy aspect that make this some how get a PG rating, and these are only the triggers that involve children and there is many more that I won't discuss in this review.

The topics discussed in this novel are very serious and complex, and I find it disgusting that teachers are making children as young as 7th grade in the US read about these, children that young normally don't fully understand these topics and if they do it's normally because they have witnessed the events first hand. The book jumps from past, present, and future without much notice and it confuses many people, the characters are easily forgettable or poorly written about with little insight, and the way the topics in this book are mentioned or written about is not only distasteful but extremely disgraceful to the people they affect.

She is painted as a sympathetic person who dreams of a better life but when you actually look at her she is a envious and naive child who wants everything but doesn't want to work for it, and her flaws are fatal at best. The stories themselves aren't always bad and there are some very lovable characters that deserve praise, but we are subject to only seeing these characters from the bias standpoint of our narrator.

The book is thought provoking and makes the reader do some thinking about themselves, personal beliefs, and views on life and people. She matured throughout these stories and although its hard to see that at times, by the end i recognized this.

My official rating will stay 1 star because my previous points still stand and i still have many problems with the book, but not all of it is bad and I just wanted to change some things i harshly criticized. Teen, 15 years old Written by cheems September 17, I really, really despise this book.

I found it to be a mess. Maybe the worst book I have ever read. I understand that this is a vignette. I understand that it is meant to be more descriptive than plot-driven. However, what it fails to do is provide any genuine investment. I found myself bored out of my mind while reading this mess of a story. That was clear. This story had good ideas, and I feel it could have been a genuinely good story. July 20, I was expecting better.

I am an avid reader and was excited to read this book I did not enjoy the style of writing at all and the way the book was put together was confusing. Some stories were interesting but others were boring and unnecessary. Overall I found it hard to get through and did not form any emotional attachment to the characters. Positive role models. Teen, 14 years old Written by penker September 30, I nearly burned the damn thing it was so hard to read. There is no plot, tons of characters only appear once but don't have any metaphorical purpose, and it is written in vignettes that I could have written in third grade.

Some of them don't have any meaning. They're just there to give these weird explanations for things that shouldn't have been explained. Never mentioned in the entire book other than this chapter.

Also, how can you get drunk on sky? Makes no sense. And this Darius guy sounds like and idiot, and then she thinks he's right when he picks out a random cloud and says that one is God. This is the crap this book is filled with. And guess what? After reading it in 7th grade, my 9th grade teacher has us reading it again!

This is a dumb book that is poorly written and doesn't have a plot. I have requested to change english classes so I don't have to read this. And by the way the reason why I put 18 and up is to save kids from reading this. Teen, 17 years old Written by bakedbeansfromw July 16, Bad writing, impossible to follow, seems like it was written by an 8 year old I was assigned this, and luckily it is short or else I would probably pass out from being so bored. The writing style is like an 8 year old who can't think of any ideas except ones that can be stretched to only a few paragraphs long.