A couple years ago, when my short story “The Battle of
Hutchinson’s Crossroads” came out in Big Pulp Magazine, the editor organized an
open conference call where selected contributors had ten or so minutes to read
our stories aloud. It was pretty cool. There were about thirty people on the
line.
One author read her story. To me, it was a straightforward
tale: Main character unhappy, tries to be happy, then weird stuff happens and
the story ends. I shrugged and thought “Okay, if weird stuff is going to
happen, that’s probably how it would.”
When the author was done, the phone line came alive with
gasps, exclamations, and breathless sighs. “Wow!” “That just . . . wow!”
“Exquisite!” These cries were almost followed by a “Lol, what?!?” coming from
my line. Almost.
I read my story to quiet “huh”s and “thanks”es. But I had
bullets flying in the first sentence! People died in the first paragraph! I had
an O Henry/Vonnegutesque twist ending! And I had “huh”s and “thanks”es at the
end. Maybe I read it too flatly. Maybe my story was predictable. Maybe my story
was . . . bad. Maybe all of my stories are bad. Maybe I don’t know what good
is. Maybe I’m a . . . bad writer.
So how do I know if my writing is any good? Someone on a
writers’ forum said there is no such thing as bad writing; only writing that
isn’t currently in style, or writing that’s not to one’s taste. Lordy, I hope
he’s right.
I’m currently reading Orhan Pamuk’s Snow. It’s blowing me away. Why? It’s omni done well: just enough
out of Ka’s immediate space to keep me going without annoying teasers. It’s
also clever in word play; it takes place in a snowstorm in a town called Kars,
which is Turkish for snow. I understand this book, yet I can't anticipate what's going to happen and I'm delighted when it does. I want to write this way. I can write this way. I
think I’m going to write this way more often.
The only criteria I use to judge if my writing is “good” is
to ask if I am writing what I like to read.
Today I laugh at my reaction to that conference call. I
reread the other story just now, and I can see the appeal; she did a great job
making me feel for the character.
Would I like to write like that? Sure, why not? But if I did
I would add my own flavor, and take the story in the direction I want it to go.
Does that make me a better writer than her? No, but I don’t think being good
means being better than someone else. Being good means saying what you want to
say in a way the reader will neither misunderstand nor (more importantly)
anticipate.
Good writing vs. bad writing is very subjective. I have a friend who is a rabid Jane Austen fan. She got very upset when I told her Janet Evanovich is a much better writer than Jane Austen. But I had to really plow to get through Pride and Prejudice, just tried to read it because everyone said it was such a classic, it was terrible, nothing happened!! When a new Stephanie Plum comes out, I grab it and devour it in one gulp! Great writing, a real page-turner.
ReplyDeleteI'm the same way with SF/F author Dennis L McKiernan. A lot of people criticize him for ripping off LOTR (and yes, some things go beyond "a nod to" toward "a rewrite of" in the Iron Tower) but he's the only SF/F writer I buy everything of. I guess it depends on that "good writing" is; craft or story? I hope to master both! :)
DeleteIt's a terrible feeling, sitting there feeling like an idiot because you just don't see the big deal in something everyone else is raving about. And I like your assessment of being good. Well said.
ReplyDeleteThanks! Once I can truly accept that writing is not a horse race I have a chance of being successful with it.
DeleteCrasters from AbsoluteWrite here. Awesome blog! I'll definitely keep coming back.
ReplyDeleteAs for your topic here, ugh, I think most of us have experienced this. I'll never forget a grad workshop where one writer turned in a story that was obviously about her real-life boyfriend/girlfriend relationship. Essentially 20 pages of her character cooking a lobster and comparing that to her love life.
Half the class would not shut up about it. The other half adhered to the, "If you have nothing nice to say . . ." adage. For me, I probably just don't "get it" in regard to the more subtle styles. I like my stories to drop me right into the action.
Haha! Nice. I like a good bit of symbolism and such, but a forced feeding of romantic lobster might be a bit much.
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