Write or Wrong? Is There Such a Thing as Bad Writing?

I’ve always been one of those people promoting everyone to pursue writing in some form, but lately a lot of writing has come to me that make me cringe. No, actually, I usually throw it, cry for a while and ask how something so horrible could ever happen.

Yes, there is bad writing. It clearly exists, otherwise everyone would be a good writer, and some would just be great. Now, here’s the thing. I’m not saying if you are a bad writer please stop and consider drawing. The point of this post is to warn anyone against what constitutes bad writing, so that she might see it in her own work.

1. Editing

It is the simplest advice by appearance. Just check over your work. If anything makes me want to burn your paper, it’s reading misused conjunctions and theres that are actually theirs. Understandably, everyone makes those type of mistakes and misses them in editing. That is okay. When you hand in a paper with enough spelling errors in ink to paint the Sistine Chapel, I will reject it unless the rest of the material is undeniable perfection.

As well, punctuation is very important. The voice in my head shouldn’t run out of breath reading one sentence. Read your story/paper/article out loud to make sure it sound somewhat correct. Put in the pauses.

2. Read it

Sure, you know what you wrote about (hopefully). Take it and read through it, at least once. Does it sound like something you’ve seen done? If you hand me a hash copy of some Twilight-inspired story where a girl is in love with a monster and werewolves, etc., I will reject it. Maybe some people, who only read the same things continuously, would enjoy it, but I will not. Bad writing lacks creativity. That doesn’t mean you need to create the craziest plot with aliens fighting cowboys and the second coming of Christ as the ending. Instead of focusing on plot, focus on characters, setting and everything else that comes with a story.

3. Have other people read it

It sucks to let friends read your writing, especially when they are not writers. It also sucks when they give you praise and refuse to criticize you (to your face). Find someone mean and smart. I use my little brother, when I need the help, because he is used to fighting with me and being crudely honest. Find a friend who would be a tough editor. Ask an English teacher/professor who hates you. Just let someone else give you opinions on your work. To avoid bad writing, be ready to test it and see what doesn’t work.

4. “Murder you darlings”

A teacher once told me the phrase, “kill you darlings.” This phrase she most likely got from Faulkner, but the original writer, Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch first proposed the idea. It is to delete what needs to be deleted. It sounds like common sense (it is). Sometimes it’s not so easy. As a writer, you can grow very attached to your work. That is obvious in the biographical relations of many major authors to their collective works.

This is about taking out things that seem wonderful to you, but they don’t fit the story. Usually, a writer will have a slight impulse to delete something, but read it over and keep it for the pieces own merit. Maybe the line is witty, and it will get a good laugh. Then again, maybe it negates the rest of the writing. The power of a line does not come from within itself, but from its relation to the piece as a whole. Don’t be afraid to cut, even what seems like your first-born child.

5. Being afraid is not the same as being self aware

I have pieces of writing I refuse to share. “What are you afraid,” friends and enemies alike ask me, in this jibing, nasty tones. I smile (like an angry bear), and then I gently explain, “It isn’t finished.”

There are times when I am truly afraid to share a piece of writing (most of the time). There are other times when I realize the writing does not deserve to be shared, at its current state. As a writer, it can be hard to step back and look at a piece of writing objectively.

Here’s my trick. I write everything about month before it is due. First of all, no last minute scrunching (except on… everything else). What this allows is for me to step back from the piece. I try to forget about it as much as I can for the month and focus on anything and everything else. Even the best piece of writing, when I return, I change drastically. What happens is you come at the piece with a different mindset. Writing the first draft (that’s an important point, everything is a draft), you might be depressed about financial situations, where rewriting and editing the second draft, you may have just won the lottery (or be even more depressed and poor… whatever works).

Realize the difference between fear of rejection, and conquer it. Listen to the voice that questions the piece itself, and not the writer. You are not your work, although you may see yourself in the words. Let a story stand for itself, because if it can’t, then it’s not finished.

6. Finish

Do you know why sitcoms do so well? (Besides stereotypes that simpler audiences easily agree with and see within themselves, abusing any progression in rights for non-white males?) It is because although they follow the same characters in long term progression, each episode is its own, finished story. Imagine if J.K. Rowling or J.R.R. Tolkien had just not written a last book in a series. Don’t leave half an idea in any story. Be fair to a character, and give him even the slightest resolution.

This happens on my desk enough: “This is the beginning of a book, so don’t judge it for that.” I agree, because a good book has a great first chapter with a story that really helps the audience feel for the narrator. It is a sitcom without most of the bad jokes. A first chapter is the guilded door into another realm of thought and perception. If you start and stop halfway through the main plot, in seven pages, you will not be writing a book. Imagine if a heart surgeon had you in for the consultation, and just said, "we'll be taking out your heart replacing it with." That silence is a cheap trick, in writing. Suspense should build naturally in good writing, not by the sudden restriction of resolution and information.

If you can’t find resolution for a plot, question what is missing. The characters should be making the decisions, not the writer. Do not hand in anything half-done.