Yeah, but "better" and "good" are solely personal opinions
once you peel away the obvious metrics of spelling, grammar,
punctuation, and the other mechanics of the writing craft
(and even they are open to some interpretation). Whether you
or I state a piece of writing is good doesn't make it so
beyond ourselves nor does it make it bad if we were say so
either. It's purely an arbitrary and objective concept. It
would be so much easier if it was subjective, but that's
never going to be so. And yeah, I know there's a lot of
literary terms we can blow up each others' ass to make it
should all scientific too. But the song remains the
same.
Thing is when it's all boiled down. Who really gives a fuck?
If I like it, then I like it and I know to seek that author
out the next time they publish. If I don't like it, then I
know who to avoid. And there's all sorts of gray area in
there as well. I personally do not feel that Will Christopher
Baer's "Kiss Me, Judas" is well written or at least it isn't
a well told story, but I do see the potential author that
Baer could become for me and so I keep reading him.
As far as "sacred cows" go, they make one helluva double
stacker at Five Guys here in Old Town Alexandria that gets
about as holy as a cheeseburger can and with boardwalk fries
to match.
-- Anthony Dauer Alexandria, Virginia
Beware the Ides of March!
"If I die, then I forgive you ... ... if I survive, we shall see."
-- Spanish Proverb
http://www.adau.net/judas_ezine/contest/
-----Original Message----- From: Paul Miller Sent: Saturday, March 09, 2002 11:44 AM
I would think any writer would be looking for clues on how they might morph themselves into a better writer, if not then what's the point if there is no growth? Of course you can't learn something from every reaction or review but you can pick up something useful every so often. It would be useful to put a critical eye even on some list sacred cows sometimes.
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