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Showing posts from November, 2014

Bad Writers

I've noticed that there is a difference between writers who do this halfheartedly and writers who go about it wholeheartedly. What is that difference?  What is the line that separates OK fiction from good fiction and good fiction great fiction? Stephen King said in his book On Writing: "While it is impossible to make a competent writer out of a bad writer, and while it is equally impossible to make a great writer out of a good one, it is possible, with lots of hard work, dedication, and timely help, to make a good writer out of a merely competent one."  There is a definitive point, or moment, or realization, where that distinction is clear--but perhaps it moves and shucks and jives to get out of the way. The reader knows something is up, feels it subconsciously perhaps, but just can't put their finger on it.  Stephen King also said: "We need to experience the mediocre and the outright rotten; such experience helps us to recognize those things when t