What a snob!

[dumbledore11214]

> zanooda:
> 
> I finally got to this thread today and realized that I'm not sure what exactly "bad writing" means :-). Is it *just* about the language, like poor vocabulary, for example? Or is there more? I remember how Steven King said that Stephenie Meyer can't write, and how she said that she is not a writer but a storyteller. I'm not sure though that I know the difference. I mean, if someone came up with a fascinating story but then wrote it down sooo badly that no one can get through it, would it still be a good story :-)?
> 
> BTW, Alla, my reaction to both Brown and Meyer was exactly like yours :-). It was interesting to read "The Da Vinci Code", but I never had any desire to read in again, because the characters didn't grip me, so after the puzzle was solved there was nothing left to go back to :-). I didn't buy his next two books either. As for Meyer, I also liked the story, but I *do* feel like her writing is missing something, although I can't figure out what it is, that's why I asked my question about bad writing  - to find out, LOL.
>


Alla:

Oh yes, OMG many times yes. The distinction bad writer but good storyteller escapes me too for the exact reasons you described - eh how the heck would you know that the story is good, if the writer is bad, however I do see that I pretty much used this expression to describe my reaction to Stephenie Meyer's writing lol, so let me clarify.

I suppose what I meant is that first of all from technical POV her writing does not impress me much - her vocabulary, etc. And yes, I am saying it as ESL speaker, her vocabulary as English writer does not impress me much. No, I am not saying that one should use SAT words throughout the book just for the sake of using them or at all, but I suppose I expected more variety. Second of all, well, partially I am not impressed by her characters, not in a sense of liking or disliking them, but in a sense of them coming alive on page. Note that I said partially, because I think that both leads have great chemistry, especially in the first book, so she did sell to me their great love (or obsession), but I do not feel like anything else about characters is likeable or realistic.

I doubt I can explain it better than that, but I suppose that in light of that distinction not being very clear to me I should take back "she is a bad writer" part and instead just say as you did, her writing is missing something for me.

I mean, I am not getting into the merits of the story here, because if I will it will mean talking about hating her characters after book 4 (I read books 1 and 4 only), but that has nothing to do with her writing I guess.

JMO,

Alla