Why Is Bad Writing So Good?...

I've talked about stuff like this before. The reasons behind the popularity of books such as 'Twilight' and '50 Shades of Grey'.

Writers have dubbed these books as horrible, poorly written and slop.

Readers gobble these books up , though, so why is that? If we're going to be Book Snobs, we better be prepared for the inevitable backlash.

One of my best friends loved the 'Twilight' series. We go round and round about it, but she does have a sense of humor when it comes to all the jokes bashing it on Facebook.

Her argument is this: She's not a writer, she's a reader and she enjoyed the story. She didn't sit there and analyze every sentence/paragraph/chapter. She enjoyed the book at face value. The poor writing didn't bother her in the least.

While I have to agree with her on some points, and I do, there is still more to the story I don't like. Even if I think the writing isn't that great.

Because of this, though, I'm not even going to go near '50 Shades'. Lots of reasons behind it aside from the whole debate online about it being poorly written. Plain and simple, it isn't the sort of genre I would choose to read. I can tolerate a good, well written romance, but I won't be delving into this book anytime soon just because of the touchy topic.

No pun intended.

But this is what it boils down to when we are faced with a poorly written book that becomes wildly popular and sells millions of copies:

We hate it.

Why? Because we work so hard at honing our craft and selling the measly 50+ copies a month. We push our books like crack. We pimp them out like hookers. We struggle, we work hard and we sacrifice so much of our selves and our lives. Then comes along some weak, viral sensation and we all stand, mouths agape at the hordes of people clamoring to get said book. Movie deals are made and we still work that second job hoping that someday our skills will pay the bills.

Would we be so jealous of a well written book? I don't think so. I see all the support for authors such as J. R. R. Martin and his 'Game of Thrones'. Same can be said for the 'Hunger Games' series as well as for Ms. Rowling's super success.

Those are the people we strive to be like. One day, maybe we will.

While I don't want to speak for any of you, what are your thoughts on the subject?

Friday Favorites, Fantasy Art & A Funny...

Well. Your views have spoken! I seriously didn't realize until I took some advice from Jamie over at Mithril Wisdom about your old blog posts, just how many people like my Friday Favorites posts. I mean, 4 out of 5 of the most popular posts were linked to these when I added that little popularity gadget to my blog. Who woulda thought?

So with that in mind, I'm going to give my best effort to maintain these posts.

Favorite Books/Authors:

I have to say, I love the Harry Potter books. I love the series as a whole, but loved The Deathly Hollows more. Not just because it was the last! But because of the answers it gave to all of those questions I gathered from reading all the previous books. J. K. Rowling hit the ball out of the park with these books. As in any series, though, there has to be at least one I didn't like and for me that was The Order of the Phoenix. Don't get me wrong, it was a very good book, but really kinda slow.



Favorite Movies:

On the subject of Harry Potter, my favorite movie of the series was The Prisoner of Azkaban. I'm a huge Gary Oldman fan. Although, I swoon over Alan Rickman more. I don't know exactly why I liked this movie so much. Maybe because Harry finally had 'family'?

Favorite Music:

The Rumjacks! No, this is not a drinking game. It is a band. My son introduced me to them recently. He loves this style of music and loved when I introduced him to the likes of Flogging Molly and the Pogues.

Fantasy Art:

Aaaand the Funny...

Hehe! Have a great weekend everyone and don't get too bored!