The Good, the Bad and the Poorly Written

I have always loved reading and books. Always.

I remember in third grade (or maybe second) that I started being sent to fifth grade for reading. I enjoyed it. It helped reinforce that I was different. (I'm now realizing that was a good thing, but back then, having just transferred in to a public school from a private one, it was not wonderful.)

Anyway, in my school district they tested for the gifted program in third grade. I desperately wanted to be a part of the gifted program. However, while I tested well in most areas, I missed qualifying because my math scores weren't high enough.

I feel like I've told this story before, so I won't dwell on it.

It was in sixth and seventh grade that poems and images started appearing in my head. I wrote some of them down. In high school, I returned to them when I started taking creative writing.

Most of them were your typical tween angst fare. I remember in high school, Carol had Aaron Anstett, a friend and published poet, visit us for an assembly and reading. (He is the author of a poem, Grace, which is one of my most favorite.) He read several poems and we sat, attentive, trying to read between the lines and "figure out" the poetry. He read us one poem and we sat there, blinking. He then informed us that poetry could be funny.

This blew our minds. Up to this point, I felt like poetry had to be the product of a tortured soul, a broken heart, a tragedy.

In any case, my writing in high school matured a bit.

Carol's mantra for writing was to write what you know, which was originally penned by Mark Twain. She attributed it to Raymond Carver, one of her favorite authors.

Back then, we (those of us in the creative writing program at Elgin High School) were quite snobbish about what good writing was. We had very definite opinions on who was a good author--Margaret Atwood, Li-Young Lee, Aaron Anstett, and who was not good--Robert James Waller, Danielle Steel and, though she wasn't a thing back then, I would include E. L. James in this part of the list.

I had a very low view of fantasy writing in general. When I stumbled upon Harry Potter in 2005 (yes, I tend to arrive at trends later than most), this upended most of my thinking.

Hogwarts, Diagon Alley, Honeyduke's. These were not real places. They were not things that someone knew because they spent time in the physical locations. It seemed to nullify the "write what you know. J.K. Rowling didn't know the subject, in the traditional sense.

I have read the Harry Potter series multiple times, from book one all the way through. It usually takes me about a week and a half to get through all of the books. Every time I read it, I find more things that I either didn't remember or hadn't noticed before.

I realize, now, after reading the series and reading corresponding articles, that J.K. Rowling knew about the Potterverse. She new absolutely every intricate detail of that universe. I don't doubt that she could answer back stories to any character, however inconsequential to the overarching storyline. She immersed herself in the subject. That was her passion.

I have no desire to read George R. R. Martin, but I suspect the same would be true of him. Even though he's never encountered a dragon or seen the Night King, he knows the subject, he understands the intricacies of his own universe.

There are several others that I wouldn't consider Great American Authors, but are authors that I enjoy reading. Fundamentally, reading has to be fun. I have tried to suffer through Anna Karenina on multiple occasions and I just haven't been able to get through it. That's not to say it's not an amazing novel, but it's just not (or wasn't, at the time) something that moved me.

The four authors to whom I am incredibly devoted are John Sandford, Michael Connelly, Kathy Reichs and Jonathan Kellerman.

Kathy Reichs is, in my opinion, a top-notch author. She is, in real life, a forensic anthropologist. She helped create the show Bones that aired for twelve seasons. She is legitimately a genius when it comes to science and anthropology. As well, she does a good job of constructing a narrative. I have read all but one (or two) of her novels. Her character development is excellent. I cried when she killed off one of her characters. I don't often do that.

John Sandford and Michael Connelly are strictly authors. They write detective novels. I know there are a lot of authors who do that. I couldn't tell you specifically why I like them. They both do a good job of moving the story forward. The character development isn't on the same level as Ms. Reichs. That's not to say they don't write well, it's just that they aren't as good as Ms. Reichs.

Jonathan Kellerman writes detective novels as well, but his characters are a bit unique. His main character is a psychologist. He works with a detective to solve cases that are hard to solve or have an unusual angle to them. I mention him because it's still within the detective genre, but different enough from the others I've mentioned. I've not read him for a couple of years, more than anything because I don't make time for it. His wife, Faye Kellerman, also writes. In my opinion, she does better with character development than her husband.

I am an incredibly faithful reader of these authors. Again, they are not writing To Kill A Mockingbird, but they write novels that help me escape into another dimension.

I will also mention an author whom I stopped reading. I'm hoping this shows that although I'm loyal to authors, I am discerning.

I started reading Patricia Cornwell many years ago. She is a medical examiner who is also an author. I read her novels in order and enjoyed them. She almost lost me when she brought a character back from the dead (Carol taught me that I should not trick readers and I look down my nose at authors that do).

Then, I made a trip to the library for one of her new novels. I just looked online to see what novel it was. I believe it was Blow Fly, though I am not positive. I got home from the library, cracked it open, read the first page....and slammed it shut. It read very differently from all of her previous novels. It felt foreign to me. I didn't even give it a chance. I have never returned to her books.

Alice Hoffman is another author who lost me. Seventh Heaven and Practical Magic are two of my favorite of her novels. (The movie is a bastardization of the book. If I didn't know the book existed, I would love the movie. It's just too hard, as a lover of books, to have that attitude.) I have read several of her other novels multiple times. She writes magical realism and she does it beautifully.

Some years ago, I read one of her newer novels, The River King. It was, for lack of a better word, awful. Horrible. I read it because I felt I owed it to her, but it was not done well. I didn't fall in love with the characters, I didn't get lost in the scenery, I didn't get hooked in.

I haven't read any of Ms. Hoffman's works for a long time. I might, now that I'm reminiscing, go back and read one of her early works. For that matter, I need to read The Handmaid's Tale. As she was one of Carol's favorite author's, we were tasked with reading some of Ms. Atwood's works. I remember reading Cat's Eye and I know I read some of her poetry, but I don't believe I ever read The Handmaid's Tale. I am leery because I know how much Carol loves her (and I love Carol), but I am worried that I either won't relate or won't enjoy it. I will, however, read it because I feel like it's important.

I need to mention an opinion that I know may not be popular with my Christian friends. I do not care for Christian fiction. I feel it has a valid place in the canon of fiction, but it has never resonated with me. I find that, for the most part, the characters feel like purified versions of what Christians deem as morally and spiritually fit.

The one exception I will make to this is the Elizabeth Gail series. I remember this series fondly from childhood. The protagonist resonated with me. She had an attitude, she felt like an outsider, she struggled. That felt real to me. It wasn't a whitewashed version of things. There wasn't swearing or sex or anything (to be clear, I don't believe a novel has to feature that to be considered well-written), but it was relatable.

Aside from that, I do not read Christian fiction at all. I apologize to my brothers and sisters who write it. I know you have an audience and I know you are good writers. It's just not my bag, in the same way that though Tolkien was an amazing author, The Return of the King kept me in a semi-vegetative state while I tried to get through it.

I went far afield, but here is some of what I was trying to say.

First, I now (in large part due to Carol's encouragement) consider myself gifted. I may not understand discrete equations and calculus, my grasp on physics may be tenuous at best, but that does not negate the true talent I have.

I love to crochet and for a long time, I hesitated to share my work with people. I have acquaintances who crochet and who have been doing it for a lot longer. I was ashamed of my work because I thought it was inferior to theirs.

Here's the thing. The things I crochet have been well-received. I have improved from when I started. I now receive compliments on my work. That doesn't mean the others aren't also talented. Me crafting beautiful things, be it in the written word or in yarn, isn't negated by what someone else creates. It's not an all-or-nothing proposition.

Second, I feel very strongly that evaluating writing as good or bad is very subjective. Everyone is different and has different tastes. This is why there are so many authors. This is why there are millions of different books and genres and types of fiction.

I have been in the process of writing a novel. I stalled out a couple of years ago. I developed a lot of self-doubt. Someone asked me what genre it was. Someone else asked me another question about it. I allowed those questions, which weren't bad questions, but I allowed those questions to take all of the wind out of my sails.

This is day number eight of my current writing streak. Every day that I write, I get new confidence in my abilities and I feel myself getting more empowered. I still am not sure what genre the novel is and whether or not a traditional publisher will every be interested. I have no idea if it will make money or change the trajectory of my family. I do know, however, that every day it lies dormant, I make myself vulnerable to believe the lies I tell myself.

I need to dust off the Google doc and get on with it. Stay tuned.