Good Writing Important, but...

I forget where I read this, but whoever it was was right when he said that good writing, as important as it is, is not what it's all about. It's about the story. Because if you have a book that has excellent writing, it won't matter at all if the story sucks.

For instance, when I was perusing excerpts from books on that publisher's list a few days ago, I came across a few stories that had excellent writing. But as I explained in an earlier post, one of them was downright disgusting and a major turn off.

Another one, despite its good writing, could have put even the most avid reader to sleep. I mean, nothing was happening. It was about a guy on a bus. And for the first two pages, the writer described people on the bus. It's like, OK, the guy is on a bus. Now what? I didn't read any further. The author gave no reason to care about the guy or the people on that bus.

And finally, there is a point of overdoing good writing. I was reading another excerpt and I couldn't even tell you what the story was about, but the writing was so intricately worded, that it reminded me of an over-decorated Christmas tree. It occurred to me while reading that particular sample that this writer was going way overboard to prove that he could really write.

OK, but it was just too much. Tell a good story, dammit. That's the bottom line.