# Regarding quality of works



## kevinbgwrites (Feb 17, 2012)

I've gone through Barnes and Noble (mainly the fantasy section) looking at stuff thats been published. I've glanced through some and completely read others and am at something of a loss for what is expected in the genre.

On one hand, some stories are written and structured well, such as Name of the Wind, Song of Ice and fire(at least the first 3), LOTR, and some others. Those are writings I am excited to strive to match in quality.

Yet then we have others, such as some of Brandon Sandersons stuff like Mistborn, which has the prose of an elementary schooler and extremely cliche or underdeveloped plotting. There are countless books like this which I saw too, thumbing through what was at the store.

I guess my worry is that the extremely generic/poorly composed shallow stuff is what sells(despite my former examples).


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## Gumby (Feb 17, 2012)

I think that there is no accounting for taste when it comes to reading books. And this isn't only limited to one genre. I won't even bother picking up a book by an author, when I've tried a few of their books and have been disappointed. I wonder how they develop a following, but they obviously do. :indecisiveness:


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## shadowwalker (Feb 17, 2012)

I think many times it comes down to story-telling versus writing skills. There's something about the characters, or the 'quest', or some part of the story itself that overcomes bad writing. I have books on my shelves that critics have torn, shredded, and burned before burial - and yes, the writing is on a par with what I was doing in grade school. But the story/character still engages me. I have dumped books at the local thrift shop which were runaway bestsellers because, although the writing was masterful, the characters/story were boring as all get out.


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## Rustgold (Feb 17, 2012)

Most books which are written are poor in quality.  If 97-98% of all books are poorly written, and 60% of published books are poorly written, then writing a book of higher quality will result in an improved chance of publication.


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## Fallow (Mar 21, 2012)

This is my hypothesis- those worse books often sell to younger audiences, and the flashy cover art gets people into the store.  Not to mention, publishers often times want to publish cliche things, because they know they sell.


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## Bloggsworth (Mar 21, 2012)

I thought _Candide_ by _Voltaire_ was puerile rubbish...


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## Potty (Mar 21, 2012)

I thought Graceling was boring and stale yet that's doing really well.


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## Cefor (Mar 21, 2012)

You can get one critic totally hating on a book, or series, and then another ranting and raving about it.

I read Graceling, for example, and thought it was okay - definitely didn't _not _enjoy it.

Twilight is a great example of this, though. It's written horribly, yet they're selling by the truckload, or were - not sure of the latest sales on them. The earlier Harry Potter books, like-wise, aren't written beautifully... but I think we all know how successful they are.


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