Lessons From Bad Writing
Writing
You asked me to critique The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss, so here we are. What will win: this award-winning, best-selling, critically acclaimed book, or my dislike of practically everything? Read on to see! While I usually record my first reactions to a … read more »
Writing
This post-apocalyptic YA novel by James Dashner spawned not only bestselling sequels but also a movie series. A bad movie series, I hear, but they star Dylan O’Brien (aka Styles), so how bad could they be? I think the cover art is gorgeous, but I’m … read more »
Meta
Mythcreants has numerous posts examining the terrible, awful, vivid, and even fantastic writing of various books and short stories. However, we’ve never analyzed this particular post, Lessons From the Terrible Writing of This Post. That is unfortunate, because this post contains enough terrible writing to … read more »
Writing
As soon as I spotted the cover for Jonathan Renshaw’s Dawn of Wonder, The Wakening, I knew this was the book to critique. “Dawn of Wonder” is already dramatic sounding, and adding “The Wakening” pushes it into melodrama. It doesn’t help that these words border … read more »
Writing
Last year, Handbook for Mortals by Lani Sarem cheated its way to the top of the New York Times YA bestseller list. It wasn’t #1 for long, though. Observers quickly noticed how strange it was that a book no one had heard of by a … read more »
Writing
Gather round, ye speculative fiction fans. It is time for another critique post. Last time, I reached into spec fic’s distant past and dredged up A Spell for Chameleon, but today I take on a more modern offering: The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie. I … read more »
Writing
On the cover of Tiger’s Curse is a white tiger giving me an intense blue stare. I think it knows I’m about to critique its book, and it does not approve. Still, I can’t help but appreciate the tasteful graphic design and gentle pattern overlay … read more »
Writing
Nearly everyone knows Sir Arthur Conan Doyle as the author of Sherlock Holmes, but the good detective wasn’t Doyle’s only creation. Doyle was a prolific author, penning many tales outside the Holmes universe, and today we’re looking at one of them: The Disintegration Machine. While … read more »
Writing
It’s time to tear apart The Tommyknockers, written by the venerable Stephen King and published in 1987. In his long and prolific history of writing, King has both gems and duds. Even within a work, his improvised storytelling technique tends to turn out both brilliant moments … read more »
Writing
We’ve dissected the first chapters of terrible novels and great ones.* We’ve looked at entire short stories, and now I’ll kick it up a notch. I’m going to pit two books against each other in a battle to the DEATH! No, I’m not sure how a book … read more »
