There’s something I need to get off my chest. Lately, I’ve noticed a tendency among writers and forums to bash famous authors such as Stephenie Meyer, Dan Brown, ____________ (insert name of random famous author here), etc.
It drives me bonkers.
Since she seems to get the most flack, we’ll use Meyer as an example. Personally, I love her books, but they’re not to everyone’s taste. No problem there. It happens. But many blogs and forum posts have been pointing out (often not very nicely) that she isn’t a good writer.
So what?
Could she have written more passages in active voice instead of passive? Sure. Would the manuscripts have benefited from a liberal culling of unnecessary adverbs and dialog tags? Probably.
But that doesn’t warrant name-calling and whining from the unpublished masses. Your writing is better, your grammar cleaner, your manuscript adverb-free, but agents are rejecting your baby left, right, and upside down. It’s not fair, you say! Meyer, Meyer, Meyer!
Boo-hoo.
Like it or not, Meyer is a great storyteller. Hell, she’s an amazing storyteller. Her book sales accounted for 16% of all book sales in 2008. For those of you who don’t know, that means one in seven books purchased that year was written by her.
Here’s the thing. You could write the most technically perfect novel in the world, but if you can’t tell a compelling story, you’re not going to get published. Period. That’s why Meyer (Brown, King, Roberts, etc.) is published and you’re not. There’s something in their stories that tugs at the heart strings of their readers. And you may not be one of those readers, but the fact is, they’ve sold millions of books with their passive voices, cheap shots, excessive adverbs, and shoddy grammar, simply by telling a good story.
And you haven’t.
Focus on your own writing, not the flaws in others. Then you might actually get published.
Rant over.