IWSG - What is "Good" Writing?

 

 So, lately I've been thinking about what makes a novel (or other work of fiction) "good."  And, by extension, what makes a work fail to be "good."

Thinking about the way works are discussed in various times, places and settings, it seems like maybe there are a variety of criteria one might judge.  Summing up my perception of those criteria...

Prose that is one or more of the following:

• Eloquent
• Clever
• Beautiful
• Entertaining
• Readable
• Erudite
• Etc.

Characters who exhibit one or more of the following:

• Entertaining
• Likable
• Deep
• Realistic
• Possessed of a notable growth across the course of the work
• Exhibiting a lesson to the reader
• Admirable
• Deplorable
• Etc.

A story that is one or more of the following:

• Instructive
• Educated
• Allegorical
• Filled with symbolism
• Possessing natural foreshadowing
• Neither too simple nor too complex
• Making a statement about humanity, the world, history, society, etc.
• Deemed "of value" (whatever that means)
• Etc.

Obviously, even those lists are filled with vagaries, redundancy, repetition and incompatibility.  Which is partially a symptom of the fact that I don't often think about what makes a work approved of as "good" and partially because it's been a very long time since I took a literature course.  😅

Part of the reason I've been thinking about this is because I know that any and all academic criteria would say that Frankenstein is a better book than Dracula (which I read for Halloween) and yet I also know that no matter how many times the choice is put before me to read one of those two books, I would always pick Dracula because it's much more pleasant to read, in addition to being considerably more satisfying as a story.

But by extension of all this, there's the fact that I long ago abandoned any pretense of pursuing the idea of making my own writing "good" by these social standards...and I kind of wonder if that makes me somehow a weakling or quitter or something.  Like, I have never written (and undoubtedly never will) anything I would want to share at a family reunion or tell former classmates about.  Is that a failing on my part, or just a reflection of my innate sense of inner privacy?

Is anyone else ever plagued by these kinds of questions?

November Writing Challenge '26, day 3

 Okay, so today's total is 9689 words.

Yesterday's total was 6673 words.

That means I wrote 3016 words today.

So...more than "on track" for 50k by the end of the month, but a sad showing in comparison to some of my early NaNoWriMo endeavors.  🤷🏻‍♀️

Kind of a pity that I ran out of steam when I did, though; the love interest is about to show up!  (And yet, I just couldn't keep going today, somehow...)

November Writing Challenge '26, day 2

 Today's total is 6673, from a shorter writing window than usual due to life stuff.

Yesterday's total was 3910.

So that means today I wrote 2763 words.

Not great, but not bad.  (So far, I'm having fun with putting an old-school vampire in an ancient China setting...)

November Writing Challenge '26, day 1

 So, trying the whole "write 50,000 words in November" thing again.  Going it on my own, using the blog to keep track.

This time, I'm putting everything I write in one big file for convenience (and then copy-pasting into other files as needed if I write anything on pre-existing works)

Currently counting both planning text and the actual text as I start a new project that is a Dracula-style vampire in ancient China.

Current word count is 3910 (though only 1173 of those are the actual story)

We'll see how this new way of handling the challenge works out, I guess.

Reading Record 43

 I was gonna wait until tomorrow morning to post, but I am not quite tired enough to sleep yet, so...

Finished reading Dracula by Bram Stoker tonight.

Not a lot to say since I've read it three or four times before.  Though it might be fun to someday do as I've heard of others doing and reading it in "real time," which is to say reading each segment on the day it happens.  It would mean reading some bits out of order, but... 🤷🏻‍♀️

Anyway...

Um.

Half an hour to midnight.  I should be trying to sleep, not to write a blog post.  😅

Original language:  English

Reading Record 42

 So, I just finished rereading volume five of Mo Dao Zu Shi (English title Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation) by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu, which completes the novel!  😁

Naturally, volume five (despite being the longest volume) is the fastest read, because the quite long incense burner bonus story is...uh...well...cursed.  I like the introductory materials for each section--especially the first part, where we get insight into the recurring dreams of the two leads--but as soon as the story gets to its intended 'subject matter' then I skip ahead because...*shudder*...

Anyway.

Hmm.

What else was I gonna say?

Dang.

I am distracted by my impending dentist appointment, I guess.

If I remember what else I wanted to say, I can always add it back in later.

Original language:  Chinese

Reading Record 41

 So, I just finished rereading volume four of Mo Dao Zu Shi (English title Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation) by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu.

Ah, volume four.  Some of the best moments--the final and most exciting drunk Lan Wangji episode, especially--and all of the worst--namely, the tragic spiral that ends the flashbacks leading up to the death that started the novel.

But I have now gotten through it and can move on to the final confrontation, the happy ending, and the bonus stories...though of course some of the bonus stories are only half-reads, 'cause some of them contain some of the most cursed sex in all the fiction I've ever read.  😰  (Reminds me why I am so super-glad that MXTX opted not to include any sex scenes in Heaven Official's Blessing!)

Anyway, all that lies ahead in volume five, after which I will have a whiplash moment as I move on to reread Dracula.  😅  But you just gotta respect the classics around Halloween, right?

Original language:  Chinese