Here's a tool I would use if I were teaching creative writing.

[AG31]

It started with a late Wilbur Smith book. I'd read all of his books for over 40 years, starting with Where the Lion Feeds, which I read in the late sixties. This late book was so bad I knew it couldn't have been written by him. Outraged reviews confirmed that mine was not an isolated reaction. Then I began to notice the same phenomenon with other favorite authors. Most recently Craig Johnson. Here's my Amazon review:

Although I agree with all the 1 star reviews I read, I'm giving this a two because of the sprinkling of passages with the appealing C.G. voice. But it was such a pastiche of improbable events that I started skimming 2/3 of the way through, and then stopped even skimming.

I have personal knowledge of an author, even more acclaimed than Johnson, who some years ago started working with assistants who developed the plots and then turned it over to him to add the xxxxxx voice. It works very well. I would not have guessed. But in the case of the Longmire series, they've got to up their game.

It occurred to me that if I were teaching creative writing, I would choose authors to illustrate different bad practices. I'd ask the students to read an early book, and one of their last books and identify the ways in which the writing had deteriorated. I'd look for "absence of motivation," and "arbitrary events," in the case of the Johnson books, but I'd be interested to see what else the students spotted.

Do you think this might work? Other ideas for teachers' tools for creative writing?

Edit: After reading some replies, I'm moved to emphasize that the pool of authors to use in this exercise are those who have been replaced by less talented surrogates.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

Interesting thought. Not saying no, but I am uncertain. Some authors must improve with age.

 

[HordHolm]

One of the issues is that fashion changes, literary style changes, subject matter changes. So that can make it difficult to compare, and you might find yourself trying to mix apples and acorns. Case in point - I recently gifted a much younger friend Catch-22. Some weeks later I asked him what he thought and he said that he liked it, it was fine, but it was obvious it was fifty years old (I didn't correct him to seventy, though I was tempted, briefly).

 

[StillStunned]

I'd perhaps ask for an analysis of three books: an early one, where the author is still learning their trade, one at the height of their ability, and one where they've handed over the grunt work to assistants (or nowadays more likely AI).

You can teach people as many techniques and tricks and whatever as you like, but it works best if you can show in practice where they work and where they fail. And if you can get them to discover those things for themselves, they might even learn to become writers themselves.

 

[MelissaBaby]

One of the issues is that fashion changes, literary style changes, subject matter changes. So that can make it difficult to compare, and you might find yourself trying to mix apples and acorns. Case in point - I recently gifted a much younger friend Catch-22. Some weeks later I asked him what he thought and he say that he liked it, it was fine, but it was obvious it was fifty years old (I didn't correct him to seventy, though I was tempted, briefly).

It's kind of ironic that Catch-22 is full of deliberate anachronisms, so your friend isn't so far off.

 

[AG31]

Interesting thought. Not saying no, but I am uncertain. Some authors must improve with age.

Oh, for sure!!! You'd have to choose those authors who have clearly been handed over to a whatever-you-call-them. One who isn't very good.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

Got it. Let me think.

 

[Actingup]

Edit: After reading some replies, I'm moved to emphasize that the pool of authors to use in this exercise are those who have been replaced by less talented surrogates.

AI prompt: “Write a new novel in my style, including the following elements….”

 

[Bramblethorn]

I'd perhaps ask for an analysis of three books: an early one, where the author is still learning their trade, one at the height of their ability, and one where they've handed over the grunt work to assistants (or nowadays more likely AI).

Another case to consider is authors who suffer mental decline via age or illness. I recall an analysis of vocabulary in Agatha Christie's books suggesting that she may have been starting to experience dementia in her last works, and I'm told by Pratchett fans that his encroaching illness is noticeable in the later books.

(Pratchett did work with an acknowledged assistant, Rob Wilkins, but I don't think Wilkins did any of the writing.)

That also raises the difficulty of telling how much of the drop in quality is due to the use of assistants vs. the author's own decline or just them getting bored with a series that has to be continued because it pays the bills.

A further complication is the author-editor relationship. Early in their careers, authors in traditional publishing are generally expected to accept a fair bit of editorial input that can help with keeping the story tight. As they become more successful, some of them become less tolerant of editing and their stories can become bloated and/or rambling; Anne Rice, Stephen King and JK Rowling are widely-known examples.

Then there are writers whose attitude to the world changed greatly within their writing life due to person setbacks/etc., with a marked impact on style. Twain's "Connecticut Yankee in the Court of King Arthur" (titles vary) shows that within a single book.

There are just so many things that can go on between early stage and late stage in an author's career that one needs to be careful about ascribing such changes to a single cause.

 

[ElectricBlue]

There are just so many things that can go on between early stage and late stage in an author's career that one needs to be careful about ascribing such changes to a single cause.

John le Carré illustrates that very well, I think. He lost his mojo for a while when the Berlin Wall came down in 1989, then he came back to strength with several masterful novels. The few from the end-game have their moments, but not the strengths of his best work.

 

[Bramblethorn]

John le Carré illustrates that very well, I think. He lost his mojo for a while when the Berlin Wall came down in 1989, then he came back to strength with several masterful novels. The few from the end-game have their moments, but not the strengths of his best work.

Some writers just aren't cut out for optimism!