Well-written vs grammatically correct

[EmilyMiller]

I ain’t the bestest at grammar. And my, punctuation; could (be better?). Also my vocabulary and spelling are both a little out there.

But…

I still get compliments about stories being well-written.

I know bad grammar and, misplaced, commas are very, frustrating for some. But what does well-written mean to you?

To me it means evocative, drawing you in, making you feel or care (or both), painting a vivid picture, making you think, reconsider maybe. Basically leading to you wanting to read more.

I’m not advocating for anarchy with writing rules, but what does well-written mean to you?

Em

 

[djrip]

I'm certainly not writing comments telling people their stories are well written because I liked how they placed their commas! I doubt anyone else is either.

I'd say it's all about what the writing means, and how well it gets that across. Clarity, and having something worth being clear about.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Thinking about this more. Well written is creating something that seems real, even if it’s totally unreal.

Em

 

[ElectricBlue]

To me it means evocative, drawing you in, making you feel or care (or both), painting a vivid picture, making you think, reconsider maybe. Basically leading to you wanting to read more.

This. Good grammar, literacy, and a decent vocabulary just make it easier.

 

[OverconfidentSarcasm]

To me it means evocative, drawing you in, making you feel or care (or both), painting a vivid picture, making you think, reconsider maybe. Basically leading to you wanting to read more.

Sounds about right.

Problem for me is, though, when the punctuation is so messed up that I have to read sentences (or entire paragraphs) multiple times, just to gauge the possible meaning, it gets exhausting. Then, I'd say, it's no longer "well written".

 

[djrip]

Sounds about right.

Problem for me is, though, when the punctuation is so messed up that I have to read sentences (or entire paragraphs) multiple times, just to gauge the possible meaning, it gets exhausting. Then, I'd say, it's no longer "well written".

I think poor grammar can make writing poor, but good grammar can't make writing good.

 

[Ssbbw4u1974]

I definitely don't write stories with perfect grammar or punctuation. I do get people tell me they love my stories.
I personally have a pet peeve about spelling.

 

[Djmac1031]

Thinking about this more. Well written is creating something that seems real, even if it’s totally unreal.

Em

I'll second that.

I'm very forgiving on punctuation or spelling errors, especially here.

I'm also forgiving on imperfect grammar or composition of a paragraph or whatever.

As long as it's not so many compounded errors as to make it unreadable.

Well written to me means a story I didn't get bored with, that carried me along, told it's tale and made me empathize with the characters.

Character is especially important to me. It trumps everything else.

If I don't care about your characters, I don't care about the story.

If I care about the characters, it's easy to forgive mistakes or unrealistic situations.

 

[SimonDoom]

On the Literotica spectrum, I lean toward the strict grammarian end of things (I was once an English teacher, briefly), but I'd put it this way: Truly good writers understand grammar, even if they haven't memorized the rules. They "get" it because they've read a lot and absorbed the rules through reading and writing. A good writer doesn't have to follow the rules slavishly; good grammar is not the same thing as good writing. Being a good writer sometimes means knowing when to set aside a rule for an artistic effect. But good writers understand what they're doing with every word they write. A good writer is someone who sets aside the standard rules of grammar in a particular instance knowingly rather than heedlessly because it serves a good purpose to do so. A good writer is a mindful writer and a careful writer. Knowing grammar has nothing to do with understanding the poetry and music of good writing, which is important, too. I love artful turns of phrase, which have nothing to do with grammar. Good writers love words, and they know how to use them.

The other aspect of "well-written" is completely different: it means the ability to tell a good story. Good writers understand how to create interesting characters and put them in interesting situations, and how to construct plots skillfully.

The best writing combines these different skills.

 

[SimonDoom]

Thinking about this more. Well written is creating something that seems real, even if it’s totally unreal.

Em

Verisimilitude. I totally agree.

 

[EmilyMiller]

I think poor grammar can make writing poor, but good grammar can't make writing good.

What he said

 

[HeyAll]

Well-written, to me, is when something complex is made to be simple with the right sentence structe and word choices. You can read it casually paced and it's vivid. I really love that book 7 Husbands of Evelyn Hugo because the writing quality is fantastic.

As far as grammar, sometimes for little things I don't care. Like 'lie down vs lay down' I know it's 'lie down' but I say 'lay down' anyway because it looks better and I don't like the word 'lie' in that context, but still there are people who complain.

 

[KeithD]

For fiction, bad grammar and misplaced commas are in two different worlds. Fiction allows bad grammar when it supports the level of education of the character being quoted (and the narrator is a character in the story). The technicals, though--comma and quote placement, etc.--should be correct across the story.

 

[NoTalentHack]

Grammar matters, punctuation matters, etc., but they're not the most important things. And sometimes the right thing to do is to intentionally break the rules. Usually, you can tell if a writer is doing that, even if they're doing it hamfistedly. If that's the case, I'm fine with it. But it's when they're sloppy-- and I mean really sloppy, not just a missing double quote or the like-- that I can't deal with it. And usually, if they're sloppy there, they're sloppy in other aspects as well.

 

[Bisexguy70]

I suck at writing. However, I love reading a good hot story. As I’m deep within the story, I start imagining the scene. My cock starts to throb and I'm beginning to precum. The descriptive text draws you in and the details pull your mind deeper. Your mind starts to experience the smells, the sounds, the feelings if the author did his or her job properly. Honestly if i get to a misspelled word or incorrect punctuation, I guarantee it won’t prevent me from reaching orgasm.
Thats my 2 cents worth. Im more annoyed when the story drags on before reaching the sexual parts.

 

[alohadave]

I ain’t the bestest at grammar. And my, punctuation; could (be better?). Also my vocabulary and spelling are both a little out there.

But…

I still get compliments about stories being well-written.

I know bad grammar and, misplaced, commas are very, frustrating for some. But what does well-written mean to you?

To me it means evocative, drawing you in, making you feel or care (or both), painting a vivid picture, making you think, reconsider maybe. Basically leading to you wanting to read more.

I’m not advocating for anarchy with writing rules, but what does well-written mean to you?

Em

Grammar and punctuation can always be fixed, but if you can't tell a story, why bother? You see it a lot in photography. Technically perfect images that have nothing behind them. The technical part is the easiest part to get right, storytelling is hard as fuck.

 

[alohadave]

Thinking about this more. Well written is creating something that seems real, even if it’s totally unreal.

Em

Versimilitude, truthiness, however you want to describe it. If it feels real, readers will respond.

 

[alohadave]

Truly good writers understand grammar, even if they haven't memorized the rules. They "get" it because they've read a lot and absorbed the rules through reading and writing.

IMO, editing helps with this as well. I'm no professional, but seeing what others do to attack the language, without knowing that they are committing offenses sharpens your writing skills.

 

[ronde]

"Good" writing means two things to me.

For text spoken by a third person narrator, good writing means proper word usage for the intended audience, proper spelling, proper punctuation, and proper sentence structure. The vocabulary used should be easy to understand without running for a dictionary every other page.

For text spoken in dialogue, good writing means writing that sounds like people really speak. Another way of saying that is saying most of the rules of proper English don't apply. Almost nobody uses proper English sentence structure when they speak. They use parts of complete sentences. They run sentences together without the benefit of punctuation. They use contractions and they dangle participles all over the place. They also make up words, like "fanfuckingtastic", and "pissedoffedness". Depending upon the time period, real people also use slang rather than proper English, and regional dialects open up a whole new English language in some cases. This includes the first person narrator, because his or her narration is in actuality dialogue without the use of quotation marks that is spoken directly to the reader rather than to another character.

 

[Paul_Chance]

Well written to me means a story I didn't get bored with, that carried me along, told it's tale and made me empathize with the characters.

This right here. For me, it's all about the flow. If your story pulls me in, draws me along, and then lets me out at the end - that's what I mean when I say something is well-written. A good story forgives many writerly sins.

 

[ColinPiper]

Seeing another story littered with sentences that start this way, he threw his hands in the air, shouted "I give up!", and went looking for another story.

This ^ was pointed out to me some time ago as an indication of a lesser-experienced writer. The sentence starts with an -ing word that is not the main action of the sentence. I used to do it myself, but I've curbed it since. It's grammatically okay, and sometimes the best way to construct a particular sentence. But too many in one story becomes too distracting and I give up reading. You may find the most popular stories do not use this construct much.

There's the idea of the "fictive dream" - writing that draws you in and effortlessly makes a situation and characters believable. Clunky writing like the above breaks me out of the dream and reminds me I'm reading a story. Obvious information dumps do the same thing, particularly in relation to personal descriptions - "she was about 5' 5", long blonde hair, 24" waist and 32C boobs". It's much better if this information is woven into the narrative. In a lot of cases it may not even be necessary. You're respecting your reader's intelligence when you give them the opportunity to use their own imagination rather than have everything explained to them.

I'm not too bothered by the occasional punctuation error, and I don't know if I'll ever get the right balance of too few versus too many commas in my own writing.

I would imagine your average reader is going to be a whole lot more forgiving than the average writer. This can lead to a bad reaction from a writer if you point out areas for improvement (in your opinion) to a story that they've had a lot of praise for.

 

[dmallord]

On the Literotica spectrum, I lean toward the strict grammarian end of things (I was once an English teacher, briefly), but I'd put it this way: Truly good writers understand grammar, even if they haven't memorized the rules. They "get" it because they've read a lot and absorbed the rules through reading and writing. A good writer doesn't have to follow the rules slavishly; good grammar is not the same thing as good writing. Being a good writer sometimes means knowing when to set aside a rule for an artistic effect. But good writers understand what they're doing with every word they write. A good writer is someone who sets aside the standard rules of grammar in a particular instance knowingly rather than heedlessly because it serves a good purpose to do so. A good writer is a mindful writer and a careful writer. Knowing grammar has nothing to do with understanding the poetry and music of good writing, which is important, too. I love artful turns of phrase, which have nothing to do with grammar. Good writers love words, and they know how to use them.

The other aspect of "well-written" is completely different: it means the ability to tell a good story. Good writers understand how to create interesting characters and put them in interesting situations, and how to construct plots skillfully.

The best writing combines these different skills.

I needed a good English teacher. Mine, however, spent the time diagramming sentences or whatever it was called back in the day. I don't recall writing more than a book report or two in four years of high school English; same teacher for all four years. College - nothing there that I recall about writing.

But I like how you thoughtfully wrote your view on what the Literotica spectrum should contain as to writing skills.

My take on it is that a good writer needs to be well grounded in the strict grammar end of the spectrum and also that good writing goes beyond grammar rules. Good writers understand grammar through extensive reading and writing, but they also know when to deviate from the rules for artistic purposes. They have a mindful and careful approach to writing and understand the poetry and music of language. Additionally, good writers excel in storytelling, creating interesting characters, compelling situations, and well-constructed plots. The best writing combines a strong understanding of grammar with the ability to tell a good story.

One should approach the craft of storytelling with reverence, mindful of sparking a reader's imagination. Grammar is the undercarriage to get there - if you want to bend it a little to add to the reader's mindset, do so knowingly - not because you didn't know or care about that aspect of the communication.

Good job Simon - A+

 

[KeithD]

Which makes my mission here almost enjoyable.

What again, in your overweening arrogance, do you consider your self-proclaimed mission is here?

 

[oneagainst]

I'm certainly not writing comments telling people their stories are well written because I liked how they placed their commas! I doubt anyone else is either.

Uh... okay. Me definitely neither. That's just totally weird, right?

 

[djrip]

Uh... okay. Me definitely neither. That's just totally weird, right?

Did I go and make an assumption again?

Is there a comma fetish?