I've heard this question posed many times and I've heard several attempts at an answer to it. Some focus mostly on the technical aspects when talking of "good writing." Others speak more about the storytelling -- these are the elements of plot, character, message or theme, etc.
A good writer is someone who can mix both technical expertise and engaging storytelling and get it down on a page, I'd say. But even this is open to interpretation.
What is makes writing technically good? I wince every time I see "had"s and "will be"s. I cringe when I read the phrase "beginning to." And please, dear God, get your verbs right! Avoid clinical words like "displayed," I would tell you.
Then there's J.K. Rowling who uses plenty of helping verbs and has made more money than I can bear to think about. People love the Harry Potter series and while I admit that she's a fantastic storyteller, I can't bear to read the books because I think she's awful, technically.
"There are rules for good writing," Susan Cheever writes in Louisa May Alcott: A Personal Biography. She doesn't, sadly, list them.
What do you think the rules of good writing are?
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