Who Is The Worst Writer Ever?

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Originally Posted by Dark Muse

Fame does not = talent, especially not in this day and age. Just because something can be sold to the public does not make it good writing.

And as far as this thread is concerned, I think the whole point is that it is the "worst" writing according to the person posting. Obviously we are not all going to agree.

As well just because a book does not gain fame does not by default make it bad, and when it comes to books being hated by the majority such could be for reasons beyond the actual value and worth of the prose. If you consider the time in which the book was written it may have been hated because it was considered too controversial.

There are writers who have fallen into obscurity but it is not because of the quality of the writing.

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You know, you're right, I take back what I said. I was not thinking of people's reactions in the present day, and today's views are of course extrememly different from a hundred years ago (which is the time frame i had in mind). I would never say that Dan Brown, Stephany Meyer, Robert Ludlum and the likes are actually worthwhile, and i didn't notice how controversial (to my own opinions) what I said sounded.

What I was trying to say was how, a century ago, not many people could read and even fewer tried to write. Back then, everyone who read had the same understanding of how books should be written and how they should sound. Since everyone shared the same basic opinion, if one person didn''t like a book most people wouldn't end up liking it either.

Of course, that doesn't apply today.

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Originally Posted by Dark Muse

Fame does not = talent, especially not in this day and age.

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Agreed %1000. Millie Vanillie had a #1 record. Enough said.

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Originally Posted by Greekish

i have to say kafka,he is overrated and i never liked his work

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You can't say Kafka is the worst writer ever just because you don't like him, silly.

Owen Wister, Theodore Dreiser, Kafka, just are either nor interested in the subjects these writers pursued or were just not up to digesting their style. The Virginian, An American Tragedy, and The Trial are certainly three books which should be on everyone's reading list. Also, The Jungle (Upton Sinclair) should be read by most everyone.

With that said, the writer who I definitely didn't enjoy Is Virginia Wolf. To the Lighthouse and Orlando are just not my cup of tea, but this doesn't mean she wasn't a good writer.

Kafka is amazing, all you haters :P

I always thought, if we're going by renowned authors, James Joyce. There's just something about him that screams practical joke and I don't find it funny.

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Originally Posted by dfloyd

Owen Wister, Theodore Dreiser, Kafka, just are either nor interested in the subjects these writers pursued or were just not up to digesting their style. The Virginian, An American Tragedy, and The Trial are certainly three books which should be on everyone's reading list. Also, The Jungle (Upton Sinclair) should be read by most everyone.

With that said, the writer who I definitely didn't enjoy Is Virginia Wolf. To the Lighthouse and Orlando are just not my cup of tea, but this doesn't mean she wasn't a good writer.

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I thought I'd like To The Lighthouse but she doesn't have an interesting style of writing.

C.S Lewis is the worst writer I have ever read.

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Originally Posted by Dr. Hill

I always thought, if we're going by renowned authors, James Joyce. There's just something about him that screams practical joke and I don't find it funny.

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I think that there are good reasons to think that Finnegans Wake was a joke, but it also is an interesting experiment in writing.

Don DeLillo. Maybe I'm not giving him enough of a chance because I've only read a couple of his books, but seriously, no thanks.
I thought The Jungle (because, honestly, that's the only Sinclair I've read) to be kind of silly, but I would hardly count him or Kafka as worst writers ever. I consider it also something that should be read by most people and very important, disregarding the sillyness.
If we're "allowing" famous and generally not considered good authors, then I'll toss in Stephanie Meyer and Clive Cussler.

What is worst to you can be better to me....

God, I love Kafka. It follows, however, that any person claiming his/her stylistic tendencies to be “in the vein of Kafka” is, certifiably, the worst writer ever. :nod:

Federico Moccia

ok, a thought. Worst writer because of grammar or of content? or of style, even?

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Originally Posted by JADJARHD

Actually I was talking about Tolkien more than Herbert with the time jumps, although Herbert does it a little. Herbert's Dune books are almost unreadable to me. It is very disjointed and does not flow very well. I don't think Dune is a very well written book. What I did like were the prequels written a few years ago by Frank Herbert's son and another guy based on Herbert's notes. Those were really good.

Herbert (like Tolkien) gets an A for imagination, but a D for writing.

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I know I shouldn't be bumping such an ancient thread and I've only read the first Dune so I may not be in a good position to judge, but I agree that it is badly written.

Sci-fi books are for the most part plain spoken and unambitious with their prose but, in Dune, it seems like Herbert wanted to use language more creatively but to me it seems flowery and not well done.

Ayn Rand.