Short entry about a story I read...

[farla]

Specifically, The Secret of The Cave of Origin by chinesechic.

It's an OT story, involving an 'Isabel' with brown eyes and black hair. By amazing coincidence, chinesechic's profile informs us she has black hair and brown eyes. It also says to call her Isabel. Also by amazing coincidence, her other story, a Code Lyoko fanfic, involves a character named Isabel, who has brown eyes and black hair.

But, as is usual, I don't make these entries just to mention the new sue of the day. There's always something specific I feel like mentioning.

This time, it's that the writing is very good.

Don't get me wrong - the story sucks. I am not and will never be someone who says sues can be written well. Also, the third line of the story is...well, this:
She slid down the stair rail (A/N: That’s fun!) and ran into the kitchen.
Emphasis hers, actually.

The plot...well, it tanks right about when it gets to the point she meets May and Brendan while they're all waiting to get their first pokemon and never recovers. And that's about a tenth of the way in.

But the writing of the story is good. The author makes few grammatical errors and actually manages to describe and write decent dialogue.

Which raises the question: is it better to read poorly written good ideas or well-written bad ideas?

::sighs:: Perhaps she'll improve.

Comments

[jaxmalcolm.livejournal.com]

You know, I got scared the moment I saw the first line. I mean, it's her first fanfic (or so she claims), so I figure it's unlikely she'll be able to tell the difference between a flame, a bit of constructive criticism, and a marshmallow. That and as soon as a person says it's their first fic, I get the feeling that it's probably going to be horrible, and it's definitely going to have mindless reviewers who insist that whatever sludge that follows that line is both original and the best thing to hit the Pokemon category of Fanfiction.net.

...Or perhaps I'm just being too close-minded about it.

As for your question, in my opinion, it's better to have poorly written good ideas. Okay, so the story might be a little hard to read, but at least with a few lessons in grammar and a bit of practice (as of description, at least), that good idea might actually shine. Very little can save a bad idea, especially if it hits all the bad points (unoriginal plot, Mary Sue, everything in between).

[kddreams.livejournal.com]

She slid down the stair rail (A/N: That’s fun!) and ran into the kitchen.

.....

I use to write like that!!!

Well, now we all know why I stopped writing. Yep, yep. ::nods::

[actonthat.livejournal.com]

*sigh* Isn't it a shame that we can't have both at the same tame? Both are brutally painful.

[alicornmoon.livejournal.com]

Well-written bad ideas are better becuase if written well they are not bad ideas anymore. Mary Sues can be written well IMHO it just takes time and effort..