RE: RARA-AVIS: Shame the Devil

From: Anthony Dauer ( anthony.dauer@verizon.net)
Date: 09 Mar 2002


Yeah, but "better" and "good" are solely personal opinions once you peel away the obvious metrics of spelling, grammar, punctuation, and the other mechanics of the writing craft (and even they are open to some interpretation). Whether you or I state a piece of writing is good doesn't make it so beyond ourselves nor does it make it bad if we were say so either. It's purely an arbitrary and objective concept. It would be so much easier if it was subjective, but that's never going to be so. And yeah, I know there's a lot of literary terms we can blow up each others' ass to make it should all scientific too. But the song remains the same.

Thing is when it's all boiled down. Who really gives a fuck? If I like it, then I like it and I know to seek that author out the next time they publish. If I don't like it, then I know who to avoid. And there's all sorts of gray area in there as well. I personally do not feel that Will Christopher Baer's "Kiss Me, Judas" is well written or at least it isn't a well told story, but I do see the potential author that Baer could become for me and so I keep reading him.

As far as "sacred cows" go, they make one helluva double stacker at Five Guys here in Old Town Alexandria that gets about as holy as a cheeseburger can and with boardwalk fries to match.

--
Anthony Dauer
Alexandria, Virginia

Beware the Ides of March!
"If I die, then I forgive you ... ... if I survive, we shall see."
-- Spanish Proverb
http://www.adau.net/judas_ezine/contest/
-----Original Message----- From: Paul Miller Sent: Saturday, March 09, 2002 11:44 AM
I would think any writer would be looking for clues on how they might morph themselves into a better writer, if not then what's the point if there is no growth? Of course you can't learn something from every reaction or review but you can pick up something useful every so often. It would be useful to put a critical eye even on some list sacred cows sometimes.

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