Young Writers Society

I saw a post from earlier this month talking about favorite poets, and the poet Shane Koyczan was brought up. The creator of the post adores him, and I was inches away from writing a post on how I dislike him with a burning passion. It's not exactly what he writes about, but in Speech and Debate, there is an event called Dramatic Interpretation. If I had a nickel for every time someone has done a burnt to the crisp, incredibly melodramatic performance of one of his pieces, I'd virtually be rich.

Instead of ranting about someone else's taste on their own post, I thought I'd take it to here.

Who are the authors and or poets that just don't float your boat? Whether it be because their personality, writing style, or anything like that.

I think "despise" is pretty harsh, for lack of a better word. I wouldn't say I despise anyone, and I sure hope I don't.

There are a few writer's whose styles I'm not fond of though. One would be Ross- don't remember the rest of her name, she's the one that wrote Divergent. I dislike how she kills off characters willy-nilly. As much as her story demands death, I still think she did an unneeded amount of killing. It got to a point where it wasn't a surprise or big deal when she'd kill someone off, and I think if you get to that point you're on dangerous ground as a writer.

I'm also not a fan of Stephen King's work. I personally feel that his characters leave much to be desired- I'm never interested in them. He has interesting concepts but I can never get through his books because I don't find his characters interesting enough. He is awesome at non-fiction though. The man knows how to tell a story I tell ya.

As much as I love Beat stuff, Jack Kerouac is different. He somehow is more pretentious than all the others, and though he seems to acknowledge it, he thinks that acknowledging it makes it all right. I mean, I know I'm pretentious sometimes, so maybe I'm being a hypocrite. But I hate his writing style and attitude. Ew (also, I read On the Road in middle school to impress my other goth friends, so I'm not sure where that figures in, but there it is).

@Holysocks, I agree about Stephen King. With a few exceptions. I like On Writing - A Memior of the Craft, and I like "The Body." And I like movies that come out of his novels. But most of his stuff is kinda flat.

I also hate that Divergent lady.

OH and Scott Westerfield. Uglies is junk.

Yes! I love On Writing: A Memoir of The Craft, that's why I think he'd do better at writing non-fiction. Like if he wrote a blog I would read it. I might check out The Body, then.

@Morrigan - Scott Westerfeld is interesting because he's really hit and miss for me. I love his Leviathan series - it's a really, really cool alternate history - and his novel Risen Empire is very good too, but I didn't like his Midnighters trilogy at all and Uglies was only okay.

I also really like the first Hunger Games book, but the second is only okay and I despise the third.

I really don't like Charles Dickens. I like A Christmas Carol, but everything else of his I just can't get through.

Jane Austen
Cormac McCarthy
Hemingway (not godawful, just hugely overrated)

Also agree with the other folk here that Stephen King is "just OK" 90% of the time.

I'm in somewhat agreement with Prok.

While I love Cormac MaCarthy's novels, I hate the way he writes them.

Joseph Conrad, Joseph Conrad, and Joseph Conrad. Also, John Steinbeck.

EDITH WHARTON

Like, how did The Age of Innocence win the Pulitzer? It's beyond me. To make Newland Archer such an introspective character is just a sign of hopeless arrogance on behalf of the writer. Ew.

Also, Nicholas Sparks. As a lover of romance fiction, I was disappointed that this man (who is divorced) is regarded as one of the best romance writers. The movies are better, imo.

Every single fan fiction/romance author in Wattpad. Including the ones that are actually good.

I think their works are pretty much cancer, especially the ones at the bottom. They also follow specific formulas or create characters simply to fill in a niche fetish or secret desire (i.e a sadistic lover) that they harbor.

E.L. James

Then again, writing to fill a niche fetish.

Veronica Roth

Now YA is pretty much ruined forever. I personally think her writing is actually good, but thanks to the rise of Divergent and The Hunger Games, the YA section of my nearby bookstore is pretty much teeming with dystopian themes (and romance books).

People who publish Minecraft encyclopedias and comic books.

Now, these cheap bastards are just trying to leech off the young ones' stupidity. They take information that you can easily find on the Minecraft Wiki or any other websites FOR FREE, then they paste that on a book and sell it for like, 18 dollars. They're pretty much leeching off the Minecraft community.

Also their comics are crap (see writing to fill a niche fetish).

Pardon the language. Just a personal grudge against them.

I personally like the way Veronica Roth writes her novel. Divergent is superb, Insurgent is still okay, but Allegiant is a total no-no. The plot and character development derail, but still, she's off to a good start (literally, I'm talking about Divergent).

I despise all authors who take focus on exposition too much.

Veronica Roth and E. L. James are both awful #soznotsoz

Also... People are gonna hate me for this but... I could never get into ee cummings' work. Doesn't mean I hate or dislike him, I've just... seen better >.>

Also didn't really care for anything Shakespeare has written, though to be fair, I've only tried to read a handful of his things..

*fears there will be a mob screaming for her blood*

Despise? I believe you meant, wouldn't read the books even at the end of the world and regret every picking up their series anyways.

-Veronica Roth
-Suzanne Collins
-Lois Lowry: I've only read The Giver but that was enough to keep me from reading the rest. I suppose if I hadn't read as many dystopians by the time I made it to that book, I might have liked it more. The ending was easily predictable and I never really like those. The story is always over before it ever begins. The writing style is also very dry and not as dark as it tries to appear. I get the idea behind it and all of the symbolism but it's not good even with bigger ideas in play. The characters make frankly stupid decisions that sometimes contradict their suppossed perfect way of life.
Perhaps her other stories are alright but after The Giver I don't really know if I can trust the recommendations. Awards never matter to me on books and rarely do my friends' comments. Also, school chosen books are never very good but hold deep symbolic meanings. Perhaps if I could avoid this knowledge as well it would be better but most likely I'd say no.
-Nancy Cavanaugh

So authors I don't like?

Edgar Allan Poe- One word: Cccrrreeeppppyyyy

I can't think of anyone else at the moment.

Despise? I believe you meant, wouldn't read the books even at the end of the world and regret every picking up their series anyways.

Nope, I meant despise/dislike/any other synonym.