What Passes for Writing These Days

The large, traditional publishing houses have literally ruined literature in the past 50 years. They force-feed the pubic these uninspired, formula "thriller" books, which read like a TV show, or a movie. I think often a movie is better than the original book, these days.

I watched Dan Brown parading around with Tom Hanks on TV to kick off "Angels and Demons," and he must be raking in tens of millions. But I happened to pick up a used Dan Brown book on the shelf of a local restaurant. "Digital Fortress" is a "techno-thriller" Brown wrote 10 years ago. I read the first 10 pages and was astounded at the jaw-dropping poor writing. Yes, there was suspense and intrigue, but it was done in the most amateurish way. And then the writing itself: horribly clumsy sentences, no innovation in language, no lyrical sentences that delight the senses, no light rhythm, just plain crappy writing -- or rather, typing.

I read the glowing reviews at the beginning of the book and I couldn't believe they were talking about the same book. I wondered how consumers could possibly discern when a book is any good, since they are fed such bullshit.

Many people, millions of people, are reading this type of literary garbage, and they think, they believe they are "a reader" but really, they are just viewing a preview of a movie. There's no thinking involved, no profound thoughts. And the writer believes they are a writer, but really they are typists.

Also, last week NPR interviewed had James Patterson who has churned out dozens of novels, and is working on 29 right now. Many times he co-writes -- he provides an outline and someone else writes the book. I cannot understand how these non-books have come to dominate the marketplace. Have you ever read a few chapters? Pure formula junk.

I picked up one other book, and the author had written 28 books and 30 screenplays, and even co-wrote an Academy Award-winning movie. He's published a lot, but I'd never heard of him.

The literature world has no Hemingways, no Fitzgeralds or Tennessee Williams' anymore.

It seems that the strain in the book business is causing a sea change, and new technology is allowing authors to get their books published and made available directly to consumers. This will democratize the book business, and it will again become a meritocracy, rather than this force-fed formula-driven mass market garbage. It serves the publishers right: they've forgotten that they used to discover great writers, and they used to provide real literature to the public. Now they are just uninspired publicity machines looking to maximize short-term profits.