I am trying to search out an essay that I think OSC wrote--if you can help that would be great.
It was about bad authors who got good reviews for their style or wordings. One woman was mentioned and taken apart. A man was also mentioned, though I don't think he was focused on as much as the woman.
Perhaps the essay was originally brought up in these forums? I can't remember.
Posted by ginette (Member # 852) on :
Haven't got an idea popatr. Sorry. Do you know when he wrote it, and if it is published in one of his books, maybe in 'A storyteller in Zion' or as a foreword in maybe Maps in a Mirror?
Posted by popatr (Member # 1334) on :
I'm not 100% sure it was written by him--but if it was, it definitely wasn't part of a book.
Thanks for the reply.
Posted by msquared (Member # 4484) on :
Pop, You might try the Uncle Orson reviews everything articles. All of them are listed on the side on the page they are on.
msquared
Posted by popatr (Member # 1334) on :
I just browsed through the reviews, and I don't think it was in any of those.
The thing I am thinking about was an essay criticising a certain writing technique. The woman's work was quoted often and then commented on. Every moment was ripping at her floweryness or something, how that there was no real substance to her work. I think the idea was that plain direct writing is usually preferrable.
The man's work was used as another example. The author of the essay mockingly quoted some critics who praised the wording as "gritty". One excerpt was all about his horse, which was mocked. I think that this guy writer that was critcised was known for westerns.