Humans make a lot of their choices via the availability heuristic. Being exposed to bad writing can make those trains of thought more available in your mind. I would be wary of it.
When I switched schools I got into an English class with a lot of people who were bad at it. I noticed that I copied some of their mistakes.
This produces interesting results in music: musically talented people who take a mediocre form and turn out something really good from it. c.f. the fans of terrible hardcore punk in the ’80s who turned into the grunge scene, Nirvana and cohorts.
Doesn’t anyone who spends a decent amount of time on the internet these days have a lot of contact with mediocre writing?
Yes. I question the merit of that advice too. “Read a lot, the best books possible” as a strategy will still result in reading far more mediocre writing than optimal.
You know how bad the worst released stuff is? That’s still the good stuff—the bottom of the barrel is at least in the barrel. The slush pile has horrors. Worst is the stuff that’s just … not good. Being able to identify why helps you learn from others.
Doesn’t anyone who spends a decent amount of time on the internet these days have a lot of contact with mediocre writing?
I think it works for fanfic. Certainly does for music. Some ideas, you don’t realise how bad they can be without seeing.
It’s the same with teaching: You never know in how many ways an argument can be wrong until you grade 25 assignments in a row.
Humans make a lot of their choices via the availability heuristic. Being exposed to bad writing can make those trains of thought more available in your mind. I would be wary of it.
When I switched schools I got into an English class with a lot of people who were bad at it. I noticed that I copied some of their mistakes.
This produces interesting results in music: musically talented people who take a mediocre form and turn out something really good from it. c.f. the fans of terrible hardcore punk in the ’80s who turned into the grunge scene, Nirvana and cohorts.
Yes. I question the merit of that advice too. “Read a lot, the best books possible” as a strategy will still result in reading far more mediocre writing than optimal.
You know how bad the worst released stuff is? That’s still the good stuff—the bottom of the barrel is at least in the barrel. The slush pile has horrors. Worst is the stuff that’s just … not good. Being able to identify why helps you learn from others.