What do you think of people who call themselves a "writer," then proceed to write the most awkward things, full of misspellings, grammatical errors and wrong words?

Just means that they are bad writers.

I’ve made a good living writing longer than most of you have been alive, but I still wince when I call myself a writer. I’ve worked alongside truly great writers like Jimmy Breslin, Tom Wolfe, and Charles Portis, but believe me, I’m not now nor ever will be in their league (although Tom Wolfe did once call one of my pieces “excellent”). But I have always tried to write clearly and to avoid misspellings, grammatical errors, wrong words, and typos.

What do I call a writer who does those things? Me, sometimes.

I have posted fan fiction on the internet, starting over ten years ago, and I have to admit, I have toiled with the need to revamp and edit my older stories, badly, as some of the grammar isn’t consistent, and some of it applied to old grammatical rules that no longer apply.

However, you can’t necessarily say they are a bad writer. Look at Stephanie Meyer’s books, they got a bad review for grammar from Stephen King himself, and are highly popular books. So, I think the grammar doesn’t constitute whether the writer is good. A writer is, first and foremost, a story teller. Writing is an art form, as there are so many forms of writing, and types of writing that hiring an editor can make things easier, but it can also change the voice of the writer.

So, with due respect, as a writer myself, who has grown over the years, and has been a favorite of many readers in the past before I learned polished grammar, I say it’s the spirit of the writer that counts most.

I have seen grammatically perfect things that suck, as word choice and presentation are stilted and boring. I have also seen creative and interesting works that need an abundance of copy-editing because the author was quick of mind and keyboard and counted on editors and proofers to ply their professions and clean it up.

Good writing isn’t about not having typos.

You mean like most of the people on the New York Times Bestseller list?

I’m an awtor.

I have writ sevral boks, no pobems. What wrong with u grammer natzis?

What? Like…“proceed the write the most…”

LOL! On me. My bad!

I’m always sorry when people over-estimate their own abilities but I realize that many people have that tendency (even moi at times.)

No, Little Penguin, I have heard that your herring eatng abilities are as awesome as advertised!

You don’t think I need a herring aid?

<groan>...now that’s good writing! :-D

I guess it can happen. If they claim to be editors, you’ve got em cold. Anyone producing anything in print is entitled to the claim of “writer”. Competence is subjective.

I saw a brief note on a picture in People magazine today. It was a picture of a man and a women, people we should know I guess. It said “Patti (McDonald with Dhananjay) spits in spite of the odds.” What?

Lead-gin (sic) in there (sic) own mine (sic) ! !

Lead gin can’t be good.

I’m more annoyed by people who don’t even try to make their stories decent. People who cater for the mass and when they get popular they think of themselves as writers.

My wife was traveling and in an airport many years ago. She had a copy of a James Paterson novel in her lap, the guy next to her asked what she thought of the book, she told it was terrible asked if he wanted to read it. She handed him the book – - – punchline it was James Patterson with a hurt look on his face.

Well… Literature is a linguistic art form. I suppose that gives almost anyone the ability to claim themselves an artist of some type. The quality is too subjective to say that something “can’t ” be art…

Ah shit @Tropical_Willie! Well, I don’t like James Patterson either. But don’t tell him that.

@canidmajor counted on editors and proofers to ply their professions and clean it up.

The editors/proofreaders of today’s digital media don’t seem to help.

They don’t. They don’t seem to help in printed media any more either.

On the contrary, @Strauss, the authors I know count on their editors and proofers who do an excellent job. But then, they are published in paper format as well as ebook format by established houses. I guess if you self-publish only in digital format and don’t hire professionals, or only have your friends and your mom, then it could be fairly shoddy.

But my original point stands. It’s the creative talent that makes for good writing, not whether or not there are typos.