Takes One to Know One?

Okay.

Recognizing bad writing does not a good writer make. Not automatically at least. Sigh. Let me explain...

Recently, we received a book proposal from someone whose job it is to find and develop material. You would think that because John Doe spends a lot of his time discerning between good and bad scripts/stories/etc, that he would be well-equipped to write something decent himself.

You would think.

Instead, it looked like someone had eaten pages from the book "The DaVinci Code," and the script "The Skulls," and proceeded to vomit it onto a word document.

That's not to say that someone who recognizes bad writing won't be a good writer. If you can recognize bad writing, that's a really strong start. I was just a little surprised at how incredibly off the mark someone with good taste can be when it comes to their own material.

It reminds me of those really annoying logic problems from 4th grade math: "If --> Then" statements, and all that crap.

IF (you are a good writer) --> THEN (you recognize bad writing) = LIKELY?

IF (you recognize bad writing) --> THEN (you are a good writer) = FALSE!

Ahhhhhh... I guess that's where he got messed up.