What could make “bad writing” good, and what could make “good writing” bad

“What makes bad writing universal is that it lacks detail, originality, specificity and a sense of character and place, it depends on generalisations and clichés (both in terms of language and story), and it only reproduces common tropes and ideas which are propagated in mainstream literature, film, television, music and radio, making it so unremarkable that it could have been written anywhere by anyone at any time.”

While all of the above points could be true - that undetailed, unoriginal, and unspecific writing reproduces the common tropes of mainstream media - I don’t agree with the gravity of Ahmad’s voice when remembering through instances of bad writing in his life.

“Reproducing” tropes reflects our media landscape.

I think that completely avoiding writing that uses common tropes and ideas from mainstream media is not only futile but can prevent the creation of content that illustrates mass-media culture. Our exposure to the loads of information that surrounds us is surely an influential factor in how we think and write. I’m worried that avoiding mimicry to steer clear of “bad writing” pulls us away from forms of writing that can uniquely explore how we are shaped by our media landscape.

What is the purpose of good writing?

Ahmad refers to bell hooks’ degrees of literacy when explaining the personal value of writing well, but I’m weary of the authority that he takes when decreeing what makes certain writing bad. I don’t think he fairly addresses why it is necessary to externally impose his accepted metrics of good and bad writing. Striving to producing content that is widely understandable, critically acclaimed, or uniquely original doesn’t do much to dismantle the assumedly harmful dynamics (insincere tropes, empty characterizations) that Ahmad is working to avoid. There is content around us that beautifully fulfills all of the requirements and there are still unsuccessful writers who strive and fail to replicate its effects. When considering the long line of writers to follow, I am doubtful that making the current generations write “better” will help future generations avoid modern writing pitfalls. Since Ahmad uses his voice in Bad Writing to assert metrics of good and bad, I think it’s really important to also include thoughts on what impact those metrics have on the culture around writing.