Is this for REAL?
Every once in a while, I peruse Fictionpress.com for Really Bad Writing. Maybe I’m just snarky like that, or masochistic. Whatever it is, I occasionally unearth a doozy — usually written by a teenager.
I have never seen anything like this, though, and it makes me wonder if someone is faking it. A troll pretending to be a horrible writer. Waiting to get flamed for crappy writing so they can flame back.
I have no idea, but this particular author just about made me cry.
Damned Soul of Chaos (notice it’s spelled correctly). Read the profile. Scrub your eyes and pick your chin up off the floor. THEN read this “story”: Serenity’s Moonstone. It’s not very long, but it IS very painful.
Two notable quotes:
“Gaoelie Moonfire was pretty with hair the color of crimsen blood and eyes the color of a algae-infestid swimming pool and her body was thin and slender and her eyes shone bright even in the dusty picture. ‘she luvs you Serenity’ said her dad ‘she always said so even before the cancer ate her brain and made her beet u.’”
“Serenity missed mommy and she missed alot of things lyk her hart, her virgin hart thatd been splattered on the floar like when you drop ur Dr. Pepper in the Burger King and you rele want to drink it but you can’t cuz its on the floar and dirty and with germs and u cant get a free refill. U need to pay the price.”
I just . . . I can’t believe a 16-year-old could write that badly. I refuse to believe it. Especially with a “collage” friend helping her. It’s highly possible she’s doing it on purpose, judging by her earlier poems’ descriptions (still badly spelled, but hardly as unreadable as her most recent).
It really sticks in my craw, whether or not it’s real. I’ve seen other “serious” writing that looks more like a text message than a real written work. Are we on the cusp of a language slip? Will we be spelling “you” without the “y” and “o”, and lower-casing the pronoun “I” a hundred years from now?
I can’t fathom it. And yet I see it all the time. What is the written word coming to? 
November 28th, 2007 at 5:29 am
OH. MY. GOODNESS!
August 14th, 2009 at 8:59 am
Why do we say “heads up” when we actually duck?
August 17th, 2009 at 8:27 pm
In truth, immediately i didn’t understand the essence. But after re-reading all at once became clear.
August 19th, 2009 at 8:51 am
Thank you very much for that excellent article
August 19th, 2009 at 9:17 am
I’m always reading about the “Great Apes.” What’s so great about them? How come we never hear about any “Paltry Apes”?
August 19th, 2009 at 10:00 am
I hope this was a very interesting post thanks for writing it!
August 19th, 2009 at 11:15 am
the speed of dark is the sam as the speed of light, it’s just right behind light
August 19th, 2009 at 3:14 pm
Are you a professional journalist? You write very well.