May 17, 2002

7:17 AM

In L.A., everyone's a screenwriter. On the web everyone's got a blog and has something to say. But of course, screen credits and blogs do not necessarily make great writing. But let's not blame the medium for such folly. Bad writing predates film and the net. Enter [stage left]: Nick Page's In Search of the World's Worst Writers. The book warns us against the convential wisdom of writing about what we know. Poet Solyman Brown, a dental surgeon who wrote a 54-page poem called "The Dentologia - A Poem on Diseases of the Teeth," is a prime example. (via Utne Reader)
posted by Taken Outtacontext (3 comments total)

Here's a better link then Amazon, which includes excerpts from the aforementioned dentologic epic.

Ye ask the cause : by premature decay,
Two of her dental pearls have passed away;
The two essential to those perfect strains,
That charm the soul when heavenly music reigns.
But fly, ye swains, to Seraphina fly,

I, for one, am speechless.

PS. Any discussion of awful writing wouldn't be complete without mention of the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest.
posted by malphigian at 7:34 AM on May 17, 2002

Good links, malphigian. Thx.

After reading some of these I feel I'm ripe for a Pulizer! -grin
posted by Taken Outtacontext at 7:57 AM on May 17, 2002

julia a moore (you google it)
best of the worst. cash may be involved.
posted by clavdivs at 9:48 AM on May 17, 2002