Learning from Bad Examples

I learn from the things I read. I generally read things I like. It makes sense to me. Why would I read things that I don't like? Why would I stay up to date on things I don't like? All it would do is continuously angry up my blood.

And yet, every now and then, I try reading something new and give it a fair shot. Sometimes, what I read is just awful. But rather than simply saying it sucks and never reading it again, I pay attention. I try to figure out why I don't laugh, or simply don't care. Then I never read it again.

There are many lessons to be learned from bad examples: movement is important, dialogue should sound natural, don't dillydally, be efficient, etc. But there is one very important thing that everybody should take away from bad examples. If a piece of writing that is so terrible can make its way from the author all the way to you, then your work can get much furtherbecause yours doesn't suck.