Do you think the quality of novels have gone down in the last 50 years?

Question

Do you also think that novels today are not as good as they used to be? I mean look around. Most novels today have 2 D characters, poorly written storylines filled with plot holes and with little or no description. The consumer is also to blame. When people begin to prefer Twilight over classics like Dracula or even fads like Harry Potter over great literature like The Lord of the Rings than I think something is wrong. Do you agree? Why or why not?

Answer 1

50 years ago, I was 16 and had already read all the novels and stories in English that were worth reading.  I wondered where I would find anything else to entertain me?

Today, I can't begin to understand the questions being asked about various novels because I have never heard of them.  The genre usually doesn't interest me.  

What I do read, now, are the mysteries my wife brings from the library.  I am so sick of supervillains who are always 2 steps ahead of the brilliant police detective until he/she gets too cocky and makes a mistake, falling into the trap set for him by the fore-mentioned supercop.   Every police department has the most advanced forensic pathology lab available to them.  The world's most advanced supercomputers track down minute vestiges of the former identity of the super villain and exactly where he has spent every day of his life, even though no one has yet to capture him.

I thought I could do better, and so I wrote, and now, I have written.

When I asked various family members to read my novel, ready for final editing, responses generally fell into the categories of "I read the first 10 pages and gave up.  You have 6 characters in there...how do you expect a reader to keep them straight?"   or..."They guy who got killed right at the beginning?  What did he have to do with the people you have in chapter two?"   "Where did you say this town is?  I can't find it on a map..."

In other words, wanting to have everything clear before doing any reading.  Unwilling to read unless they know what to expect.  Needing to know the formula before investing any time.

So, yes, readers are less literate today than 50 years ago.

Answer 2

I dont think the quality of novels has gone down, what I do believe is that writing by various authors is very prolific now so we have a much wider choice so the individual has much more to look at.

Its also up to the individual, there has always been the rough with the smooth.

Answer 3

I agree with jaksie! Most authors only concern is to make sure that they gain a profit from their books and that is understandable - but the storylines and novels have truly changed from what they used to be! It's like the authors are using the same patterns over and over again, just with different characters and places. Whatever happened to just writing for pleasure and creating ideas? Now we are just reading the same redundant ideas. This is an interesting question and I am glad that it has been brought up.

Answer 4

i agree, but where are the good authors? they have to put out somthing and the editors have a big part on choosing what goes in and out, but then again what else is good besides lotr that is not boring?

Answer 5

I agree that the quality of novels has gone down.  I think that part of the reason is that authors write with a formula to market their books rather than write for pleasure and to share the story.  I am writing a murder mystery now and was advised to include certain plot twists to sell it.  I am trying to stay true to the story.  We'll see. ;)

Answer 6

I don't think the quality of literary novels has gone down. You can still browse the fiction section at Borders and find plenty of books destined to become classics. I think the problem may be that genre fiction has overshadowed most other books. It's genre fiction that generates the rabid bestsellers, which get the most attention. Even bad genre fiction (btw, by GF I mean romance, mystery, horror, sci-fi, etc.) can become a huge hit, as we've seen.

If anything (and I hesitate to say this because it will probably bring a storm of fury), the quality of *readers* has gone down. Maybe it's the television age, who knows? Regardless, most readers want a quick, entertaining read, and that's all. Keep in mind, this isn't to say that I don't directly contribute by voraciously reading mysteries. I just think that society's tastes have changed, thus lending more power to a DIFFERENT kind of novel.

Interesting question!