What Makes A Good Writer?
Did you flinch? Did you do a quick perimeter scan of the room to make sure there wasn't one? Did you tear out of the house screaming bloody murder at the mere mention of the word? Disclaimer: if you were buck naked at the time and the cops hauled you in for indecent exposure, you may not sue me.
Words are powerful creatures, able to incite rage or passion or fear. Messing with readers' emotions is one of the perks of being a writer. It's also one of the hardest skills to master.
Case in point...the other day I picked up a book from my TBR pile and chucked it into my gym bag. I do most of my reading while on a treadmill so that I don't have to think about the way my thighs are smoking. After 2 chapters, the only emotion I was feeling was death by exercise because the story did nothing to incite anything else in me. Granted, it was written by a newbie author and later books will probably be better, but honestly, I'm not going to finish this one.
If writing doesn't grab a reader by the throat and shake out a laugh, tears, or a belch of some kind, then the author needs to go back to the drawing board and start over. Yes, it's a long process. Yes, it takes editing and re-editing and, you got it, re-re-editing. But that's the writing game, folks.
Think about some of your best loved books. Go ahead. I'll wait. And I'll bet five bucks some kind of emotional cage bars are rattled as you think. That, my friends, is the sign of a good writer.