Oh, what the hell. Let’s go for it. Let us speak about great writing — not brilliant writing or clever writing or, most tempting of all, exquisite writing. Let us speak of Quixote writing, Lear and Deronda writing. Honor, heroism, decency, justice and “Ah, love, let us be true to one another” writing. Gaah! The very words are marzipan to the tongue.And yet, at the end of the day — our own or days in general — what else do we seek from our books?
How to Write Great - NYTimes.com. Answer: lots of different things, actually.