The Secret Life Of Lauren

What makes good writing good is a sense of authenticity. No matter what she's is writing about, do I have complete faith that she is telling the truth, and at least what she's saying could be true. Can she impress me with even the most subtle little details that ring true?
That's the biggest thing for me.
 

Authenticity is definitely something that makes writing good. And I think editing for clarity and style and making your prose as clean as possible grammatically helps as well.
 

The best writing is that which makes you look at something from a different perspective, making you feel as though you're seeing "it" for the very first time despite the fact that you already know what "it" is.
 

I think the best writing, like the best acting, comes from honesty - not in the sense of "what I'm writing/acting out is something that really happened and this is really how I feel about it" but "what I am presenting is part of an essential truth, and I am representing it as fully and as totally as I am capable".

(Whew. See, if I really were a good writer, that would have come out better.)

Oh, and don't end sentences with prepositions. Of course, in English, most prepositions can be used as adverbs.
 

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I stumbled upon your blog by chance. Your post immediately piqued my interest, which is, in my opinion, what good writing should do. But how do you know what your audience will find interesting?

It's hard to make a manual on toaster repair interesting to anyone whose toaster isn’t broken. Anais Nin's erotica is certainly compelling, but probably not to geriatrics and celibates. Few men read the instructions on tampon boxes.

Communication is receiver-dependent. In other words, if your audience isn’t interested in your subject matter or can’t decipher your syntax or spelling, they won’t “get” what you’re saying---no matter how good it is. Ever try to carry on a conversation with someone who doesn’t understand a word of English?

In my opinion, audience awareness---identifying who you are writing to and addressing their needs---is essential to effective writing. Good writing? Well, that’s another matter.
 

I think good writing is writing that convinces me that the author has passion about the subject. I read an essay by Gore Vidal last year. I was shocked, and then I laughed, and I fell in love with the writer who penned the essay, which I initially had no interest in reading. Good writing inspires passion in others.
 

Congrats to you to for finishing up school soon!!
Like everyone else mentioned, authenticity is best. Actually one of my best profs would hand papers I've written back to me and tell me that I wasn't being completely open and honest with myself. So I'd revise and get down to that raw feeling (these were personal essays) that I was trying to avoid. That was the kind of work he was looking for, and it was almost therapeutic to write!