Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 12 (click to see context) from:
* Creator/MarioVargasLlosa's semi-autobiographical novel ''La tia Julia y el escribidor'' (''Literature/AuntJuliaAndTheScriptwriter'') intercalates chapters telling the protagonist's story with another being the argument of one of the radial {{SoapOpera}}s written by the eponymous scriptwriter Pedro Camacho. While the protagonist story is told in a very consistent style, the "Soap" chapters are written more grandiloquently, although not ''truly'' badly written. These alternate chapters detail the events going on in the various radio soap operas written by the scriptwriter, who are already very convoluted and filled with a lot of AuthorAppeal and AuthorAvatar meddlings, but become increasingly bizarre as the plots of the separate soap operas start to merge, all thanks to the increasingly unstable mental state of Camacho due to burnout.
to:
* Creator/MarioVargasLlosa's semi-autobiographical novel ''La tia Julia y el escribidor'' (''Literature/AuntJuliaAndTheScriptwriter'') intercalates chapters telling the protagonist's story with another being the argument of one of the radial {{SoapOpera}}s {{Soap Opera}}s written by the eponymous scriptwriter Pedro Camacho. While the protagonist story is told in a very consistent style, the "Soap" chapters are written more grandiloquently, although not ''truly'' badly written. These alternate chapters detail the events going on in the various radio soap operas written by the scriptwriter, who are already very convoluted and filled with a lot of AuthorAppeal and AuthorAvatar meddlings, but become increasingly bizarre as the plots of the separate soap operas start to merge, all thanks to the increasingly unstable mental state of Camacho due to burnout.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 12 (click to see context) from:
* Creator/MarioVargasLlosa's semi-autobiographical novel ''La tia Julia y el escribidor'' (''Literature/AuntJuliaAndTheScriptwriter'') has a structure where intercalates a chapter telling the protagonist story with another being the argument of one of the radial {{Soap Opera}}s written by the eponymous ''scriptwriter'' Pedro Camacho. While the protagonist story is told in a very consistent style, the "Soap" chapters are written in a more grandiloquent style, although not actually ''truly bad'' written. These alternate chapters detail the events going on in the various radio soap operas written by the scriptwriter, who are already very convoluted and filled with a lot of AuthorAppeal and AuthorAvatar meddlings, but become increasingly bizarre as the plots of the separate soap operas start to merge, all thanks to the increasingly unstable mental state of Camacho due to burnout.
to:
* Creator/MarioVargasLlosa's semi-autobiographical novel ''La tia Julia y el escribidor'' (''Literature/AuntJuliaAndTheScriptwriter'') has a structure where intercalates a chapter chapters telling the protagonist protagonist's story with another being the argument of one of the radial {{Soap Opera}}s {{SoapOpera}}s written by the eponymous ''scriptwriter'' scriptwriter Pedro Camacho. While the protagonist story is told in a very consistent style, the "Soap" chapters are written in a more grandiloquent style, grandiloquently, although not actually ''truly bad'' ''truly'' badly written. These alternate chapters detail the events going on in the various radio soap operas written by the scriptwriter, who are already very convoluted and filled with a lot of AuthorAppeal and AuthorAvatar meddlings, but become increasingly bizarre as the plots of the separate soap operas start to merge, all thanks to the increasingly unstable mental state of Camacho due to burnout.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
Changed line(s) 20 (click to see context) from:
* ''Literature/TheSoundAndTheFury''. The first section is written from the perspective of a mentally disabled man who moves in and out of flashbacks with no warning, giving no {{expospeak}} of any kind and making it ridiculously difficult to figure out the setting or the character relationships. The second section of the book is written by a student having a nervous breakdown who [[TrueArtIsIncomprehensible is apparently opposed to the sentence]] and constantly refers to something that he well knows never happened. ''Then'' it gets comprehensible, but the third section is about such a monstrous person that it's just a different sort of difficult.
to:
* ''Literature/TheSoundAndTheFury''. The first section is written from the perspective of a mentally disabled man who moves in and out of flashbacks with no warning, giving no {{expospeak}} of any kind and making it ridiculously difficult to figure out the setting or the character relationships. The second section of the book is written by a student having a nervous breakdown who [[TrueArtIsIncomprehensible is apparently opposed to the sentence]] sentence and constantly refers to something that he well knows never happened. ''Then'' it gets comprehensible, but the third section is about such a monstrous person that it's just a different sort of difficult.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 41 (click to see context) from:
* Some of the material in ''Literature/HouseOfLeaves'' might fall into this category.
to:
* Some of the material in ''Literature/HouseOfLeaves'' is full of this and arguably competes with the above-mentioned ''The Sound And The Fury'' as one of the defining examples of Stylistic Suck in literature. Each narrator for each of [[NestedStory the five layers of narrative]] have their own specific breed of Stylistic Suck. You might fall want to get comfortable:
** ''The Navidson Record'', the innermost story, doesn't have a narrator but is transcribed secondhand to us, being a [[FoundFootageFilms found footage movie]] about [[DysfunctionJunction the Navidson family]] moving into a bizarre HauntedHouse. It's a genuinely haunting and fascinating film, but also absolutely filled with [[LeaveTheCameraRunning long stretches of nothing happening]], [[RealisticDictionIsUnrealistic realistically awkward dialogue]], JitterCam, and a generally directionless atmosphere, all on top of the fact that it'd have to be five hours long at minimum. This is all offered as evidence that it's genuine and not just a movie, as the LawOfConservationOfDetail is completely and utterly flouted, along with pretty much any other storytelling mechanics; it's like really watching these people go about their actual lives, with all the boring down periods, lack of exposition, and general messiness that implies.
** The second layer is a dissertation on ''The Navidson Record'' written by an amateur film critic and self-proclaimed scholar named [[SmallNameBigEgo Zampanò]]. Zampanò tries really hard to act the part of a RenaissanceMan and mostly fails catastrophically, with other characters comparing his work to that of a college freshman who'd get a C- at best. His writing style is smug and self-assured, with him constantly trying to impress with irrelevant precision, overly-lengthy quotations, equally overlong summaries of basic subjects, and expressing his subjective opinions as objective fact, which is all made worse by a tendency to meander off topic while trying to convey his insights. He also makes ''a lot'' of spelling errors and weird formatting choices that hurt the readability of his work. A lot of the problems are only present because the essay as-read is a rough draft that Zampanò was still working on, leading to yet another expression of thiscategory.trope when you reach multiple sections that were heavily foreshadowed and hyped up as vital to understanding what's going on, [[TheUnreveal only to find placeholder notes from Zampanò reminding himself to write those sections]].
** The third layer is the annotations and journals of [[NominalHero Johnny Truant]], a drug addict who finds Zampanò's manuscript and decides to stitch it together, while adding in his own research and additions. His writing actually starts out quite decent, but slowly degrades in quality as [[SanitySlippage his mental state and personal life worsens over the course of the novel]]. He becomes prone to long, rambling diatribes that bleed together and gets much sloppier in terms of spelling and formatting, while also letting his personal diary entries overtake both his own annotations and Zampanò's paper, leading to nonsense like major plot developments in the lower layers being interrupted by Johnny bragging about getting laid. This is compounded by Johnny taking on an increasingly adversarial tone with the reader, attacking and mocking them in his writing, as well as being an UnreliableNarrator of the worst kind who openly admits to regularly lying about what he says happened.
** The fourth layer is a series of letters sent to Johnny by his mother [[TheOphelia Pelafina]], who is a paranoid schizophrenic committed to a mental health facility, commenting on his life and journaling her own. Her early writing is perfectly coherent, but as she gets older, her mental illness worsens significantly because of her treatments failing for some reason, and her writing goes down the drain with her mind. Her letters become full of manic rambling, swinging back and forth between raving about the conspiracies she hallucinates everywhere and apologizing for her actions and words when she regains lucidity. Her spelling gets worse as well, and the coherency of her words dissipates slowly but gradually.
** The fifth and final layer comes in the form of [[LiteraryAgentHypothesis the Editors of the publishing house]], who have received the insane manuscript formed from the four other layers and been given the unenviable task of putting it all together. They [[InvertedTrope invert]] this trope. Unlike all the madness in the other narratives, [[OnlySaneMan they are sane, normal, and professional people]] and it shows in their writing, which is competent, clean, and succinctly efficient. They genuinely try their best to present the reader with all the available facts in a way that's understandable. Their work is obviously made difficult by the nature of the other layers, and there ends up being more than one situations where they just throw up their hands and say "your guess is as good as ours". In general, their attempts to apply a MindScrewdriver to the novel are admirable but unsuccessful. [[MindScrew Good luck figuring it out yourself]].
** ''The Navidson Record'', the innermost story, doesn't have a narrator but is transcribed secondhand to us, being a [[FoundFootageFilms found footage movie]] about [[DysfunctionJunction the Navidson family]] moving into a bizarre HauntedHouse. It's a genuinely haunting and fascinating film, but also absolutely filled with [[LeaveTheCameraRunning long stretches of nothing happening]], [[RealisticDictionIsUnrealistic realistically awkward dialogue]], JitterCam, and a generally directionless atmosphere, all on top of the fact that it'd have to be five hours long at minimum. This is all offered as evidence that it's genuine and not just a movie, as the LawOfConservationOfDetail is completely and utterly flouted, along with pretty much any other storytelling mechanics; it's like really watching these people go about their actual lives, with all the boring down periods, lack of exposition, and general messiness that implies.
** The second layer is a dissertation on ''The Navidson Record'' written by an amateur film critic and self-proclaimed scholar named [[SmallNameBigEgo Zampanò]]. Zampanò tries really hard to act the part of a RenaissanceMan and mostly fails catastrophically, with other characters comparing his work to that of a college freshman who'd get a C- at best. His writing style is smug and self-assured, with him constantly trying to impress with irrelevant precision, overly-lengthy quotations, equally overlong summaries of basic subjects, and expressing his subjective opinions as objective fact, which is all made worse by a tendency to meander off topic while trying to convey his insights. He also makes ''a lot'' of spelling errors and weird formatting choices that hurt the readability of his work. A lot of the problems are only present because the essay as-read is a rough draft that Zampanò was still working on, leading to yet another expression of this
** The third layer is the annotations and journals of [[NominalHero Johnny Truant]], a drug addict who finds Zampanò's manuscript and decides to stitch it together, while adding in his own research and additions. His writing actually starts out quite decent, but slowly degrades in quality as [[SanitySlippage his mental state and personal life worsens over the course of the novel]]. He becomes prone to long, rambling diatribes that bleed together and gets much sloppier in terms of spelling and formatting, while also letting his personal diary entries overtake both his own annotations and Zampanò's paper, leading to nonsense like major plot developments in the lower layers being interrupted by Johnny bragging about getting laid. This is compounded by Johnny taking on an increasingly adversarial tone with the reader, attacking and mocking them in his writing, as well as being an UnreliableNarrator of the worst kind who openly admits to regularly lying about what he says happened.
** The fourth layer is a series of letters sent to Johnny by his mother [[TheOphelia Pelafina]], who is a paranoid schizophrenic committed to a mental health facility, commenting on his life and journaling her own. Her early writing is perfectly coherent, but as she gets older, her mental illness worsens significantly because of her treatments failing for some reason, and her writing goes down the drain with her mind. Her letters become full of manic rambling, swinging back and forth between raving about the conspiracies she hallucinates everywhere and apologizing for her actions and words when she regains lucidity. Her spelling gets worse as well, and the coherency of her words dissipates slowly but gradually.
** The fifth and final layer comes in the form of [[LiteraryAgentHypothesis the Editors of the publishing house]], who have received the insane manuscript formed from the four other layers and been given the unenviable task of putting it all together. They [[InvertedTrope invert]] this trope. Unlike all the madness in the other narratives, [[OnlySaneMan they are sane, normal, and professional people]] and it shows in their writing, which is competent, clean, and succinctly efficient. They genuinely try their best to present the reader with all the available facts in a way that's understandable. Their work is obviously made difficult by the nature of the other layers, and there ends up being more than one situations where they just throw up their hands and say "your guess is as good as ours". In general, their attempts to apply a MindScrewdriver to the novel are admirable but unsuccessful. [[MindScrew Good luck figuring it out yourself]].
Added DiffLines:
* "Born Of Man And Woman" by Creator/RichardMatheson is [[EpistolaryNovel written as if it were the journal]] of a monstrously deformed (''[[HumanoidAbomination literally]]'') child who is kept locked up in it's parents basement and abused by them, treated like an animal and hidden from the world. The resulting text is about what you'd expect from an insane, inhuman, and childlike creature who has received little to no education or proper rearing whatsoever; their language and writing is ''awful'', with almost nonexistent grammar, bad punctuation, and equally terrible spelling, as well as a lot of odd synonyms and turns of phrase born out of the child having very little knowledge of the outside world (e.g., it refers to other children as "little mothers and little fathers", an extension of using "father and mother" as terms for gender).
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* Creator/HarlanEllison wrote ''Literature/RepentHarlequinSaidTheTicktockman'' partly as a protest against conventional "rules of good writing", and run-on sentences are not uncommon in the story.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 26 (click to see context) from:
* In the ''Literature/CaptainUnderpants'' series, George and Harold write and draw (well, George writes and Harold draws) their own comics, with each book having at least one comic for a chapter. The art and spelling is, to put it simply, sub-par. Their MirrorUniverse counterparts, however, draw comics which have superior art and spelling. The normal-universe George and Harold, however, think it's ''awful''.
to:
* In the ''Literature/CaptainUnderpants'' series, George and Harold write and draw (well, George writes and Harold draws) their own comics, with each book having at least one comic for a chapter. The art and spelling is, to put it simply, sub-par. Their MirrorUniverse counterparts, however, draw comics which have superior art and spelling. The normal-universe George and Harold, however, Harold think it's ''awful''.
Changed line(s) 83 (click to see context) from:
* ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' is intended to resemble mythology and ancient chronicles. This leads to some confusing moments: like when Gildor Inglórion introduces himself as "of the House of Finarfin", as if he expects that to mean something. Many first time readers will stop and go scouring through the book to see what they've missed: but the answer is nothing. Nor does this detail matter for the story. It's a deliberate violation of the LawOfConservationOfDetail, for the purpose of style. Though if you simply cannot continue reading without knowing, the answer to your most burning questions can be found in the Appendices. This is a common thing in myths, a character will introduce themselves as being related to a character who isn't part of the current story: but the audience would be expected to know. Except here, the real audience doesn't know. However, the story isn't written for any real audience: not only does it's author exist in the fictional world, but it's intended audience does as well. While this leads to some very weird narrative structure, it also has the rather nice side effect of not making any reader feel excluded or included. Again, the point here is to invoke the feeling of this being mythology. It makes the act of reading the text feel almost rebellious in a weird way, precisely because it ''doesn't'' cater to you...whoever you might be.
to:
* ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' is intended to resemble mythology and ancient chronicles. This leads to some confusing moments: like when Gildor Inglórion introduces himself as "of the House of Finarfin", as if he expects that to mean something. Many first time readers will stop and go scouring through the book to see what they've missed: but the answer is nothing. Nor does this detail matter for the story. It's a deliberate violation of the LawOfConservationOfDetail, for the purpose of style. Though if you simply cannot continue reading without knowing, the answer to your most burning questions can be found in the Appendices. This is a common thing in myths, a character will introduce themselves as being related to a character who isn't part of the current story: but the audience would be expected to know. Except here, the real audience doesn't know. However, the story isn't written for any real audience: not only does it's its author exist in the fictional world, but it's its intended audience does as well. While this leads to some very weird narrative structure, it also has the rather nice side effect of not making any reader feel excluded or included. Again, the point here is to invoke the feeling of this being mythology. It makes the act of reading the text feel almost rebellious in a weird way, precisely because it ''doesn't'' cater to you...whoever you might be.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* The children’s book ''45 + 47 Stella Street and everything that happened'' is framed as if it were [[DirectLineToTheAuthor a true story written by its first-person narrator]], 11-year-old Henni Octon. The story does things like randomly switching between past and present tense, and sometimes has Henni’s narration go on tangents about writing the book (such as one instance where she fixates on the use of “cried” as a dialogue tag).
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* ''Literature/HowNotToWriteANovel'' includes sample passages at the beginning of each section to clearly demonstrate every faux pas the authors wants people to avoid. Though they are [[RuleOfFunny exaggerated for comedic effect]], they aren't ''that'' exaggerated -- the reason for this book being written in the first place was co-author Howard Mittelmark having worked in publishing and [[SturgeonsLaw rejecting manuscripts with these very problems over, and over, and over]]...
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* Done in-universe to make a point in ''Literature/TheFootprintOfMussolini''. [[spoiler:When the Soviet Union attempts a MoonLandingHoax, the editor they choose for the resulting film, Pavel Klushantev, is disgusted with the leaders of his country for sinking so low. In response, he deliberately botches the job, making it blatantly obvious that the film is fake.]]
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 75 (click to see context) from:
* ''LightNovel/AkashicRecordsOfBastardMagicInstructor'' has two examples:
to:
* ''LightNovel/AkashicRecordsOfBastardMagicInstructor'' ''Literature/AkashicRecordsOfBastardMagicInstructor'' has two examples:
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* One of the running gags in ''Literature/TheFinishingSchoolSeries'' is Agatha's habit of wearing very fancy and expensive dresses that are ''exactly'' the wrong cut and color for her. It isn't until the revelation near the end of the fourth book that [[spoiler: Agatha has been in service to Lord Ackledama - who is notorious for having particularly good fashion sense even for a vampire - since she arrived at the school that Sophronia realizes that Agatha had been picking such tacky dresses on purpose to encourage even her friends to underestimate her]].
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 83 (click to see context) from:
* ''Literature/StickDog'': All of the drawings are done in a very primitive style. All the dogs are drawn with the same boxy body type to highlight it.
to:
* ''Literature/StickDog'': All of the drawings are done in a very primitive style. All the dogs are drawn with the same boxy body type to highlight it. The drawings of humans are more detailed, though.
** The same applies to the ''Literature/StickCat'' series. Though Stick Cat's head is drawn as a circle, the same for Edith's head and body.
** The same applies to the ''Literature/StickCat'' series. Though Stick Cat's head is drawn as a circle, the same for Edith's head and body.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
Critical Research Failure is a disambiguation page
Changed line(s) 52 (click to see context) from:
** The short story "Voice from the Vortex" by Gareth Roberts in ''Magazine/DoctorWhoMagazine'' is a parody of the lousy stories in the sixties and seventies World Distributors ''Doctor Who'' [[TheChristmasAnnual annuals]], with appalling artwork, a nonsensical plot, and characters called "[[IAmNotShazam Dr. Who]]" and "Rosie Taylor" ([[FashionDissonance who wears a mod dress and beehive]]). It also features constant [[CriticalResearchFailure glaring inaccuracies]], like the time machine being called ''Tardis'' and having a rectangular console and making a beeping noise when it takes off; and writing the Ninth Doctor (a terse, witty Mancunian) with the same speech patterns as the First Doctor (a fearsome and formal old man), describing him as wearing a cloak and handbag and being chubby, and having him [[TechnicalPacifist carry a gun]] and cry for no reason. On top of that the prose is riddled with malapropisms and basically ugly verbal constructions and ends with AnAesop that has nothing to do with anything that happened.
to:
** The short story "Voice from the Vortex" by Gareth Roberts in ''Magazine/DoctorWhoMagazine'' is a parody of the lousy stories in the sixties and seventies World Distributors ''Doctor Who'' [[TheChristmasAnnual annuals]], with appalling artwork, a nonsensical plot, and characters called "[[IAmNotShazam Dr. Who]]" and "Rosie Taylor" ([[FashionDissonance who wears a mod dress and beehive]]). It also features constant [[CriticalResearchFailure glaring inaccuracies]], inaccuracies, like the time machine being called ''Tardis'' and having a rectangular console and making a beeping noise when it takes off; and writing the Ninth Doctor (a terse, witty Mancunian) with the same speech patterns as the First Doctor (a fearsome and formal old man), describing him as wearing a cloak and handbag and being chubby, and having him [[TechnicalPacifist carry a gun]] and cry for no reason. On top of that the prose is riddled with malapropisms and basically ugly verbal constructions and ends with AnAesop that has nothing to do with anything that happened.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
Changed line(s) 56 (click to see context) from:
* ''Literature/IPartridgeWeNeedToTalkAboutAlan'' is made of this trope. It's the "autobiography" of the character Franchise/AlanPartridge, and his writing style is sheer torture. He particularly abuses ThatMakesMeFeelAngry and ClicheStorm, changes tenses semi-randomly, misuses words, [[UnreliableNarrator lies all the time]] and invents unbelievable embellishments, informs the readers whenever he does anything he considers clever with his writing, at one point [[PlagiarismInFiction plagiarises]] Wiki/{{Wikipedia}}, and gives long and painfully elaborate descriptions of irrelevant details such as the exact physical way that he opened an envelope containing his A-level results. There is nothing good about his writing whatsoever.
to:
* ''Literature/IPartridgeWeNeedToTalkAboutAlan'' is made of this trope. It's the "autobiography" of the character Franchise/AlanPartridge, and his writing style is sheer torture. He particularly abuses ThatMakesMeFeelAngry and ClicheStorm, changes tenses semi-randomly, misuses words, [[UnreliableNarrator lies all the time]] and invents unbelievable embellishments, informs the readers whenever he does anything he considers clever with his writing, at one point [[PlagiarismInFiction plagiarises]] Wiki/{{Wikipedia}}, Website/{{Wikipedia}}, and gives long and painfully elaborate descriptions of irrelevant details such as the exact physical way that he opened an envelope containing his A-level results. There is nothing good about his writing whatsoever.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* ''Literature/DiaryOfAWimpyKid'': The Do-It-Yourself book features comic strips by some of the characters. Most of them fall under this. In Rowley's strip ''Action Fighterz'', the only action was one character hitting the other with a FryingPanOfDoom. The rest of the page is just them discussing what's about to happen.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* ''Literature/JaineAustenMysteries'': A lot of fictional work Jaine comes across is so clearly terrible.
** "Do Not Disturb"[[note]]Styled and even eventually published as "Do Not Distub"[[/note]] from ''Killer Cruise'' is a prime example. Jaine is forced to edit the manuscript of a crewman named Samoa to keep Prozac's being on the ship a secret. Long story there. Anyhoo, the thing is a woefully ridiculous tale of a steward who foils a terrorist plot while performing his steward duties. The tale has him disarming a nuclear device with a plunger, the protagonist is clearly based on him (his name is Samoa Huffington III) as a [[MarySue Gary Stu]] with a [[BiggerIsBetterInBed huge penis]] and ends with him riding off in the [[CoolCar "Samoa mobile"]]. For a kick in the ass, it becomes a New York Times bestseller and gets a movie adaptation starring Creator/AntonioBanderas (albeit with them describing it as absurdist literature).
** "Do Not Disturb"[[note]]Styled and even eventually published as "Do Not Distub"[[/note]] from ''Killer Cruise'' is a prime example. Jaine is forced to edit the manuscript of a crewman named Samoa to keep Prozac's being on the ship a secret. Long story there. Anyhoo, the thing is a woefully ridiculous tale of a steward who foils a terrorist plot while performing his steward duties. The tale has him disarming a nuclear device with a plunger, the protagonist is clearly based on him (his name is Samoa Huffington III) as a [[MarySue Gary Stu]] with a [[BiggerIsBetterInBed huge penis]] and ends with him riding off in the [[CoolCar "Samoa mobile"]]. For a kick in the ass, it becomes a New York Times bestseller and gets a movie adaptation starring Creator/AntonioBanderas (albeit with them describing it as absurdist literature).
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* ''Literature/StickDog'': All of the drawings are done in a very primitive style. All the dogs are drawn with the same boxy body type to highlight it.
