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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Merlion" data-source="post: 3131828" data-attributes="member: 10397">I dont see where black, white or grey comes into it. All I'm saying is, nobody has the right to dictate someone elses opinion to them about art. If a work of art has value to me, if it makes me happy, if I find it pleasing, then it has value to me. And no one has the right to step in and say "No, it has no value; its only pleasing to you because your not sophisticated enough to realize its worthless."If a work is worthless to you, I have no problem with that. Just dont try to say its worthless to everyone. Ok. What are they? Lets look at writing for an example. Now yes we have spelling and grammar, which are objective, but to me those are not really part of the art of writing as storytelling. We all learn how to spell and how to use grammar properly, so I am setting that aside for this purpose.You mention pacing, point of view, and structure. Plot, characterization, voice, and setting have also been mentioned as important factors.Ok, fine. No problem.But how do we judge the criteria? Whats a good pace for a story? How do you best define a setting? What point of view suits what type of story best?To me, any answer to these questions is simply going to be an opinion, a preference. Everyone is going to have their own views on how best to craft these aspects of a story and all of those views are equally valid . Now yes, critics and other professionals work with a set of criteria, and a set of criteria for those criteria, based on commonly held opinion. And thats fine, and it makes them nearly objective (subjective-objective, or pseudo-objective as Umbran said). However, even though they are commonly held, they are not universal. Someone may still dearly love a book that most critics and even most regular people consider awful, and which doesnt meet any of the commonly accept criteria.My point is, that persons opinion is just as valid as that of the majority. Now I will even grant that there are a few things that people are more or less going to universally dislike. The big one that springs to mind involves the "plot" aspect of a story...if a writer contradicts themselves, that tends to upset the vast majority of readers. But to me, having a plot or characterization contradiction, or a blip in continuity or some such thing, constitutes a mistake or flaw. It doesnt make a book a bad book, or a writer a bad writer. I guess a book or story that consisted of nothing but plot contradictions, it would be a "bad" book, but I at least have never seen such a thing.</blockquote>

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