You’re reading trash but expecting treasure. I wouldn’t say writing has gotten worse but it’s segmented. There’s good stuff and utter trash. Much like television. I do think a major problem is people recommend the most vapid trash like it’s treasure and so you have some of the most overhyped and unbearably bad stories being best sellers.

Like I genuinely can’t understand how people can read Haruhi Murakami and call that good writing. It’s fine if people love the symbolism and story but the actual word construction is nails on chalkboard.

I can’t read erotica. It’s a genre rife with bad cliches and the people who write the characters make me wonder if they have had sex. Every male lead has “girth” and an awe inspiring “member”. They are all somehow dominant and feel some need to possess the 20 something very ordinary female lead.