I agree. I've read a lot of drek that's been published and wonder 'where the hell is the imagination'? I get that there are things to watch out for: wordiness, mixing metaphors, things like that. But I'm very pro-author understanding grammar and making it work *for* them, not against them. I also am tired of picking up books that have been translated from British English to American English because there oh such a difference in the language. Okay anyway... but I also have some strange aversion to reading stories that are clearly taking place in America but the author chooses to write like they're British. Possibly a former fandom author, who knows. I think maintaining the voice of the characters is important. I started reading Fifty Shades of Grey and just about gave it up, but if I didn't have a thing about finishing them just to learn what NOT to do... I'd delete it from my kindle immediately.

If I read that someone heart beat a tattoo on someone's chest one more time, I might scream. Ugh. I'm moving backwards. Instead of reading more modern things, I am going back and reading classic literature. It's really scary how the market is so saturated with books that really wouldn't pass muster with many critics.