Bad writing doesn’t mean that the story is bad.

If I have to choose between a well written story that can’t get off the ground, or a riveting story with painfully written sentences, I am going to go with the riveting story.

It’s been a hard thing for me to learn and accept, but good writing is not what makes a story good, and if the story is really good, readers will put up with bad writing. When it comes right down to it we read for the pleasure of a well told story, not the joy of exquisite sentences.