1 What is good writing?
(Disclaimer: This is not a guide on how to be a popular writer, this is a guide on good... or at least decent, writing).
------
What is good writing?
This can be a tricky question for a lot of people.
Some people base this purely on their own enjoyment of a story, others may decide solely from how original the plot is, a few may think something must be good because of its popularity. Others may have a set of rules.
This is only my opinion, and although I believe it is completely justified, you are free to disagree with it.
1. Rules-
Stakes and enjoyment are completely based on rules, without solid rules for your story, there is no foundation for investment. Tell me, what fun is a story where anything can happen at any time for absolutely no reason? Stories like these are typically marked off as trash and for good reason. It is essential to establish logical rules and stay consistent with them.
There are factors that can be taken into account when breaking rules, for example, it is stated in a story that magic does not exist, but then magic is later brought into the story. Is this bad writing? It depends, does a character randomly awaken a power to save his ass in a fight, with little to no good explanation? That would be bad writing.
Who states the rule and how the rule is broken is important, does the narrator or author state there is no magic? Then introducing it is bad writing. Does a character within the story who has no logical reason to believe in magic say it? Then breaking that rule is fine, as it is not a rule in your story, but just an opinion held by a character who would have no understanding. Is the magic shoe-horned in as a plot device, or is it logically introduced into the story, I'm sure you can already tell which is lazy.
2. Logic-
Logic is extremely important to the believability of a story. If you have a character who (A. Loves their parents, and (B. Has super speed and an extremely fast reaction time, but then, when their parents are about to be killed by a normal person with a knife from 10 feet away, they don't do anything, that is *bad* writing.
There is no logical flow to the character's actions. Unless the character has a reasonably built-up personality around something such as being timid or freezing up when scared or stressed, or an event has happened that has drastically reduced their powers for the time being, almost any excuse given for why they couldn't save their parents will seem flimsy.
This goes for the plot as well, if you have an organization based around X but then they turn around and do Y for no reason other than the story needing them to, that's lazy writing.
Contrivances are also important to avoid. To take from a contrived moment in my own novel, the main character turns on the TV and it happens to flip to the exact segment of the news talking about something related to strange things that have been happening to him. There isn't much logical flow to this event and it's rather forced in for the sake of foreshadowing, contrivances are when parts of the plot flow through extreme luck rather than thought-out writing or logic. Falling into a hole and breaking your leg, only to find a magical healing potion in the seemingly normal hole for 'some reason,' is a contrivance.
To quote from a YouTuber by the name of MauLer, "Your job as a writer is to solve problems that prevent you from having the payoffs you want, not give up and appeal to the idea that you had no choice."
3. Consistency
Being consistent with the rules and traits you've established is an immense part of good storytelling. Failing to do this can completely break believability and investment in your story.
If you have it well established that characters can only have 1 magic power, and then you allow a character to use 2 magic powers to win a fight, then this is bad writing.
If you cannot come up with a reasonable explanation for why that character can do that, it will just be a lazy and contrived moment that breaks immersion, as it is now established that characters can break rules whenever convenient for the plot.
------------
You can of course become popular without these 3 guidelines, but just know that your writing will be seen as lazy and shallow in the long run... or maybe even the short run.
