Flaws of Great Writers

[ChristopherSea]

In his memoir On Writing, Stephen King had this to say about H. P. Lovecraft's dialogue:

"Writers have different skill levels when it comes to dialogue. Your skills in this area can be improved, but, as a great man once said (actually it was Clint Eastwood), "A man's got to know his limitations." H. P. Lovecraft was a genius when it came to tales of the macabre, but a terrible dialogue writer. He seems to have known it, too, because in the millions of words of fiction he wrote, fewer than five thousand are dialogue. The following passage from "The Colour Out of Space," in which a dying farmer describes the alien presence which has invaded his well, showcases Lovecraft's dialogue problems. Folks, people just don't talk like this, even on their deathbeds:

"Nothin'... nothin'... the colour... it burns... cold an' wet, but it burns... it lived in the well... I seen it... a kind of smoke... jest like the flowers last spring... the well shone at night... Thad an' Merwin an' Zenas... everything alive... suckin' the life out of everything... in that stone... it must a' come in that stone pizened the whole place... dun't know what it wants... that round thing them men from the college dug outen the stone... they smashed it... it was the same colour... jest the same, like the flowers an' plants... must a' ben more of 'em... seeds... seeds... they growed... I seen it the fust time this week... must a' got strong on Zenas... he was a big boy, full o' life... it beats down your mind an' then gets ye... burns ye up... in the well water... you was right about that... evil water... Zenas never come back from the well... can't git away... draws ye... ye know summ'at's comin' but tain't no use... I seen it time an' agin senct Zenas was took... whar's Nabby, Ammi?... my head's no good... dun't know how long sense I fed her... it'll git her ef we ain't keerful... jest a colour... her face is gittin' to hev that colour sometimes towards night... an' it burns an' sucks... it come from some place whar things ain't as they is here... one o' them professors said so..."

And so on and so forth, in carefully constructed eliptical bursts of information. It's hard to say exactly what's wrong with Lovecraft's dialogue, other than the obvious: it's stilted and lifeless, brimming with country cornpone ("some pace whar things ain't as they is here"). When dialogue is right, we know. When it's wrong we also know - it jags on the ear like a badly tuned musical instrument."

What great writers have you read who were notably flawed in certain areas of their craft, and which areas do you struggle with as writers?

Reading that gasping dialog had me hyperventilating Hesp! Nonetheless, HP Lovecraft was a favorite of mine as well. His short stories were classic gothic horror with cosmic and mythological roots. From Pickman's Model and to The Dunwitch Horror, they were always narrated by a witness or an observer of the event, probably to avoid excess dialog. You brought back some memories, thanks. I shall think on that favorite flawed writer of mine…