Clive Cussler - great formula trumps lousy writing

I have written a few times about how bad Clive Cussler's writing is, and that it hasn't improved since he's gotten ghost writers for each of his series (the Dirk Pitt, Oregon Files and Kurt Austin books.) (Well, technically they're not ghost writers since their names appear on the covers, but I think it's pretty obvious they do all the writing...Cussler probably just provides the ideas.)

And the ironic thing is of course that Cussler is a multi-millionaire because of his books, although it was his third book, Raise the Titanic, that set him on the patth to fame and fortune, because people in the 1970s were fascinated with the Titanic, and the thought of being able to find and raise her...everyone's dream! (Unfortunately in real life the ship broke apart as it sank...still, it would have been so cool...)

Which just goes to show that as far as guys are concenred...they'll read anything as long as there is a lot of specificity about the types of toys in use (the kinds of cars used and their history, the kinds of watches, the clothing....the vast attention to detail that Ian Fleming was so fond of for his James Bond character. Plus of course the guns, transport such as cars and tanks, aircraft and so on.)

ANd frankly, that's why I read the books. As a woman I prefer more nuanced writing, but I'm also into cars, planes, trains and automobiles, not to mention history. That's another part of Cussler's formula. Most of the books befin in times long past, with a certain artifact that will turn out to be of valuable use in the present day. For Raise the Titanic it was a type of fuel that would render the US energy-independent, for Night Probe it was a treaty signed during WWI that would cede Canada to the United States, and so on.

I'll share some examples of bad writing - and how they should have been written, tomorrow.