Should I tell him the truth?

Yes, you should be honest with him. Guys want you to be honest with them. If somehow he founds later that you lied, its just gonna start an argument. I think being honest no matter how little something is, will keep the relationship in good shape.
Idk that's just me.

I hope I Helped

Tell him to go to college and get an English degree. While in college tell him to take creative writing classes.

well at first I would ask to see if I could see another piece of work. if it is just as bad then yes you should tell him he asked your opinion because he wants an honest answer. if he wanted a lie he would of asked his parents who have to support him. its ok to be honest with him. if he gets all mad about it. just give him his space and when he cools off you can talk to him again. He may just need to learn how to focus his writing style but if that is the case he has plenty of time

As a professional writer myself, I can definitely empathize with both of you. First of all, is there ANYTHING in his writing that you can say something positive about? That would be a good place to start. Then, I would suggest encouraging him to take as many English/writing classes in high school and college as possible. (You didn't say if he was planning to go to college or not--it's not mandatory to be a good writer (I didn't) but if he's serious about writing and his writing sucks as bad as you and your friends think, it sounds like it would be a good idea.) The other thing you could do is try to find out if he really wants to be a WRITER, or if he's just infatuated with the IDEA of being a writer. If he's truly that bad at it, you could help him by explaining that it's not at all lucrative, that's it's a lonely existence, and that most writers I know hate the actual writing part--it's just that it's all we're good at! If he's starting out not even being GOOD at it, it could be a pretty miserable experience. Encourage him to enter some writing competitions so his work can be judged by someone completely impartial. The world is full of people who have a false sense of their writing chops because friends or family members have told them how good they are. Finally, you do him no favors by lying to him. If he demands that you tell him what you think, and you really care about him, then you need to tell him, regardless of the fallout. If he dumps you because you told him the truth (or at least your take on it) then he really didn't want to hear the truth, and if you can't tell him truths he doesn't want to hear, you don't have much of a future with him anyway.

Tell him what you think. Writing takes work and good writing takes even more. If you didn't like it then tell him what you didn't like about it. I doubt if even Shakespear turned out good writing all the time.

of course you should tell him what you think. that does not mean that you need to start off by saying "I really thought your writing sucked and so did my friends that read it"


start off by complimenting everything that you liked about it. Ask him some questions about it. eventually you should be able to talk about what you didn't like about it but be gentle . he's only 18 so he has plenty of time to become a better writer. You don't want to potentially ruin that.

You might want to just say, "I don't think it's good enough to be published." Or something like that.

oo harsh. Well now is the time for tact. Don't brush it off and say yah it's OK. cause that will just make it harder. Tell him something positive about the writing, like maybe the idea and what not, but tell him that you really think that if he wants to be a writer that he needs to work harder on his sentence structure to make it flow. It's awsome that he wants to write cause too many people don't like to do that! It just takes some planning, maybe talk to your parents and see what they say cause they might offer some advice! Just support him but be careful, he probably showed you the pages cause he was proud of it and wants your opinion. Also the age he is at is a very touchy age so it might hurt but reassure him that you support him and don't want to be untruthful to him.

A piece of advice, never ever hold your feelings in when your in a relationship. This is one of those times, just remember to be tactful about it!

just help him with what you think needs to be better about it. writing takes a while to master. the more he reads the better he will get. tell him the truth so he doesn't have a big head and continue in the direction he is going because his girlfriend wants to be nice.

You should tell him the truth because if you don't when he write a story everone will said his a horrible writer then he will blame you for not telling him the truth.

As a writer I can tell you that we are a very sensitive lot. I have been very upset when someone critiqued my prose--however, when I calmed down, I usually saw they were right.

And it made me a better writer.

So yes, tell him what you liked about it and what you didn't, be honest and tactful. No matter how nicely you put it he may get upset, however, it would be better to let him know then to have someone who doesn't care about him tell him he sucks in a mean spirited, non tactful way.

Even after years of paid writing, I still receive rejection letters where people say my work is a joke. On the other end of that spectrum I have published a novel and make my living as a freelance writer.

Even the Hemingways of the world faced rejection.

It is a part of what we do--however, if he really has a passion for this, tell him he should do what most of us did--take writing courses to hone his craft.

Maybe you should compliment him on other hobbies or sports or something else he is good at it and help him to focus on that.
You need to tell him the truth though, just don't be too harsh.

I see it a bit differently;
There are so many people out there who want to be writers. The difference between those and those who actually become successful writers is not the fact that they are more creative or whatever, its the fact that they actually sit down and write something!
Writing is not only an expression of creativity but also hard work, which many people don't know, and it can be learned.
So I think if your boyfriend is one of those that actually enjoy writing and are willing to put effort and practice in it, he actually has the chance to make it.
I'd help him to get better. Without knowing what he wrote, I can't tell you what that would mean, sorry.

Writing is a hard skill and takes years to master for many people. Most never get their books published, and many that are published take years to do so. Find a soft, very caring way to point out what you think needs work. Is it grammar, is it punctuation, flow, plot, dialogue, etc. Then, just be encouraging. He's still in high school, so he has a long way. I'm sure that my papers, while A's then, are crap compared to what I can dish out in a few hours now, after college! And he'll be that much better at it afterwards, especially with a lit. degree or something.