: Do many people even care about "good" grammar in novels? I realise people like me are probably many, i.e., amateurs who want to write a book and then get frustrated by having to learn all

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I think it depends on the audience. There are plenty of books out there with mediocre grammar and a very vernacular type of writing. If you know your audience and you know you want to cater to your audience then you should be able to write. You can find out the easy way. Write something you think would entertain someone. Let them read it and then ask for feedback. You don't have to be a researcher to do this with surveys and polls. One or two readers would give you great feedback for this kind of question.

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Bad grammar makes a piece of writing look amateurish.

But keep in mind that your own unpublished, unreviewed work is allowed to be unpolished. (Some would even encourage working your first couple drafts in an unpolished state.) The piece will be revised and proofed, maybe several times, by you and your readers before it's published.

So don't sweat it too much. Just write, and clean it up in revision. But do clean it up.

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RE Lavender is right, just look at wattpad. I've seen tons of books with no grammatical sense whatsoever, and I have to stop what I'm reading to re-read it and try to figure out what it's supposed to mean. Commas aren't that bad, but spelling, punctuation, a lack of vocabulary, and all the rest can really affect the reading experience.

There's an exception for non-English or English as their second language people, like Lavender said, and also younger people. Like a three year old might say, "why me have to sleep? I no tired." And nobody will question that, it's normal. There are some people who pay close attention to grammar in books (like me) and will literally stop reading to stare at the mistake (like me, I got mad because there was no comma) but other people won't notice the TINY mistakes.

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People do care about good grammar in novels.

I understand what you mean about the "intricate details" if you're referring to the oxford comma and grammar rules of that nature that even many editors won't really pay attention to. But, basic rules of grammar apply, unless you have a specific reason to throw those window.

For example, if your character doesn't speak English well, you might use less grammar in his dialogue. Or, if you're writing about an entire civilization of people that never learned proper English, you may not want to use as much grammar, especially if your narrator is a person of the civilization.

But, outside of cases like those, the rules of grammar do apply. This article may provide some insight: simplewriting.org/does-grammar-matter/
This one may also be of assistance, though it argues the contrary: www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/there-are-no-rules/general/why-i-dont-care-about-grammar-and-why-you-should-stop-worrying
The way I've always been taught, and the way I've come to understand grammar, is that you must learn the rules before you can break them. And, if you break them too much, as I've learned the hard way, people can't understand your writing.

So, no, novels aren't expected to be written in MLA or APA format, but they are expected to be coherent.

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