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News & ArtsWednesday, February 4, 2009
Books Stephen King Mocks Popular Author for Poor Writing Skills
Posted by Paul Constant on Wed, Feb 4, 2009 at 11:14 AM
Everyone knows that Stephen King is John Updike compared to Stephenie Meyer. And any Harry Potter book is Great Expectations compared to Twilight. In a recent interview with USA Today, Stephen King pointed that out:
Both Rowling and Meyer, they’re speaking directly to young people. ... The real difference is that Jo Rowling is a terrific writer and Stephenie Meyer can’t write worth a darn. She’s not very good.
He does go on to say something relatively nice about Meyer:
People are attracted by the stories, by the pace and in the case of Stephenie Meyer, it’s very clear that she’s writing to a whole generation of girls and opening up kind of a safe joining of love and sex in those books. It’s exciting and it’s thrilling and it's not particularly threatening because they’re not overtly sexual. A lot of the physical side of it is conveyed in things like the vampire will touch her forearm or run a hand over skin, and she just flushes all hot and cold. And for girls, that’s a shorthand for all the feelings that they’re not ready to deal with yet.
And of course the Twilight fans have come out in comments to defend their High Mormon Priestess:
Stephen Kink is a pompous jerk that hasn't had a highly anticipated or celebrated book in years... he has now resorted to writing a mediocre column for Entertainment Weekly. Who made him the author of all authors to put down someone else's work? Convenient though how this comes just as he is releasing a new book himself... coincidence?
It's funny how most of the comments that defend Twilight are basically praising the book's marketing team rather than the author herself.
(Thanks to Slog tipper Marc.)
2
I liked King as a tween myself, but let's be honest -- the man is not a good writer. I haven't read the Twilight books, though my tween daughter is bananas about them and they got her interested in reading, finally (she hated the movie).
Harry Potter is awful stuff, too, though I admit I gave up after only a couple of chapters in the first book, feeling vaguely embarrassed to have read any of it. The book seemed fine for young readers but was not what I'd call well written, either.
One thing all three authors seem to have in common is that they write incredibly derivative work more or less ripped off from better authors that preceded them by decades. In King's case, virtually every story idea was ripped off from Ray Bradbury or the classic Twilight Zone.
Harry Potter is awful stuff, too, though I admit I gave up after only a couple of chapters in the first book, feeling vaguely embarrassed to have read any of it. The book seemed fine for young readers but was not what I'd call well written, either.
One thing all three authors seem to have in common is that they write incredibly derivative work more or less ripped off from better authors that preceded them by decades. In King's case, virtually every story idea was ripped off from Ray Bradbury or the classic Twilight Zone.
4
I know lots of girls/women like these books who know in their hearts that they are poorly written. The boy and girl in love with barely touching appeals to their high school fantasies.
I am usually insulted when they compare J.K. Rowling and Harry Potter to the crap that is the Twilight series. It is practically boddess ripers for teen girls.
I am usually insulted when they compare J.K. Rowling and Harry Potter to the crap that is the Twilight series. It is practically boddess ripers for teen girls.
5
It's a shame that King knocked Meyer...yes, she is an atrocious writer, but she has created millions of life long readers.
So that ok in my book.
So that ok in my book.
6
Mormonphobia is great good fun and adds spice to any literary endeavor. Too much is never enough. Never let the crazies rest.
8
@7 That's just one of many in his hit-or-miss oeuvre.
I'm instantly reminded of that great scene in Imitation of Life where Sandra Dee shouts at Lana Turner, playing her mother, "Stop acting!" So much irony. Can barely move.
I'm instantly reminded of that great scene in Imitation of Life where Sandra Dee shouts at Lana Turner, playing her mother, "Stop acting!" So much irony. Can barely move.
9
King is right - Twilight is terribly, horribly written. That didn't stop me from reading the first 3 books, in like a week, though I did feel pretty dirty afterwards. I kept reading partly because of morbid fascination with the gender roles, party because of the pacing (as King referenced), and partly because I just wanted to know what happened.
For the 4th book, I figured out that I didn't need to waste a couple of days reading the book and the awful writing, I could just read an online synopsis in 20 minutes and get everything I wanted out of the experience.
For the 4th book, I figured out that I didn't need to waste a couple of days reading the book and the awful writing, I could just read an online synopsis in 20 minutes and get everything I wanted out of the experience.
10
That is the maddening thing about the Twilight series. They're badly written. On a purely technical level, they suck.
As it happens, I also detest the characters and maybe it reads differently than hearing it read (long commute--audiobook), but I find the pacing to be glacial in a quick chapter.
I get why it's so popular. I've read plenty of Mary-Sue fanfic, much of it better written than Twilight. Popular doesn't mean it's any good.
As it happens, I also detest the characters and maybe it reads differently than hearing it read (long commute--audiobook), but I find the pacing to be glacial in a quick chapter.
I get why it's so popular. I've read plenty of Mary-Sue fanfic, much of it better written than Twilight. Popular doesn't mean it's any good.
11
The Dark Tower was the biggest piece of shit ever put to paper. It had some interesting back story, but other than that, total garbage.
And I never understood Stephen King's insistence that J.K. Rowling was this masterful weaver of words. Harry Potter was an entertaining fantasy romp, but the writing was mostly average, except toward the end, when it was awful.
And I never understood Stephen King's insistence that J.K. Rowling was this masterful weaver of words. Harry Potter was an entertaining fantasy romp, but the writing was mostly average, except toward the end, when it was awful.
12
Seriously. You don't have to use bold in every paragraph. Yet you do. Seems like you're using it as some sort of crutch. Or is it schtick?
15
@12: I like the random bolding. It makes a large block of text more navigable. I read Slog on my iphone during the day, so all paragraphs look like large blocks of text to me, even if they aren't that long.
16
To answer Mormon Priestesses question, it was I who made Stephen Kink the author of all authors. Deal with it.
19
Stephen King rocks, but I hate it when authors/musicians/directors slag off on others in their field. What's the point? I'm sure Stephenie Meyer doesn't really care what King thinks, his comments just hurt her fans feelings, then they say shit about him (and they probably never read any of his work).
It reminds me when Paul Thomas Anderson, Kevin Smith, and Bryan Singer all got into a pissing match. I liked all three directors but it made me sick to see them act like big babies.
It reminds me when Paul Thomas Anderson, Kevin Smith, and Bryan Singer all got into a pissing match. I liked all three directors but it made me sick to see them act like big babies.
22
Whenever I know a kid who likes Twilight I try to turn them on the His Dark Material series. True love may not come until the end, but when it does it destroys God and saves the universe. Now *those* are well-written young adult fiction.
23
Stephen King is a throw-the-book-across-the-room bad writer. A case of pot calling the kettle black? Or is she truly horrendous?
24
I remember this same kerfuffle when Terry Pratchett reminded everyone that Rowling wasn't a very good writer, and how she was stupid for badmouthing the genre that she was writing in.
Then all of the Harry Potter fans blew up in the exact same way: "I only read Harry Potter and books about Harry Potter, and I've never heard of this Terry Pratchett, so he obviously isn't that good!"
People care very much about how much real world credit they get for consuming their dreck.
Then all of the Harry Potter fans blew up in the exact same way: "I only read Harry Potter and books about Harry Potter, and I've never heard of this Terry Pratchett, so he obviously isn't that good!"
People care very much about how much real world credit they get for consuming their dreck.
25
@3 Doubtful...maybe he'll be considered the "Mark Twain" of the late 20th century. I doubt much else though.
26
Why all the sniping? Stephenie Meyer is a terrible writer, an anti-feminist, and a religious nut, but these things should be self-evident - nobody needs Stephen king to point them out. It just comes across as mean-spirited.
29
WTF????
JK Rowling is an amazing writer. Maybe not the best, but DEFINITELY better then Stephenie Meyer's crap!
JK Rowling is an amazing writer. Maybe not the best, but DEFINITELY better then Stephenie Meyer's crap!
30
As a loyal Stephen King fan and devout Meyer hater, I agree with King. I started reading Twilight and after 30 pages threw it aside (Accidentally embedding it in the dry wall) saying, "What a frivolous chunk of crap! Who'd read this?" I was quickly answered by my whole school singing Meyer's praises and babbling nonsense about Edward and crap. I swear, I was an inch from droping out and joining the army, I mean, my own mother likes Twilight.
And so what if King hasn't written a book in a while. In case you failed to comprehend, he's 61 years old and has been writing since he was 22 and already sold 47 best sellers. (and probably more than half are movies sitting in your video cabinet) So, all you asshole Twilighters should shut you cake hole and wiat until Meyer acheives King's kind of success before you gloat.
With love for King and contempt for those who oppose him,
Eponine
And so what if King hasn't written a book in a while. In case you failed to comprehend, he's 61 years old and has been writing since he was 22 and already sold 47 best sellers. (and probably more than half are movies sitting in your video cabinet) So, all you asshole Twilighters should shut you cake hole and wiat until Meyer acheives King's kind of success before you gloat.
With love for King and contempt for those who oppose him,
Eponine
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