Stephen King "blasts" Twilight author, Stephanie Meyers

[ConcKahuna]

I've enjoyed most of King's books - The Stand, in particular. One of King's latests, Duma Key, was "spot on" King. I think his accident did something to his writing style. Starting with The Regulators, until Duma Key, all his books inbetween were pure crap.

I don't know, I really liked "Bag of Bones."

"Lisey's Story" was interesting too. Very odd, but interesting.

 

[des1954]

I loved the books. Is it Pulitzer or Newberry material? No. But then most aren't. I agree, not award worthy, but good reading never the less. They are written for "tweens", so you have to take it FWIW.

I've read a lot of authors in my day who are not good technical writers or recycle plotlines, but that doesn't make their books any less enjoyable:

-Dan Brown. Once you've read one you can figure out the rest. It's the same plot each time, just different details.
-Steve Alten. He took a turn for the bizarre and his technical skills aren't that great.
-Terry Goodkind. one character gives frequent multipage speeches. You learn to skip those.

Can we add John Grisham to this list? His plots are impossibly inprobable. I gave up on his books after "The Chamber".

Now, if anyone is up for good comedic reading get:

Big Trouble - Dave Barry

Forrest Gump - Winston Groom

Both books are far better than the movies - which IMHO - is usually the case.

I finally saw Twilight last evening & thought the producers did a fairly good job of remaining close to the original storyline. The special effects of Edward running through the woods with Bella could have been a little better, however. The Cullen's home was nothing like I had pictured in my mind.

 

[Master Gracy]

And so the fanpires come out to defend their series,

thing is, King was simply answering a question, (admittedly a shocking thing to do in an interview!), and he said he thought her writing style was bad. I honestly doubt it is a case of jealosy, its an interview, not a press conferance to bash the series.

I personally cannot stand the series. Its the only book that I have read that I had to struggle through, I just couldnt get into it.
It frankly reads like a piece of teenage fanfiction, which is filled with a cast of Mary-Sue's. The main characters lack Character Flaws (I do not count falling down a lot a character flaw.), and the relationship between Bella and Edward is just plain odd ("I love you", "You smell nice")

That said, I am a 17 year old male, so I assume to love twilight, you should be of the opposite gender and a bit younger?

(also, you gotta love SK )

 

[Hollywoodhaha]

Hmm ..
Well, I don't exactly like her writing style but I do enjoy the books.
The Host was boring at the begining but became extraordinary towards the middle and ending.

Twilight was good but Breaking Dawn just killed it for me. It was a huge thing to me that seemed like she did that just to get rid of the books. Sigh .. they fought with their minds? Really. I wanted an Eclipse-type fight

By the way: It is Stephenie without an A and Meyer without an S. just thought you should know

 

[des1954]

That said, I am a 17 year old male, so I assume to love twilight, you should be of the opposite gender and a bit younger?

(also, you gotta love SK )

Opposite sex - probably. A lot younger - no (I'm 54). I DO love SK & have since his first book was released in 1974 (Carrie). So....um.... I think I could be your "very young" Grannie???

 

[Jennasis]

I picture a bunch of fawning teens and moms dancing around a bonfire comprised of Stephan King novels. Hilarity!

Rechecking the title...King's comment (nearly indecipherable in the written piece) is hardly "blasting". It's not even scathing. It's just sort, well...barely anything. I doubt Meyer is losing any sleep over it.

 

[ConcKahuna]

I picture a bunch of fawning teens and moms dancing around a bonfire comprised of Stephan King novels. Hilarity!

Rechecking the title...King's comment (nearly indecipherable in the written piece) is hardly "blasting". It's not even scathing. It's just sort, well...barely anything. I doubt Meyer is losing any sleep over it.

The actuall King quotes:

"[J.K.] Rowling is a terrific writer and Stephenie Meyer can’t write worth a darn. She’s not very good."

King says Meyer's secret is "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."

The second part of the quote that the media keeps ignorning seems to me to be more of a comment on the books doing well, not "blasting".

As I said before, there's a lot of distance between being a good writer and a good storyteller. Stephen King is both, but many popular writers are not. I wouldn't say that Koontz is a good writer, but he's an excellet storyteller.

 

[leighe]

First of all, Stephenie Meyer should be beaten with a copy of The Feminine Mystique for creating such a ridiculously weak female character. Secondly - if one of my high school students handed something in to me written as badly as her books are I'd refuse to grade it until it was rewritten.

 

[JEmaryland]

Wow, harsh.
I'm all about feminism, but I don't expect every book to feature strong females. It's just not realistic. Some females are weak, just as some males are.

 

[Jennasis]

The actuall King quotes:

"[J.K.] Rowling is a terrific writer and Stephenie Meyer can’t write worth a darn. She’s not very good."

King says Meyer's secret is "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."

The second part of the quote that the media keeps ignorning seems to me to be more of a comment on the books doing well, not "blasting".

As I said before, there's a lot of distance between being a good writer and a good storyteller. Stephen King is both, but many popular writers are not. I wouldn't say that Koontz is a good writer, but he's an excellet storyteller.

BTW...is this "story" getting air time anyplace real? The only time I've ever of it was on this thread.

 

[Eeyores Butterfly]

Considering the convoluted "report" of Stephen King's remarks in the OP's post, I'm thinkin' this was a throwaway remark by SK "built up" merely to create controversy. Meyers can in no way be compared to SK, J. K. Rowling, Ann Rice, et all.

I don't consider myself a SK fan (even though "The Stand" is high on my list of books I'd take to a desert island.) But I have to agree with his take of the "Twilight" series. Read #1 recently because of the hype (enjoyable enough {shrug}) and the hook for "New Moon" prompted me to continue.

At the rate I'm slogging through #2, there will be no #3 & #4.

Maybe I'm prejudiced as I'm older than dirt, was encouraged to read early on and had moved onto more adult themed novels while a YA.

But nobody is comparing Meyer to Ann Rice or Rowling, at least not on this thread. Not every good book has to be a great book. A book is good if somebody wants to read it. Obviously people want to read Twilight. I don't get why people spend so much time bashing something they don't like? Why waste your time thinking about it if it bothers you that much? Why not go read a book you enjoy?

 

[Planogirl]

BTW...is this "story" getting air time anyplace real? The only time I've ever of it was on this thread.

I have for various reasons been all over the 'Net for the past week. I haven't seen anything about this anywhere else. I imagine that it's not a big deal to most.

 

[Fintastic]

Your opinion. I found The Host COMPLETELY unreadable. After 4 or 5 chapters, I was beyond bored and frustrated with it and promptly chucked it across the room. But that's just MY opinion. King is entitled to his too. I have no problem voicing mine and so should he considering he was ASKED specifically about Twillight.

I made it through one chapter and then quit.

 

[ksumn1]

Everyone's entitled to their own opinion. I've read the 1st 3 books and waiting to read the Breaking Dawn when my turn comes up on the hold list at the library. I thought the 1st 3 were very entertaaining . I enjoyed them. But in no way were they as developed, as in depth or well written as any of the Harry Potter books. I do think that as Harry grew older and he matured, Rowling increased the complexity of the language and writing to keep pace. Meyer definately shows improvement in her character develpment and writing froom book 1 to book 3 (IMHO) Are either of these 2 writers comparable to King? No, because they're not on the same level. Each writer has a different audience. Rowling and Meyer's audiences overlap some but I still think it's like comparing a romance and a fantasy novel.

I love to read and will read just about anything. If I'm relaxing and reading for pleasure with plenty of time, I'll red Harry Potter. Probably my favorite series. If I only have enough time to read for an hour (like in the car) I'll pick up a romance novel. Currently I'm taking an English writing class and all our texts are full of subtext, hidden themes and pretty technical language. I have to read and really think critically about the texts so for pleasure I've been rereading the Twilight boks and JD Robb.

I think King is not really jealousy but commenting on the "technical" and mechanical aspects of Meyers writing. I think he tends to hold all writers to his standards and is not too tolerant of anyone who doesn't agree with his opinion or who doesn't meet his standards.

Different strokes for different folks!!

 

[Arielx2]

But nobody is comparing Meyer to Ann Rice or Rowling, at least not on this thread. Not every good book has to be a great book. A book is good if somebody wants to read it. Obviously people want to read Twilight. I don't get why people spend so much time bashing something they don't like? Why waste your time thinking about it if it bothers you that much? Why not go read a book you enjoy?

Because IMO these books could have been great. I loved the first one and found the rest VERY disappointing. I kept waiting for them to get better and I was let down. And I'm not one who generally enjoys books like War and Peace. Give me a Nora Roberts any day.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Because IMO these books could have been great. I loved the first one and found the rest VERY disappointing. I kept waiting for them to get better and I was let down. And I'm not one who generally enjoys books like War and Peace. Give me a Nora Roberts any day.

Agree!!! She set up a great story and then threw it in the dumpster.

 

[jamimb]

Agree!!! She set up a great story and then threw it in the dumpster.

I think most if not all of King's books are like this! I have tried to read a few (actually got through a couple) and they were all the same. He started with a great idea and I was really into the story and sometime around the middle the story starts to fizzle and by the end Im going " WTH?? That sure did suck!!!"

 

[Darsa]

In regards to the female lead character, I think it's sad that people have a problem with a character that's not the modern, gung-ho, manly woman. Why CAN'T she be weak? There ARE weak women in the world, OMG!

On the other hand, some of the responses of hers in the book got on my nerves TERRIBLY. Like how thankless and tactless she was about receiving gifts and other nice things done for her. I kept wondering how she could be so rude! Not to mention I couldn't get past how the main characters seemed to have a thing with calling their parents by their first names. That's just wierd!

Overall they were an enjoyable read, IMHO. Will probably read 'em again at some point... just like I did with several (tho by no means all) of Stephen King's books.

 

[bluesaturn]

I think it's important to note that Twilight was Meyer's first series and you can certainly see an evolution in her writing from book one to four. I loved book four and the character development. I don't see how anybody who has read book four can say that Bella is a weak character. From Twilight to the Host her writing has improved even more.

I think Bella was a weak character in the way she was written, even in book 4. It's true that she did all the things she was supposed to, in order to save her family. However Bella just felt like a shell, it felt like there was nothing behind the eyes. And I personally think her writing was much better in the 1st book than the 4th. I didn't read The Host though. But that's just my opinion, I realize many people don't agree.

 

[JenM]

But nobody is comparing Meyer to Ann Rice or Rowling, at least not on this thread. Not every good book has to be a great book. A book is good if somebody wants to read it. Obviously people want to read Twilight. I don't get why people spend so much time bashing something they don't like? Why waste your time thinking about it if it bothers you that much? Why not go read a book you enjoy?

I'm reading Breaking Dawn right now and I think it's terrible. Someone asked me why I'm still reading it and I said it's like watching one of those bad movies on cable that you can't turn off because you can't believe how bad it is. At this point I've read the other books and I do want to finish the series...but wow, this book is just bad.

I don't think Stephen King is jealous, which is a response I've seen on this thread a few times now. That's just silly. He's had plenty of his own. If he's so jealous of success, why isn't he bashing JK Rowling as well? He just gave an opinion.