In a
Feb 2009 interview, Stephen King said:
"Both Rowling and Meyer, they’re speaking directly to young people. ... The real difference is that J.K. Rowling is a terrific writer and Stephenie Meyer can’t write worth a darn. She’s not very good."
"Somebody who’s a terrific writer who’s been very, very successful is Jodi Picoult. You’ve got Dean Koontz, who can write like hell. And then sometimes he’s just awful. It varies. James Patterson is a terrible writer but he’s very very successful. 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."
I totally agree with him! Though the "Twilight" series have a good concept to them, the writing is bad. It's like taking the thoughts of a 17-year old girl, and writing them as simplistically as possible. There's no eloquence to her writing, and it isn't written in layers - what you see is what you get, literary and plot complexity be damned. Personally, I love J.K. Rowling's writing style because it's elegant, yet simple. She says what she needs to say in just enough words, using her phrasing and imagery to state things that Stephanie Meyer takes pages to write out plainly - and still doesn't manage to bring the magic that J.K. Rowlings brings with her stories (no pun intended).
What do you think? Do you agree?
Comments (163)
Yeah! Go Rowling!
I agree.
While Stephanie Meyer can throw together a cliche story that will enthrall naive teenage girls, it's not very good literature.
It's actually an insult to other female authors who actually have original and thought provoking text.
ilu, Stephen King.
But yes, I tend to agree. I've read all four books, and while I feel like 12 year old me would have been all about that shit, 20 year old me knows better. The story has potential... it just needed a better author.
i definitely agree.
but even the story of twilight, which is what apparently draws in readers, is not a good story. harry potter is about love and goodness triumphing over evil and the importance of friendship and intellect. twilight is about a girl needing her boyfriend.i completely agree. not sure why exactly this was posted to lovelyish, but well articulated just the same.
This is a breath of fresh air. Meyer can't write well at all. I forced myself through the first book. It was a brutal read. It's not that it was an easy read, it was just so poorly written.
Rowling started rough, but she found her groove by the third book and it was a wonderful reading experience, storyline aside.
Cheers to Stephen King :)
@SporkTheEmu13q@xanga - Exactly!
havent seen any of the twilight movies... and i now i dont think i will be reading any of them either haha
Twilight could be a lot better. Edward's only flaw is that he's a vampire, and Bella has no personality. The basic story concept is pretty good, and the first book was decent, but, after that you have New Moon, which centrilises around Bella's obsession with Edward. Eclipse, which tells her she has to choose between the werewolf hottie, who she wouldn't have to change for at all and loved, and the vampire hottie, who, honestly, is more trouble than he's worth. Breaking Dawn was just 700 pages of fanservice.
Basically, Twilight just takes literature and rapes it. It's not like a fantasy book has to be that basic for people to like it.
No, it's not the best book ever written, but if you think about it from a teen girls perspective the appeal isn't that difficult to see. Girl loves boy, does he love her back, basic high school/middle school drama. I don't understand the crazy and I've definitely read better books, but it's the basic story that some girls love. I don't know. Maybe she just knows how to sell her product well. Or sell it very very well in this case.
Twilight is awful!
I love Dean Koontz and Stephen King.. Yes every writer probably has some books that arn't quite their best works; But seriously.. If you like vampires go watch True Blood.
I totally agree with King on this. Good concept; terrible execution.
AGREED!
I like how King goes on to other writers but shows that he's really thought about the matter a lot.
@skylar_rose@xanga -
Perfectly stated.
Well considering the books were written in first person of Bella Swan who IS a fumbling 17 year old, why do people complain about it?
Unlike Stephenie Meyer, J.K. writes in third person. I do think J.K. has an excellent writing style to read from, but Stephenie Meyer RELATES to teens. She doesn't use eloquent words for most of the phrasing cause her target audiences are TEENAGERS.
I'm not defending the tragedy that is Twilight but those are the facts laid out..
I definitely agree.
But I am confused as to why this is posted on Lovelyish....
I don't really know what to say to this. Stephenie Meyer wasn't a writer before she wrote Twilight, so that might explain some of that. Personally, I find nothing wrong with her writing style. It's perfect for the first person point of view of Bella Swan. Bella Swan IS 17, people, helloooo.
@xraindropsonroses@xanga - wow. you. are. ignorant.
Steven King has the utmost authority to say that Twilight is shit.
Why?
Because little do people know is that Steven King used to write romance novels.
I agree with Stephen, which is rare, since he couldn't thank the person who saved him from being hit by a car, ahem, my grandfather.
But James Patterson, is a wonderful writer. Try reading his books. Don't judge if you can't try something.
Agree.
Harry Potter > Twilight.
*may be spoilers if you don't like that kinda thing*
Twilight is just popular cos it appeals to all the young girls. They can relate to "needing their boyfriend" as someone perfectly put it. I can't freakin' stand how needy and annoying Bella can be in the book. I admit, I liked the book at first. It caught my eye, cos I was a depressed little 15-year-old. But I think the last one was very overhyped; I was SO disappointed at the ending. And I found myself skipping over Meyers' descriptions cos it didn't really have importance to the story.
Rowling also had a pretty cheesy ending, but at least she had seven amazing books that brought it all together. When I think about the rest of the Twilight series, I realize it's all just the same repetitive shit over and over. People want to eat her, and in each book she finds a way to escape. No, actually, not her; someone else is always doing everything for her. She just sits around. At least Harry Potter actually did something with his life instead of chasing after a girl the entire time. Rowling's style of writing really brings you in. I cried when Dumbledore died.
I also got very annoyed of all the fangirls. Nyeh.
it's written from the point of view of a 17 year old girl, i didn't really expect it to be literary perfection tbh :/
Haha, not surprising in the least. I haven't read any of the books specifically because I've heard how terrible they are from so many people.
I already knew he said this, but I love rereading it, b/c it's so true.
@darkangel6541@xanga - I think the fact that Bella has no distinct personality is the reason it's so popular. If she has no distinguishing characteristics, every girl who reads it can go "OMG SHE IS JUST LIKE ME!!!!!!!!" thus leading to the Edward-obsessed.
I love Stephen King. Love love love. He's brilliant, and I agree. I think Stephanie Meyer tells a story that many people can get into (not me, but I'm not a hater) but in a literary sense she just isn't talented. But I would go so far as to say that the majority of people do not read to read literature, they read to hear a good story. Alas, I am not one of those people. I'm a literary snob, and I freely admit it.