Having been misquoted ourselves, and having had things taken out of context oursleves, we are curious to see the entire interview in full context when it comes out this weekend. Right now the edited version leaves out the full context of Stephen King’s comments.
Stephen King on Stephenie Meyer
February 3, 2009 By
To me it’s a sad day when an author finds it necessary to insult a fellow author. What King needs to recognize is that Stephenie Meyer has brought a whole new generation back to the literary world. A generation that will possibly even find an interest in King’s books. I am a fan of both King and Meyer, but at this point, Stephenie Meyer gets my vote for the better author regardless of how good the books are, book sales, or whatever.
“… she can’t write worth a darn.”
Nice grammar right there.
LINDSAY
LISTEN UP
WHY ARE YOU HERE IF YOU THINK TWILIGHT IS A MEDIOCRE BOOK? NO ONE WANTS TO READ OVER YOUR CRUEL COMMENTS. GO FIND SOMEONE WHO WANTS TO LISTEN TO YOU WHINE AND COMPLAIN, BECAUSE THIS WEBSITE IS FOR PEOPLE WHO LIKE TWILIGHT AND STEPHENIE MEYER.
And no, I am not a twelve year old. And I am not immature.
I don’t care how good you are at being a writer. It doesn’t give you the right to sit there and name author after author and have so many negative things to say about them. Even the ones that he said were decent are “sometimes awful.” Get over yourself!
Im sure King really knows all about “feelings girls aren’t ready to deal with yet.”…… give me a break.
I was shocked! it is sad too. I can’t think of a comment but definitely i was sad of this =(
Although I’ll admit that Stephenie Meyer’s writing could use some polishing and better editing, she is a heck of a story teller. Stephen King is not writing high literature either,but on a good day he can tell a story as well. I just wonder why he felt the need to take an uncalled for swipe at her work. Seems a little on the petty side, but you need to understand that the man has a giant spider in the metal work on the gate to his house. Need I say more?
Sylvia: You’d think a famous author like him would learn his correct grammer!
I do think Stephen King is a great author, but that was a bit harsh on Stephenie. She’s a fine author who came up with a great series. I do, in fact, have to agree with him that Jodi Picoult is an amazing author. However, I disagree with him on J.K. Rowling. I wasn’t that tune with the Harry Potter series. They never captivated me like Twilight or My Sister’s Keeper did.
LOVE YA KING AND ROWLING!!!!!!!!
SM…HUMMM WELL I WONT SAY ANYTHING hehe
“That being said, the errors weren’t so egregious that it detracted from the story for me. It was a wonderful series, and I definitely think the writing was even better in The Host.”
The errors are only a small flaw in the writing. Stephenie Meyer’s writing style is mediocre, if not simply amateur. Yes, the writing in The Host and Breaking Dawn were better, but only just *better*. To be criticized based on her writing is only fair. She is an “author” after all. She has sold many novels. Anyone is open to TAKE criticism and anyone is open to GIVE criticism.
And while the writing in The Host is bearable, the themes of the story are completely inappropriate. Spousal abuse among the highest.
And to whoever made the comment that they hoped Stephenie Meyer would never read what Stephen King had said about her, I frown upon you. I certainly hope she DOES read it, because Ms. Meyer could surely use a bit of criticism, as we all can.
If you haven’t heard, her brother (Seth, the webmaster) refuses to let an ounce of criticism reach her ears, so I suppose you shouldn’t worry because as long as she rocks (fetal position) in the corner of her room, she won’t be listening to criticism anytime soon.
<3
I just read the article. What a brat! How dare he think he has the right to judge other authors like that? He is not as important or as good of a writer as he thinks he is. I know that I’m not exactly eager to go out and buy the next book of his to come out.
And Harper, I agree with you about Lindsay.
TYPING IN CAPS LOCK MAKES IT LOOK LIKE YOU’RE RAISING THE VOLUME OF YOUR VOICE.
But I digress.
Really, reading all of these comments, I think that a lot of the Twilight fans need to expand their horizons. If you think that Twilight is a great work of literature that has blown your mind, wait until you try some other books! Imagine worlds that are even more detailed and exciting, and characters that are more deep and speak to you on a level that you didn’t even know you had.
Twilight was Meyer’s first book. I really doubt she thinks so highly of herself that a legend like Stephen King can make her feel bad about her writing. She’s a newcomer in the field. A rookie. She’ll get better with time.
And plus, Stephen King probably doesn’t enjoy young adult romances to begin with. He’s a horror/thriller writer.
Le sigh.
Ick, what an arse.
@Freyja
I’m just one of those people that feel if you dislike something say so out of the gate. He’s showered praise for Harry Potter from book one. By the way I agree with you in your previous post.
@Harper
You fell right into Lindsey’s trap.Obviously she is not a Twilight fan. When you see comments like hers just ignore it. She’s going to get on your ass for writing in CAPS and then saying you’re not 12 and not immature.
Also, I forgot to say to the person who posted the comment that vampires don’t sparkle in the sun, they explode. Ahh, dude, there are no such things as vampires! So anything you want to write about them is entirely up to the author. I think Stephenie’s vampire canon is interesting and gives her a whole new way to go with them. Also, I work in a high school and I can tell you that the kids who have become interested in reading through Twilight are not just reading Twilight over and over, they are reading other things as well. Some of them are following Stephenie’s favorite books and suggestions. Others are reading books in the same genre. No matter what you may think about the series this is a good thing.
What’s sort of amazing about this absurd flame war is the notion of these brain-dead Stepanie Meyer bimbos taking shots at Stephen King’s body of work. My favourite is the notion that he’s “jealous” of the film adaptation of “Twilight” because, as poor “Kevin” on this site has stated, “not one of” his “film adaptations” has achieved that success. I hope that little Kevin is about 12, because that’s the only reason for any sentient human being in the western world not to know about the billions of dollars, and the Oscars, associated with Stephen King adaptations. Weirdly, King was paying Meyer a tribute by taking her seriously enough as an author to criticize her instead of ignoring her appalling books altogether. Nothing wrong with books written for horny American tween-age bimbos, but let’s not confuse that with the body of work of the “Dickens of our modern age,” as King, the most widely-read author in history, is know acknowledged to be.
Someone should let King know that green is not a good color on him. Obviously Stephenie is doing something right, her movie and books have had amazing turnouts while his books are essientially all the same horror concept and are turned into movies that have never gained as much publicity.
has anyone seen/read The Langoliers by Stephen King? That was one of the worst movies i’ve ever seen
Harper and Nadia:
Just because you don’t have the ability to come up with a good argument doesn’t mean you need to drop to the level of petty insults and capslock tantrums. “What are you doing here if you think this book is mediocre?!” would probably not sit well with your mods.
Just like our Twilight critique site is open to both fans and anti’s, this site is open to all who wish to speak.
You people who are insulting Stephen King are ridiculous. Expand your horizons go read other things besides Twilight. I think Stephenie did a great job with books 1-3 but that doesn’t mean I think she’s a great writer because she isn’t. Grow up.
It wasn’t an insult. I was actually wondering. Why would you be commenting and visiting the Twilight lexicon, a twilight FANSITE, when you don’t like the books or the movie?
Lindsay: Ah! Redrum! Freaky! Hahaha. I will say this, The Shining was a great book to read, and its movie was terrible.
I haven’t seen IT, but I’m too afraid to >_<
And I’ve seen most of Carrie, and it freaks me out.
Stephen King is the essence of horror. He and Stephenie meyer have nothing in common except that they both have the name Stephen in their names.
silvia, i know for one i read books other then twilight. many are better written, especially Markus Zusak’s I am the messenger and The Book Thief, along with Jodi Piccoult’s My Sister’s keeper. But Stephenie’s Meyer books are the ones I read over and over again.
……………………………………..________
………………………………,.-‘”……………….“~.,
………………………..,.-”……………………………..“-.,
…………………….,/………………………………………..”:,
…………………,?………………………………………………\,
………………./…………………………………………………..,}
……………../………………………………………………,:`^`..}
……………/……………………………………………,:”………/
…………..?…..__…………………………………..:`………../
…………./__.(…..“~-,_…………………………,:`………./
………../(_….”~,_……..“~,_………………..,:`…….._/
……….{.._$;_……”=,_…….“-,_…….,.-~-,},.~”;/….}
………..((…..*~_…….”=-._……“;,,./`…./”…………../
…,,,___.\`~,……“~.,………………..`…..}…………../
…………(….`=-,,…….`……………………(……;_,,-”
…………/.`~,……`-………………………….\……/\
………….\`~.*-,……………………………….|,./…..\,__
,,_……….}.>-._\……………………………..|…………..`=~-,
…..`=~-,_\_……`\,……………………………\
……………….`=~-,,.\,………………………….\
…………………………..`:,,………………………`\…………..__
……………………………….`=-,……………….,%`>–==“
…………………………………._\……….._,-%…….`\
……………………………..,<`.._|_,-&“…………….`\
BOOOOO King!!
Stephenie or Rowling didn’t go around to insult his writing.That was rude. Everyone has different tastes in books, genres and writing styles. I am sure the millions of readers of the Twilight saga must have found something interesting in her writing style since they bought the books.
Allie, those are AWESOME books. The Book thief had some of the most amazing phrases I’ve ever read. But same here, I reread twilight over and over…
uh-oh.
just because he thinks stephenie meyer didn’t do a good job with the writing style doesn’t mean he has to be rude and pretty nasty when he criticizes her. he says these opinions like he’s the only writer that deserves to write and nobody else. come on, how would we have these great stories out there if nobody ever writes them because they might think their writing is bad?
I just have to post my opinion here. Stephen King has a right to voice his opinion. Frankly, I didn’t think that it was that rude. Have any of you ever read the Harold Bloom article on J.K. Rowling? This is nothing compared to that. King tries to say that he understands the appeal of the books. Besides, no matter how much I love the books, even I have to admit that the writing can sometimes get clunky. She does have a tendency to use terms like obseqious, that make it look like she’s looking at a thesaurus, as she’s writing. I know that Stephen King really hates that kind of thing. We all probably have popular books or series that we don’t like. All of us have different tastes and the right to express our opinions. This is nothing to freak out about.
“Stephenie or Rowling didn’t go around to insult his writing.That was rude. Everyone has different tastes in books, genres and writing styles.”
I think a lot of people here have made this argument, and it’s the wrong one to look at. Stephen King was not criticizing Smeyer’s genre or plot, but her *writing*.
One does not have to love, admire, or enjoy a certain genre to criticize another’s writing. Fact.
ok that’s it! this guy just pisses me off!! how dare he say something like about stephenie, what a complete jackass! I agree with everyone here..he wouldn’t know a good book if it hit him in the face..grr..I wish I could just hit this guy..I swear..we twilighters should send him tons of hate mail..just to show him how many twilight fans he just pissed off!
Here’s a link to the Harold Bloom thing. Just in case anyone’s interested.
http://wrt-brooke.syr.edu/courses/205.03/bloom.html
yeah i agree with melissa, her writing can sometimes not be as fluent as it could be (although i like the words like “obseqious” that she uses), but the books are amazing and there is no need to critize stephenie meyer by saying that she is a terrible writer
Stephen King is a very respected writer. Although I agree that his comment is too bold, I also think that Meyer’s writing is too mediocre. I think we should have a little respect for King here; he’s been in the business way longer than Meyer. By the way, I like Twilight ^__^ so I’m not bashing the series or anything. Besides, I think King is talking about her writing style not her story.
I agree with Beth. He sounds like an elitist, which is soo pathetic. Just because someone writes differently or he can’t understand it, doesn’t mean the author can’t write. he’s probably jealous that SM became popular way faster than he did. also, just because he’s considered “literary genius” doesn’t mean he knows everything either. he just made a billion people mad (esp. me!)
Wow. I really don’t want to comment on this…
But I will say one thing…he has nerve…
Why are so many of you talking about movies based on Stephen King’s books and relating them to “how horrible his writing is”?
Need I remind you of how cheesy the Twilight movie at times? I mean, it was cute and fun and Twilighty, but it was NOWHERE near the quality of the books. The movies based on King’s books were even less related to the books!
Again, I need to reiterate that more “Twi-hards” should read different books. Christ.
Also–
And I can honestly respect how much nerve he has…
(Please don’t kill me) I like how he just came out w/ his opinion…Despite the fact that I love Twilight, I really love his blunt-ness…
Was it rude? YES! Unprofessional? Yes. But still…
It’s ALMOST kinda funny…
To the people saying stephen king is jealous? so King is jealous of a writer who is vastly less popular and vastly less published. offically, meyer has only sold like 18-22mil books *depends on which count you go by*, and stephen king is in the 350million copies range.
Meyer isnt that good of a writer, and her story telling is the reason why her books generally have a narrow audience. she however found a niche in twilight with a small group, and was able to maximize her reach within that group, which is a acomplishment.
Meyer however needs to listen to critisem though, because thats a requirement of being a published writer, you listen to your critics, and take what is said to heart.
King wasnt being cruel or meanspirited, he was being honest. Given that he is a friend of jk rowling, he probably was tired of the constant comparrison *of which there cant be one morally, because jk rowling is on a whole different level, and the books share nothing in common and are quite different* between jo and stephenie.
Rowling and stephenie have vastly different styles, and compairing the two is a insult to both, because you cant compare vastly different books fairly.
Now meyer needs to learn to accept legitimate critic that she needs alot of work, because for people like myself who are well read, its blatently obvious that she needs to learn to tighten her writing up if she wants to get close to the popularity of king or rowling, who count their books in the hundreds of millions, not the tens of millions.
When someone criticizes Stephenie Meyer like that I think they really haven’t read her books to any extent.It may be that he picked up one of her books and read something he didn’t like and went no further. The comment he makes about girls being afraid of sex and finding her books safe is silly.I think he is the one who is afraid of sex.
@warn
If King is tired of the comparisons between Meyer and Rowling then he needs to lash out at the media,not Meyer. She never had or never will compare herself to JK Rowling, and vice versa for Rowling. Even though I highly doubt that is the reason he made the comment. Besides he did Meyer a favor, with his comments he just doubled her book sales.
wtf!!!!!!1 i now officail hate stephen king.
Although I love Twilight, I gotta agree with King. I’ve been a fan of Harry Potter for a long time, and even though it was a great series with great characters, it was JKR’s writing that was really special. She interwove intricate plotlines, themes and symbolism into everything. With Twilight, I compare it to fanfiction. Stephenie Meyer is just giving what young girls want to read. And you know what? Most who defend her without even excepting other opinions are just young girls who really don’t understand great literature. You’ve got to face up to reality, yeah Twilight is awesome, but is it really a classic that will be read in English Lit classes in 50 years? What’s there to analyze and pick apart? It’s just a romance book.
I forgot to mention that Stephen King isn’t the only person to criticize Stephenie Meyer’s writing. He’s just the only prolific and more famous person to do it. Just google it.
If that’s his opinion he’s allowed to have it.
Not everyone has to like the same things.
This is all getting so ridiculous.
Someone above mentioned that Stephen King majored in Literature in college and is therefore better. I could be mistaken, but didn’t Stephenie also major in English Literature at BYU?
I’ll never understand why authors such as King are lauded for writing horror stories and think it an accomplishment to say the “F” word a gajillion times in a book. For someone who constantly feels the need to incessantly swear in their novels and write horror, and have the audacity to be an elitist snob, I think it’s pretty rich to be criticizing Stephenie Meyer’s abilities.
I don’t think Stephen King is a great author. I feel the same way about him that others feel about Stephenie: he appealed to a demographic and over the last 20 years has become famous…somehow…I equate it with the mind-boggling fame of Paris Hilton.
I’m just baffled as to why they asked him if he “paved the way” for Jo and Stephenie…
He writes adult horror novels.
They write Young Adult fantasy.
I fail to see a relation besides the fact that they are authors.
Yah, Yah… Stephen King has the right to say what he wants, but he should think a little before he speaks. He publicly slapped her in the face, and it was a really low blow.
You can like it or not, but don’t make someone feel crappy or stupid for liking something you don’t.
DEAR LINDSAY~
you are the lone voice of reason in this thread. ~don’t let the *~*~*haters*~*~* get you down~
with appreciation,
ontd
I sincerely hope that nobody seriously considers the Twilight series to be high-quality examples of English literature. They’re an entertaining series of books that appeal to a targeted demographic, nothing more. King’s comments seem harsh, but they are true. Please do yourselves a favor and read books beyond the Twilight series; then we’ll talk.
I don’t think that there’s much that can be taken out of context here. I mean “Stephenie Meyer can’t write worth a darn. She’s not very good,” is pretty straightforward. While some say that if she couldn’t write then she’d never have gotten published, King writes about other authors like James Patterson and Jodi Picoult who can churn out novels like they’re some kind of machine and they’re very popular for that, but it does not make them good writers. He’s not so harsh on the Twilight books anyway, ” It’s exciting and it’s thrilling and it’s not particularly threatening because they’re not overtly sexual.” It’s not like he doesn’t understand why they’re so well liked. There’s obviously an element there that is captivating to Meyer’s audience, but it does not mean that she is a good writer. She’s decent and can obviously develop a good plot, but honestly, I think Mr. King has a point.