Comments on: Stephen King Does Not Have A High Opinion Of Stephenie Meyer

By: Jennster

Jennster — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 20:28:36 +0000

I get what Stephen is saying, but I have all of Stephanie’s books, in hardback, and still coulnd’t resist the limited Edition Twilight. I’m 33 and a Network Admin, her writing has sincere emotion in it that an adult can enjoy. My only complaint is that she hasn’t finished Midnight Sun yet.

By: Anke

Anke — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 07:26:47 +0000

I totally agree with King (and everything he said about the all the authors he picked on), who is an absolutely fabulous writer that I just rediscovered recently. These days I like him for the way he builds his characters and not only for the “fast thrills” back in the day when I read his books for the first time when I was a teen.
The first Twilight book was ok, but couldn’t get past the first half of the second (I even bought the audiobook as well and got stuck around the same page)…it just bored me so much. JKR storytelling is just so much better…the way she manages to captivate an audience of all ages is beyond compare.

By: Kiara

Kiara — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 10:30:44 +0000

argh!!! If I hear one more person compare Twilight to Harry Potter…I’m gonna scream!!! They are nothing alike, apart from being “fantasy” type books!!! And as for that person that said they saw the Twilight movie before they read the books…there you go, you ruined it for yourself right there…the books run rings around the movie!!!

By: Lisa

Lisa — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 05:19:52 +0000

I gotta agree with Stephen King. I read the Twilight saga, and only liked the first book. The other were just ehhhh. But Harry Potter is a classic, its well written and has a truly amazing plot. I will always be rereading the HP series, and I can’t say the same for Twilight.

By: laura

laura — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 03:53:20 +0000

well said Reham A!!

By: Kat

Kat — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 03:45:44 +0000

@ love88 – I agree with everything you’ve said. “sparkling fang-less vampires” LOL!!! Sad, indeed.

By: Care

Care — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 01:32:34 +0000

Although she may not be the best writer, you have to give her credit for telling a story that has kept millions of people on the edge of their seats.
Sure, it could have been written better. But the series was mainly in Bella’s perspective – do you honestly think Bella sounded like one who would have a huge vocabulary and fantastic grammatical skills?
As far as I’m concerned, the writing is perfectly suitable for Bella’s character.

By: SEJ

SEJ — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 00:32:50 +0000

I totally agree with you Trent. And Stephen King. Harry Potter FTW

By: M

Fri, 06 Feb 2009 00:25:43 +0000

Meyer sucks balls. Anyone can write a novel but that doesnt mean it will be any good…exactly the case with the Twighlight series. I think I got through one chapter of Twighlight before I realized that it was an overrated piece of crap. Truly. Jk Rowling on the other hand has an enormous amount of talent

By: Alex

Alex — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 00:23:29 +0000

While I really enjoyed reading the Twilight books I have to somewhat agree with Stephen King about Stephanie Meyer. She, in no way, can compare to J.K Rowling who is an amazing writer. But at the same time I don’t think Meyer is “terrible”…she’s knows who’s gonna buy this book and enjoy it, and it’s mostly young teenagers who want to read about teen angst and sappy relationships…and the book worked. So regardless of what Stephen King says, she’s gotta whole lotta fans and a whole lotta money, I’m pretty sure she wins.

By: Reham A.

Reham A. — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 23:53:56 +0000

This is rather coincidental because the entire middle school and high school body in my school (in Egypt; I’m 15, 10th grade) is obsessed with the Twilight Series and I was just having a discussion about it a few minutes ago. I found the argument at different angles:

Stephen King: I enjoy his writing simply because I like the stories he tells and I believe he has a way with words (with most stories, not all, as you’ve said) and he isn’t afraid to skirt around the details. That can be seen in the way he speaks. He directly stated his opinion very bluntly, insult or not. The way he writes reflects on his bluntness. He just *isn’t* afraid to be hated.

I, personally, did not enjoy Stephenie Meyer’s writing, but I thought to myself “Why does everyone else in my grade enjoy the book?!” It’s because they’re looking for a good, romantic story that they can finish easily. The human population has resorted to technology and sometimes, books are completely overlooked. Barely anyone has time anymore to look for the “deep, hidden meaning” behind stories and authors are becomming less and less appreciated for the things they do. The population wants a story they can get through quickly without having to stop and dwell on confusing matters that they have to think about. “Did he mean this when he said that? What if I go back and reread chapter 12 . . .?”

Stephenie Meyer creates a story where no one needs to reread to understand. She puts everything in plain view and despite that not being very author-istic, the general public enjoys it. And girls enjoy it even more because Edward Cullen fulfills their dreams of the “perfect man”.

Stephen King isn’t right, but he isn’t wrong, either. He is a man that is not afraid of what he says or does and does not bend his writing specifically to appeal to the general public. Stephenie Meyer may be the worst of writers or the best of writers, but she knows how to appeal to the general public and therefore rides her writing style along its current.

I, for one, have a lot of time on my hands (as you can tell because I took the time to reply) and so I prefer Stephen King’s writing over Stephenie Meyer.

(JK Rowling’s writing is arguable as well. The storyline is appealing to the general public and the way she tells it is acceptable. There isn’t as much thinking involved as Stephen King’s writing, but much more than Stephenie Meyer’s. Another good thing about her writing is that she, later on, will finish the thinking you’ve needed to do in her Harry Potter series [i.e. explaining clues that were found, why they were found, etc] whereas Stephen King is for a higher level of readers. He expects you to make assumptions and make the right one.)

By: shortness

shortness — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 23:29:45 +0000

i got to say that i agree with stephen king. although i enjoyed twilight series. but, i only really liked it after reading all 4 books. at first, i didn’t know why.. then i realise it was how bad of a writer meyer is. the storyline is fantastic.. but, how she wrote it.. just made it… well, lacking. JK Rowling sucked in readers from book 1… but, meyers.. well, yeah.. she didn’t do it for me.

By: robin

robin — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 23:06:12 +0000

im 22 years old and have taken many literature courses while in college. i love the twilight books. everyone has different taste, to say that she is a bad writer because you don’t enjoy her stories is just immature. meyers obviously has a way into people’s hearts in the way she writes her characters and develops her stories. someone doesn’t make millions by being a ‘bad writer’. (ps..little girls love miley cyrus and high school musical because of the genius that goes into their marketing…not the actual performers)

By: love88

love88 — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 22:58:55 +0000

its just the same reason why high school musical,miley cyrus is famous. these things are milking the ignorant youth.

and damn, even my college classmates are liking this shit. i believe they only like it coz its popular.. urrgh peer pressure

By: Kat

Kat — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 22:58:25 +0000

He is 100% right. While Meyer’s stories are engaging, her writing is just plain bad. I guess infatuated teens don’t really care about the writing, but at any rate, they should be more appreciative of good writers such as Jo Rowling. Pick up a book, kids, A GOOD ONE!!

By: love88

love88 — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 22:56:30 +0000

he is the King you cant argue with that.
ive been in love with JKR’s works since i was 12, its not like a temporary phase like i did with SVH pocketbooks ive read before that whenever i buy one, i squeel like those twilight fangirls.
. there are lots of characters, themes, plots on hp than twilight. obviously its for the teens who could only appreciate HOT stalkerish vampires.

its just that smeyer first came up with a story of SPARKLING FANG-LESS VAMPIRES. damn these tweeners!

By: Laynie

Laynie — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 22:07:09 +0000

But maybe the fact that i’m a 17 year old girl, and don’t qualify under the ‘tween’ is the reason i didn’t get soaked up into it.
But i do agree with someone up above who said, whatever it takes to get teenagers to read is okay with me.

By: Laynie

Laynie — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 22:03:42 +0000

LOLLLLLL omg this made my day.
I totallly agree with him.
Harry Potter is absolutely amazing and i don’t think theres really any arguement that Harry Potter was indeed MUCH better than Twilight.
However i did think Twilight was a good read, it was easy because you didn’t have to think and the books told you everything. It was simple and nice, but agreeably horribly written.
With harry potter you actually had to think with a much more complex and interesting story line

By: lana

lana — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 22:01:57 +0000

@ danna

No, it’s not really interesting. I’m not sure what your point is. So what if Meyer’s movie (not movies) is supposedly more successful than King’s? It has nothing to do with the books. It has everything to do with the director and the way he or she interprets the books and films the movie.

By: Amy

Amy — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 21:40:18 +0000

Good God! Cut the lady some slack. She was a stay at home mother who found her artistic outlet. She wrote Twilight as her own personal wish fulfillment and looked into getting itpublished on a whim. Somebody in the literary world appreciated it or it would never have been published in the first place. Everyone has his or her own interests when it comes to reading. I am NOT a fan of King. Talk about long-winded!!! I have read several of his novels and the ONLY one I enjoyed was Misery. Sounds like the Green-Eyed Monster rearing his ugly head if you ask me.

As a side note…when I think of Stephen King I always remember that Family Guy clip where he is in a meeting with his publisher. He picks up a lamp from the desk and says, “Ooohhh, the lamp is gonna kill you.” or something like that. That is the extent of his creativity as more time passes.

By: Krissypoos

Krissypoos — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 21:07:32 +0000

Stephenie Meyer is the the worst writer to have emerged since…well, ever. I work at a bookstore, and it pains me when girls come in and rave about how “awesome” the writing is, and how it’s “the best thing ever.”

The Twilight series will be the downfall of the English language, and of knowledge of good literature.

Also, how sad is it that Twitards have become violent toward people who don’t like the series? Goes to show how intelligent these people are.

By: TVFreak

TVFreak — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 20:30:17 +0000

i think Stephen King is so right about Stephanie Meyers. i reasd all 4 Twilight books and they were very hard to sit through. i felt the books were the same thing over and over again with no real character development and growing until the last “book” in Breaking Dawn. i felt like Meyers used a lot of the same words over and over again which annoyed me like crazy.

i have not yet read the Harry Potter books but i will when i have the chance. there’s a reason JK Rowling is one of the world’s best authors… it’s because she knows how to write and make the stories and characters interesting and move them forward.

By: Nicole2

Nicole2 — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 20:06:11 +0000

@aimie

King had 4 bestselling novels (Carrie, Salem’s Lot, The Shining and The Stand) by the time he was 30. If I’m reading her bio correctly, Meyers first novel was released when she was 32 though, obviously, it doesn’t make her success any less impressive. The point is, I doubt his comments were motivated by jealousy.
Also, I don’t quite understand your “If he doesn’t like it, he doesn’t have to read it” comment. Clearly, he’s already read (at least one of) the books and has based his opinion on that. As an author himself, it only makes sense that he’d be interested in other popular works.
I recently read Twilight and, as several other people here have mentioned, though premise was interesting, the subpar writing really prevented it from being truly enjoyable (for me). There were numerous parts that I skimmed over because I found them too tedious. I think the film comes off better in comparison.

By: lauren

lauren — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 20:03:10 +0000

While I agree with him, it’s a little hypocritical… it’s not like Stephen King’s novels are the epitome of literary art!

By: Faith

Faith — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 19:45:56 +0000

and um..since when was Twilight a good movie? and since when does the quality of a movie compare to the quality of a book? oh..right..since never! Keep reaching Danna.