Stephen King Comments on JK Rowling and Stephenie Meyer
Celebs on HP
Posted by: sue
February 03, 2009, 07:52 PM
Scores of readers let us know about a new interview with acclaimed author Stephen King, who has made some new comments regarding Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling and Stephenie Meyer. Speaking with USA Weekend, Mr. King compared the two authors and had some blunt things to say about the Twilight author Meyer. Quotage as follows:
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."
"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."
Thanks to everyone who emailed!
318 Comments
32 Points
“Anyhow, here is some fanfiction. I know I am not J.K Rooling or whatever the hell her name is, but I can still try, can’t I?” -Yuu Kanda
you go Yuu-chan!
hehe
take some anime hate
THATS from a twilight who used to respect harry potter and all his fans
53 Points
that was to “sunlitdays” by the way
616 Points
I’m not going to comment on the Stephenie Meyer part, but he sure is right about one thing. J.K. Rowling is a fantastic writer!
41 Points
J.K Rowling is a wayyy better writer than Meyer. J.K is very descriptive and thorough with her story telling. Meyer just isn’t as skilled with the technical aspects of writing, but its the plot of twilight that attracts so many people
198 Points
Yeah Stephen King! The twilight books were ok but I had waaaay higher expectations, and yeah pretty much JK rowling is better :)
212 Points
You Go Stephen King, for finaly saying the plain old truth about Stephanie Meyer’s non existant writing skills
2027 Points
go jo!!!
i know meyer has had some thing to say about jo, but has jo said anything about meyer and the twilight books? i know she is way to class to diss on twilight like i want her to, but im just wondering…
104 Points
yeah- i have to agree with him. i really liked the twilight series because, well, i’m a teenage girl and cannot resist a bad-boy(i love sirius too!). However, I like to think that I am at least a smart teenage girl and the literary devices and nuances in her books… well, they aren’t in her books. if stephanie meyer writes because she loves it, thats awesome but there is a huge difference between something that could easily pass as a well-written fanfic and a classic.
115 Points
How ironic is this? I just finished the first Twilight book and my thought on page one was “Stephen King would hate this book.” Anyone who doesn’t know why King doesn’t like Meyer’s writing should read his book “On Writing” and it will all make sense.
245 Points
Ha ha! This is hilarious, and so true. I like the Twilight series, but Stephenie Meyer cannot write very well at all and Jo is wonderful with words.
542 Points
I did enjoy the Twilight series, but I suppose that I was attracted to it for the love story and of course the Vampires. There is no doubt that Jo is an amazing writer, although I really don’t get why everyone is so eager to complain about Stephenie Meyer.
181 Points
I never really cared for the twilight hype, and then my friend made me start reading it. I’ve been on page 20 for about 2 months. Her writing is so bad, i can’t even read it… I mean, i’m a college kid, i have to read TEXT books that are more interesting then what SM has to say. I’m sorry for all you twilight goers out there, but open your eyes. It’s horrible narration.
420 Points
I want to lick his shoes. I really do. For him to say that, as an important figure, means a lot to me.
But I don’t like to appear utterly unfeeling. Stephenie worked pretty darn hard on those books, because you have to for any book. But I completely think the topic was absolute rubbish. I acknowledge her right in this world to do all that she’s done, but the books seemed honestly to me a lame excuse to live out a daydream. A pathetic daydream. Something like what a foolish girl would see in the mirror of Erised. The girls who read this, I personally feel, will be wasting their lives in front of this mirror.
I think it’s fair to say that though some people are mature enough to realise that it’s just a daydream, a lot of thirteen year olds will just dedicate themselves whole-heartedly to such a false and vain daydream.
So I thank Stephen King. Because writers should write for the benefit of others, not for petty vainities.
459 Points
Yeah I must agree. I have read the Twilight books and thought that the first and last were ok, the story itself is pretty good, but I had to force myself through the other two. They’re OK like, but not in the same league as Harry Potter :)
“Anyhow, here is some fanfiction. I know I am not J.K Rooling or whatever the hell her name is, but I can still try, can’t I?” -Yuu Kanda
you go Yuu-chan!
hehe
take some anime hate
THATS from a twilight who used to respect harry potter and all his fans