Idol Chatter

Stephen King's Public Smackdown of Stephenie Meyer: Just Jealousy?

Wednesday February 4, 2009

Categories: Books

stephenkingpic.jpgMaybe it's simply difficult to criticize an author whose seen wild success without sounding jealous. Or maybe it really is jealousy between authors. All I know is that a lot of people have had harsh things to say about the success of the "Twilight Series," and more directly, Stephenie Meyer's success as a writer. People claim she can't write to save her life--but then, if she was that bad a writer, then why would "Twilight" be such a worldwide success?

Add Stephen King to the growing list of folks slamming Stephenie Meyer in public. Granted, Stephen King has nothing to cry about when it comes to book sales. But is it possible that Meyer does give him a run for his money in terms of popularity? And this is what stands behind his recent mean commentary about Meyer's ability (or not) to write, and his rather snide remarks about her teen audience?

In an interview over the weekend, King made the following remarks:

"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...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."

What do you think? Is King right about Meyer, or suffering a bit from the green monster?

Stephen King at LocateTV.com

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Comments
Elenes
April 22, 2009 10:26 AM

"I write better than Meyer". May I remind you that writing is not an exact science. Therefore, you cannot say if someone writes "better" than anyone! It is absurd! Every writer has his/her own personal style, and if Meyer has had so much success, then at least some outstanding writing virtues must be present, whether critics will acknowledge them or not.

Ryfka
July 3, 2009 6:20 PM
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_King#Awards

Um, NO... if he were jealous wouldn't he be slamming J.K. Rowling as well?

Stephenie's won a few teen book awards for her trash-- Stephen King is recognized as an actual literary success.

Your Name
August 23, 2009 2:25 PM

What I find most interesting about all these comments is that they seem to mostly come from an adult’s perspective. So been as "twilight" is aimed at a teenage audience, is it really a surprise that most of you think that Stephanie Meyer's work is "VERY AWFULLY written garbage"?
However I’m fifteen and have read the first three books of the "Twilight" collection and find that they are no work of a genius, yet wonderful and completely infectious to read. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions; however Stephen King seems to have made a clearly stupid remark about Myer.
Being a good writer is about capturing your reader. Meyer has done much more than that which is clear to see from her huge success. So whether you are writing for an audience aimed at two year olds or highly educated professors the skill of being a GOOD WRITER is creating a GOOD READ for your audience.
Also I find it amusing that people seem to think teenagers have no taste in literacy and wouldn’t know a good novel if it smacked them in the head. Well I enjoy all the classics just as much as anyone else with one of my favourites being Jane Austen. This should speak for it that I don’t enjoy reading shit.
On another note, I find that her writing is in no way inappropriate to teenage girls. I mean Hello, reading a book on a forbidden fantasy love is supposed to be a bad example? Umm what do you think surrounds the average life of a teenager? A book isn’t the cause of any pressure to make mistakes. And in fact one of the reasons I like the book is because it has taught me to wait for the right guy.

JESS
November 13, 2009 9:34 PM

First of all whoever wrote this blog is an idiot because Stephen King has had way more best sellers than that woman. He has had almost all of his books turned into number one movies, and he can do all this while writing great books. So, what exactly is he jealous of? An idiotic fan base that doesn't have one brain cell between them? I don't think so.

Harry
January 17, 2010 2:42 AM

King can't be jealous of Meyer, King has been one of the most successful writers of all time...

And writing is a science, probs the most difficult thing on earth to write a good book

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