Stephen King Throws Down Gauntlet At Stephenie Meyer

This is kind of fun!

Stephen King vs. Stephenie Meyer

My esteem for that man has grown beyond words.

Mine too!
:oD

Hardly a gauntlet, but MrsHouseLibrary is going to be ~VERY~ upset when I show this to her.

Atta boy, Stevie!

Neither impresses me much, but there you are.

Clearly they are both capable of writing books that a lot of people enjoy. I'd like to think SK is a decent writer because I have spent so much time reading his books, but I haven't picked one up in years.

Well, the article is fun and snarky, but the insult lacks pizazz. Personally, I like this one, though I've not read either author:

"Mary McCarthy said of Lillian Hellman that, "Every word she writes is a lie, including and and the.'"

Wohoo for the return of author battles!
And yay for King, who, if nothing else, has his niche and staying power, for throwin' one at the tween queen!

Perhaps they could have a Write-Off... a live, on the spot, short story contest. 2,000 words. The creator of the best story wins?

King would so own. So own. I think there would be crying.

It does happen at convensions sometimes - good humoredly rather than as a contests. Cherryh got challenged to write story on a postcard. (ie way less than 2000 words). It's published in her collected short fiction of C J Cherryh.

I don't think King would do particularly well in the short story format - he's fairly overblown owrdy himself so I'd be interested to read both offerings.

"I don't think King would do particularly well in the short story format"

But some of his best works have been collections of short stories! Night Shift, Skeleton Crew, Different Seasons, Nightmares & Dreamscapes and even Hearts in Atlantis are all anthologies.

King's not completely innocent of writing clunkers, though. Frankly, I'd given up on him over the last decade or so until Duma Key came out. Maybe he's getting that ol' black magic back!

On the other hand, he'd kick Meyers' a** in a short story competition. The man turned a clothes press in a laundry into a demon-possessed killing machine, for cryin' out loud!

When Stephen King has it, he definitely has it, but sometimes he doesn't have it and it's blindingly obvious. I would agree with him about Meyer though. You can see why the story is appealing, but it's not well written.

The problem with King is that everyone is afraid to edit him now, so every word he writes is published. On the other hand, his books gave me great pleasure from my late teens into my early 30s, when I gave up on him. I do still read an occasional book of his. I enjoyed both Hearts in Atlantis and his On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft within the last few years.

Maybe I'll give some of his short stories a try then, if I come across them. I've only read his Dark Tower series recently, and wasn't that impressed. Mind you I haven't read anythign by Meyer either so I'm not in that much of a position to judge.

"The problem with King is that everyone is afraid to edit him now, so every word he writes is published"
I've never understood this. It happens to many many authors. Their heavily edited works sell really well, winning them the adulation of legions of fans, so suddenly they think they can lose the editors and still write as well?!

The feuds are fun to read about but I find neither author worth much of my time. Thanks for posting the link.

His short stories are, in my opinion, generally his best writing.

Stephenie Meyer should quietly retire from writing, lest she incur the wrath of the King. I'm just saying.

The article says "No word yet on Meyer's response to King's blast" toward the end. Blast?? Blast!!!!? WTF? This is a blast? "can't write worth a darn." People really need to grow up and put on the big boy pants now.

For kicks I found the original USA Weekend article referred to. Definitely somewhat less than a blast. Although not completely taken out of context, the Courant article seems to be trying to strike some sensationalistic chords. King does qualify his statement in the Weekend article. "Journalistic hyperbole" by omission, Courant?

Anyway, as a fan of Stephen King I'd have to say he would own in a short story competition. Check out Just After Sunset, his self-admitted return to the field of short stories. Of course, I haven't read anything by Stephenie Meyer. Blind loyalty is great.

#20 - Well, I found the article in the Hartford Courant, but they appear to have lifted it from the Chicago Tribune. In these days of shrinking newspaper staffs they all appear to be trading stories... Then again, many of them are owned by the same parent company.

So much for my close reading skills! They do plainly attribute the article to the Chicago Tribune right at the top. Consider this my official retraction to the Hartford Courant ;)

I think in a contest Steph. would win. There. Now I am loyal to both.
Honestly, they have different styles of writing. I've read all of Stephenie's young adult works, and none of Stephen's children's works. It wouldn't be a fair comparison. Two complete different audiences. I'm trying to read The Host (I haven't picked it up in a couple of months), and if I read an adult novel by Stephen I might be able to compare them.

Edited to fix mistake.
ETA: Bookmarque you are completely correct. I don't know what I was thinking. I think I need a nap and some advil.

Are The Dark Tower books considered YA?

Apart from Eyes of the Dragon which King works would be children's works exactly?

Good or bad, right or wrong, I've never read anything by Stephen King and don't plan on starting anytime soon. I have read the Twilight series because I wanted to see what interested my 15-year old daughter, and the series wasn't exactly great literature. The books were whiney and OCD if fun and internally consistent. I didn't feel like I'd wasted TOO much time reading them.

To each her/his own.

I think things like this are a tempest in a teapot.

A bit off topic, and I honestly don't care for any of the two, but some years ago a leading swedish and male author (not known outside Sweden I think but Very Important here; think investigative journalist turned author of best seller maleness /including some unfounded but well-publicised speculations on 'the origin of Sweden' *duh*/) splashed a lot of mud on every female author there is in Sweden, calling them... well, you don't want to know, but the profanities abounded.

Whatever you think about those authors the reason for him to backtalk them was their gender, not their writing abilities.

He lost some credibility there, not unexpectedly...

Isn't this just possibly a not-so-surreptitious method of selling a few (thousand) more books for each of them?

Maybe Stephen should send Stephanie a signed copy of On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft?

Oddly enough, I just finished my current read, and as soon as I write the review, ~that's~ the book I'm reading next.

It's quite good, WholeHouse. Both honest and funny.

What feud? One comment by King and no response from Meyer does not a feud make.

The problem with King is that everyone is afraid to edit him now, so every word he writes is published.

He can solve that. I know one computer science professor who was so famous in the field that he tired of scientific journals never giving him a proper peer review. So, he submitted his papers under pseudonyms, and only when the publication was agreed to, and the final edits had happened, did he tell people who he really was.

Again, King could solve this problem if he really wanted to.

I really wish more people used that strategy.
Would spare us a lot of trash.

King has addressed his mythical lack of editing many times in his author's notes. People edit him plenty and he's grateful for it.

Actually, King *did* do the pseudonym thing - He wrote several books under the name Richard Bachman that did pretty well.

#35 - Yeah, but they only did well after it was leaked to the press who Richard Bachman was. I used to really enjoy reading King when I was in my teens and twenties. The last novel of his I bought on release and read immediately was The Tommyknockers (back in the early 90s?) and I guess it didn't sit well with me. I have picked up his anthologies since then, and enjoyed them. And I did read The Green Mile before going to see it, and I enjoyed that, too. But I never feel compelled to pick up his 'latest bestseller', though I buy them for a buck at used book sales. My favorites of his still remain the ones I loved as a yoot. Salem's Lot and The Stand top that list.

the stand, or the ssttttaaaannndddd he released later with all the bits the editor cut out the first time around? (not that I've read either).

I own the one with the extra bits, but have only read the edited version.

#36 I don't think The Tommyknockers sat well with a lot of people. I remember reading that in Grade 5. I think that was the only reason I liked it. Talk about age-inappropriate reading material! I think that one was written during his drug-hazed years, as well, which accounts for the extra-special weirdness of it.

#35 But King did it for a different reason. His goal was not 'literary quality' - his goal was publishing frequency. And I have heard nothing of him submitting manuscripts under a pseudonym with the express purpose of obtaining proper edits.

The man I am speaking of did it only for the 'wants proper editing' reason. The journels he submitted his work to didn't exactly get more purchases for the issues that contained his articles.

Stephen King is very clearly the better writer...period. While King does have an endless list of mass marketed popular fiction, he also has written a number of quality pieces of literature. I have read and enjoyed books by both authors but if we're talking about literary talent the baton has to be passed to King.

Meyers writing, while obviously being incredibly popular (to a narrow spectrum of the public) is overdramatic and lacking "finish". As an author she will continue to do quite well with YA lit I'm sure, however her writing has a long way to mature before she will be so successful writing specifically for an adult audience.

Oh yeah? Don't let MrsHouseLibrary hear you say that! She's still upset with me for just showing her the article.

42 > How long have you been married? ;)

An otherwise blissful seven years and just shy of nine months (to MrsHouseLibrary).

The first marriage lasted a week, but I didn't file for divorce for another twenty-three and a half years. Stephen King writes children's picture books compared to my first marriage.

#9

Oooh a "Write-off". Would it be anything as fun as a male model "Walk-off"? (Anyone saw Zoolander?)

I think King would win hands down. I'm no big fan of his, but I recognise that he can write, quite compellingly at times.

Meyer now, I'd guess her success is due to great marketing or something. Her writing leaves me cold.

Is Twilight something 11 year olds should read?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!? ;-~

My small contribution to this is that as I have been in bookstores all over Sydney (signing books - so I see what happens over a Saturday for example) and have seen hordes of teenage girls come in and buy armfuls of Stephanie Meyer books and carry them out without even a casual glance at any other book in the shop.

Aside from whether Stephanie Meyer is a good writer, the phenomenon is interesting.

I think there is an element of the young girl's longing to control and tame something wild and dangerous like a horse or a vampire or...a MAN.

The trouble is, Edward becomes an emasculated sensative new age vampire (SNAV) who will do everything Bella says. This is not true to life, of course and it provides a conversation point with teenage girls for those of us with daughters.

I think that it is wonderful that Stephanie Meyer's, through her Twilight series has had the power and influence to get so many young people to actually pick up a book and read. And not just one book, but four.

Having said that, many of those same "readers" have come to believe that Twilight is the finest piece of literature ever written and cannot imagine life beyond it. One can only hope that eventually they will all get past thier dramatic vampire hangovers and read something else.

Well, if it helps any, I did get over Gone With The Wind.

This all sounds so similar to all the hoopla over the Harry Potter series. Many people hollering that Rowling wasn't a good writer, and others howling that she must be something, because look at all the kids she inspired to read. I don't know, I think it's a storm in a teacup.

The both are good writers, they both are writing for their intended audiences. I don't read Stephen King

But I do read Meyer's.

King writes heavy stuff, and stuff that I don't like to read as it does give me nightmares on the other hand Meyer's stuff I do read, they are feel good books of which King really doesn't really write about.

She knows who she is writing for even didn't go into the "sex" in Book 4, as she knew it wouldn't be approved reading by some closed minded mothers out there trying to shield their kids from anything about sex. Yes it happened but she didn't go into detail. And she got ridiculed for the way she wrote about that too, it was very tame. But what do people expect sex between Vamp's and Humans has to be that way.

I enjoy her writing and Stephen King gave Rowling's praise but remember he at first said her writing sucked too

48 yes it made kids pick up a book and read, which is a lost art that is why so many Public Library's are scaling down which is sad.

txladyjane. Perhaps you should read King before deciding what he does and does not write. His books do indeed, feel good and nary a nightmare among them. Not everyone feels the same way.

My 15-year-old daughter has read the first two Twilight books. She got irritated with Bella for being so whiney and obsessive over Edward ("OCD" as she put it). She liked the books, just was able to see that Bella isn't perfect. I'm glad that she's a thoughtful reader.

I, being 55, saw that Bella was just young and would get over it.... I wasn't as irritated with her personality as my daughter was.

Oh, I hadn't read this thread until now.

Well, obviously I'm going to be biased against Meyer. (Just look at my library if you don't believe me ;P).

And I've never even read a single page by Meyer, nor do I intend to. That is, excluding the countless, copious, numerous, tedious trivia questions posted by her eager fans over at another book website (the never-ending book quiz at GoodReads, if you need to know), and there I could "sample," if you will, her writing (many of the questions had actual excerpts from her books.) It is... very bad, in my opinion. I'm no critic, though. But yeah, it is cringe-inducing, to say the least. Brrr!! (And I'm not even talking about content, but general use of language. The English language is so rich, so powerful --and this is something King does use sooo well--, and it appears as if Meyer doesn't know how to use it.)

Another thing that really bothers me, and this is something I've read in some of the criticism and commentaries about her work, is the fact that she presents her main female character as a weak-willed girl with absolutely no character development, no... substance, other than her desire and love for a vampire. Is this really the message Meyer wants to send to her young female fans? I wonder...

Edited to fix misspelling.

I get very frustrated when people criticize what they haven't read. It's easy to get an attitude that what I read is superior to what you read. Or what you read is superior to what Twilight lovers read.

Even if you've read excerpts, you haven't read the books. So how do you really know?

Like I wrote in the comment above, Bella is whiney. And I'm sure there's a lot of criticism out there about that and that people feel she doesn't develop. I think those comments are based on the fact that through the series Bella is in love with Edward and that never changes. She doesn't develop away from that or even more "to" that after the first book. However, she's also loyal, thoughtful about a lot of things, got very good grades in school, and loved and made sacrifices for her parents and other people, vampires, and werewolves. The books are internally consistent, and she grew over the course of the 4 books. They're not great literature, but they're not totally execrable either. And even if they intrinsically are "bad literature", which I don't buy, other people derive pleasure from them. Who are you to knock that? How do you feel about people who criticize Stephen King? I bet you think they don't know what they're talking about.

I personally have never read a single word of Stephen King. I don't feel like I'm missing anything, but I wouldn't presume to criticize his writing without having read his work.

I do rely on people who have read a book and then write a review to advise me as to which books I might want to read. I do not have enough time to read everything; however, if many critics have a similar theme in criticizing an author I usually imagine there is some truth in the criticism. You know - "where there's smoke, there's fire" - the consistency does communicate.

I read several King books and liked the first few and then became really tired of the horror and fear and suspense; it did not wear well. I will not read the Meyer books as I simply am not interested in adolescent angst over vampires! I am grateful that the popularity of the books have created a tourist boom for the little town of Forks, Washington which was heavily in a depression as the logging industry dies a slow death.

#57 - You're very wise, maggie. I used to adore Stephen King, but I think having kids changed me. I don't relish reading horror any more. :o/ It's too threatening.

I actually enjoyed the first Twilight book, but could not get past the first few pages of the second one without being disgusted. I can't say exactly why, except that every time Bella opened her mouth I cringed. :o( And I had really liked her in the first one. I'm a bit of a klutz myself, so maybe I identified with her... LOL At any rate, I agree that folks should avoid dumping on authors they haven't tried to read, unless they've read enough excerpts to be able to make a judgement call, as it appears many of us have done.

I like to dump on Danielle Steele, and yet I have never opened a single one of her books, and I never plan to. So, I too am guilty as charged.

(Edited for a few million typos)

#56 I'm sorry if I've offended you, karenmarie. That wasn't my intention.

All I did was say that from the excerpts that I have read of Meyer's books (and they have been many, and many of them including very long paragraphs), her writing turned me off completely. I found it consistently bad. This from the point of view of her style, her use of the language (as I said above), and this is something I value very much in the work of any author I read. And I don't need to read in full any of her books to criticize her writing style. I do think the excerpts already gave me an idea.

That said, it's true I haven't read her books. But I don't plan to. Even before reading those excerpts, the subject matter (and here I mean content --as I said in my previous post, I wasn't getting into that precisely because I haven't read her books) didn't even interest me enough to plan to read them either. As maggie said it best: I simply am not interested in adolescent angst over vampires! (and, bottom line, that is exactly what the books are about. No one's fabricating anything here.)

The only comment I made about the content of her books, was the one I prefaced with this is something I've read in some of the criticism and commentaries about her work. Other people's criticism. And then I questioned the message Meyer wants to send. That's all.

As for Stephen King? I haven't said anything other than my opinion that he is a much better writer in his use of the language. I didn't compare and I won't compare both authors' content because I haven't read Meyer.

I don't need to defend my preference for Stephen King. Why would I? There are whole VOLUMES of criticism written about King's work. In fact, he published his first novel around the same time Meyer was born, if I recall correctly. And ever since there has been no shortage of critics, calling his books "bad literature." And yet, here I am, and I enjoy them. It's a question of preference.

Bottom line? My only intention was to comment on my personal opinion on Meyer's writing. And, as I said, I'm no critic.

You didn't offend me Delirium9 - what you wrote just sounded smug to me. Like King readers are the epitome of English language lovers and Meyer lovers can only love shallow drek about a whiney teenager. To me. Individually. You're entitled to your opinion as much as I am mine. I was just frustrated.

And reading excerpts turned you off - that's fine too. I tried to read Ahab's Wife and only got through half a paragraph before going blech and putting it down forever.

It may just be that King readers and Meyer readers are mostly mutually exclusive. That's no sin, just a celebration of the variety of people in the world and the variety of what appeals to readers. Hell, some people like Sue Monk Kidd. I don't understand the appeal, but that's okay too.

And, due to the popularity of her books among a certain demographic, Meyer is a magnet, like Rowling was over Harry Potter. It seems that people either love or hate the books. Not very much middle ground.

I'll say again that I personally think that there are a few other things she was trying to say, and just reading negative criticism of her won't let you see what those things might be. You will never read her books, and that's fine too. But to reduce 4 books to teen angst over vampires because that's what her critics say ignores quite a bit of what the books are about. In my opinion. From reading them.

It is a matter of preference, and we can agree about that.

Pax.

#60 - "But to reduce 4 books to teen angst over vampires because that's what her critics say ignores quite a bit of what the books are about."

Um, would you mind telling me what you think they are about, then? Because all I saw was teen angst. Not so much about vampires, but about maturing in general.

Just read 3 of the Twilight books, and have also read Nightmares and Dreamscapes recently, and some others before that, hey waddya know I like em both, though to be truthful I don't tend to be very discerning about the writing quality. I put Twilight in Paranormal romance and it appealed to me because I have had my heart broken by a person who I loved very deeply, I fell to pieces very similar to the way Bella did when it happened to me, but it was also overblown, the way teenage romances generally are. Also being brought up mormon I see the mormon influence on the books.

King, well I like his short stories a lot especially those with a hook, The Stand was interesting, quite deep. I've seen Misery and i've read another anthology of 4 novellas with Shawshank Redemption because I wanted to see how close to the film, (very) actually to be honest I've seen more King than i seem to have read and I've generally liked.

In conclusion, Meyer = Cotton Candy, King = Chicken Rogan Josh and I like both.

I read the first Twilight book with every intention of enjoying it. I love vampire novels. I thought Meyer wasn't a very good writer and it was all "teenage angst over vampires." And I'm pretty easy to please. I won't read anything else by her.

I haven't read anything by King since Christine. I did read all of the Twilight books...Twilight has an entirely different audience, so it's like apples/oranges. And yes, Bella is whiney, and obsessed w/ Edward. Anyone who has ever had a teenage girl in their house has lived with Bella. I wanted to pinch her head off at times...I had the same reaction when my own 16 year old daughter was obsessing over a boy. (At least Edward had Bella's best interest at heart, which is more than I can say for the boy who broke my daughter's heart!) I can see why girls would be interested in the story; they would not necessarily be interested in King. Or, on the other hand, reading Meyer may lead them eventually to more sophisticated writing. I think that's called "growing up".

#61 clamairy. Here's what I wrote in thread #56: However, she's also loyal, thoughtful about a lot of things, got very good grades in school, and loved and made sacrifices for her parents and other people, vampires, and werewolves. The books are internally consistent, and she grew over the course of the 4 books. I stand by it.

I remember that there's discord and discussion about the Cullen coven chosing to not feed from humans and how that was a threat to other vampire covens, werewolves imprinting with their future mates, Bella's overwhelming and utter love for someone introduced in book 4, and what Bella chooses to do with her life. I thought there was nice resolution in book 4.

It's still teenage girl stuff, and I probably will never re-read it, but my purpose in reading it was to understand what my daughter found interesting, read some popular vampire fiction, and fill a summer-light-weight-reading niche in my life at the time.

I have to agree with karenmarie. Twilight will never be great literature but it was never intended to be. Teenage chick lit is the perfect description of it. Bella is annoying but what love obsessed teenage girl isn't. I would have never read the series if not for the raves from two people I work with. I thought that the writing got better as the series continued. I didn't love the series but I didn't hate it either. King's books are on an entirely different level than Meyer's and shouldn't be compared.