I also agree with this statement.

I couldn't help but agree with him. She can't write, her stories have no real plot or literary elements. She fails....

Agreed. Stephen King is a great writer, Meyer, not so much.

I disagree that Rowling is a bad writer, though. I really like her style.

I agree, Meyer can't write. She had a good idea, but the way it's written is.. terrible.

I guess I wasn't clear what I mean't to say is that he thinks JK Rowling is a GOOD writer.

All I can say is, Stephen King never wrote anything that I found remotely scary. His statement comes off as very conformist. "do what your supposed to do! how your suposed to do it"!
Maybe because I am used to watching independent movies all the time and listen to local bands my view is kinder but honestly other than the Gunslinger series what has King ever done that equated to creating 4 books 2 movies (going on three of five) and heald the attention of the public for half a decade. None of his movies were blockbusters except stand by me (directed by someone else Carl Reiner or something).
Seriously may I suggest that people stop staring at the package and enjoy the gift inside.

Well that is just Stephen Kings opinion. For him to make that statement is very arrogant. True alot of people think his writing is great..but its not as though his writings will ever be compared to Shakespere or any of the truely great writers. To me...I think he made that statement because he was alittle jealous that these two women are having alittle bit of success. His last few books havent caused any waves...not like some of his earlier books. He sounds like hes jealous and is wanting some attention. He should be showing encouragement to new writers...not criticizing them. Its not as though Stephenie Meyer is stealing any of his readers. He writes for a much older crowd. It put a very bad light on him.

Well hes not jealous of her success that's for sure because of the amount of rewards he has received for his novels.
And almost all of his novels have been turned into very successful movies that are well known plus some of the worlds greatest actors have stared in the movies based of his books.
And I would also like to point out that he is also a professional critic and writer so reviewing authors and there works is also a bit of a job he has.
Plus his books get lots of attention most people here probably don't know about them though because it's most likely not something you would read.
Besides he has the life time achievement award I really,REALLY doubt he is jealous of her.

First let me point out that I am a guy. I don't know why but it seems like there are a lot of men out there who Denigrate (put down in a hatefull manner) this series. It is very easy to look at a peice of work and say "that could have been done better". Always in retrospect and usually by people who have little experience actually creating anything. I point out the male reference because I partially believe many of them hate what they don't understand. As far as Meyers writing ability, there is an obvious learning curve to be seen in the books. A good example would be to point out how each book after the first got longer and the one afer that longer still, etc... Breaking Dawn was the longest and probably most complex in the series.
Let me use an analogy. Lets say (for the sake of argument cause I really don't)that I think Spongebob Squarepants is pathetic badly drawn and childishly moralistic. I still wouldn't say that around a bunch of little kids (fans). There is something to be said for allowing others the oportunity to enjoy the things they love even when it seems useless to me. Anything less seems kinda unchivalrous or something. If you care about others, why take away sommething or lessen it. Anything else is selfishness.

Well you make a valid point but again he is also a professional critic it is his Job to point these things out.
And he does say that he understands why the Twilight books sell so well but its the writing he finds to be bad.

See, Stephanie Meyer isn't really cut out to be a writer. She is non imaginative in her books. And to be honest, I don't see that she is putting herself into her writings. Its like she is just writing about the stereotypical stuff, While Rowling, actually came up with a whole other world, made up a new sport, and tons of latin-root spells. Rowling is by far a better writer than Meyer andy day.

jay_team renesme Just about every single one of Stephen kings movies had a movie based of them almost all of them are considered to be classics.
And in my opinion the only reason why Twilight is said to hold any merit at all is because most of the fans are Tweens who haven't read that many novels.

When I read the last post I had to stop and think of a way to write this one so it didn't sound antagonistic. My intention isn't to attack or really even argue any of this. However, I do have a few questions.
First, do you think Southpark looks simple or stupid. What about the cartoon Chowder also simple looking right. My point is that perhaps the format or complexity of the presentation of something doesn't need to be the primary focus. Instead (and this is a question to you as well) ask yourself if Meyers succeeded in expressing her intentions completely. Did she miss something or somehow lose the purpose of what she created. Did the overall story make sense and (this should be obvious)was she not entertaining though perhaps not to you. Personally I liked her books. As far as her work being stereotipical, let me point out two things. First there are no new stories. Everything fictional ever written about comes from the same original 22 greek tragedies and or bible stories. If you don't believe me look it up. Second (can't be sure of this one so no real 'blame')perhaps you have come to the point where you have finally seen to much. It happens eventually, you see enough movies and read enough books and after a while the patterns behind them start to become familiar or as you put it Stereotipical.
By the way for every hit movie King had he also had several flops to go with it. Also looking back at his own successes he has been quoted as saying that there are things he would have done differently. So no one is perfect.
Personally I believe that pointing out how something might be deficient is a great way to deminish the enjoyment of others. Point out the bad and they start looking too.
It's gotta be so much better to just let others enjoy....

Well your point is well seen but I think that people should criticize things even at the expense of others enjoyment because through criticism people will learn of ways to improve upon them or people will learn of other things to experience as well.
And in regard's to nothing being original yes this is true but there is a difference between taking ideas and trying to put in a spin and just taking ideas and just writing roughly the exact same thing but with a different title and characters and claiming it came to you in a dream. (Which I don't believe by the way)
If you enjoy the book I have no problem with that, you can continue to enjoy it.

@jay_teamRenesme you have a valid point...very well put..I agree

You know what? That jay kid has a point. But so does mcmaddness.
In my opinion Stephanie meyer isn't a bad writer. But moreso perhaps writing to a certain audience that doesn't include people who read on a regular basis. I'm not really a fan of the books. I've read them. And I've read king. And found neither to be really engrossing. The host by meyer was an interesting book one I found to be more origional than twilight. Out of the three regardless of the fact she started writing the first one for early teens, I found Rowling to have an amazing imagionation. Meyers wasn't so much evident in twilight on the basis that the concept was already overused. But she was quiet incentive with the host.
In my opinion.

I never said that King was jealous of Meyers success...I said he was jealous of the attention she is getting now. He really hasnt been in the spot light for awhile now and I know you have said that his books have been turned into several successful movies...I would totally disagree with that...he has had several successful TV movies but not really anything that has 'wowed' the box offices. And by professional critic...does that mean that he gets paid for criticizing others work? Is that because he needs a side job because his latest books have not done well? lol Look I like some of Kings work..but he made himself look very petty when he came out and said what he said. And to everyone who says that Meyers cant write...that hasnt stop all 4 of her books for being on the best sellers lists nor has it stopped millions of people not only buying her books but "rebuying" her books.

Well the main reason why he is a critic is because he is a writer.
Most critics are writers or something like that.
And in regards to people re buying her books. Most of Twilights readers are Tweens who haven't read much else so they think Twilight is a completely original concept. (which it isn't)
And I can tell of several instances where I heard of people who read Twilight, though it was great, read something else, then realized that there are a lot better books out there.
And he isn't jealous of her being in the spot light because again his work is in the spot light right now.
Currently his novel Dark towers is very well known right now so he is getting the attention he deserves.

What I find suprising is that someone like Steven King would have any opinion of Stephanie Meyers at all. They seem to share so little in terms of literary following. It's like a profesional baseball commentator going to a little league game and yelling at the parents saying "what the heck is wrong with you people this isn't entertaining"!
The truth is in knowing your audience and I think she (Meyers) does.
By the way I am not saying her writing is perfect. Everyone can improve their skills and if you look at how she has progressed technically over the four books you can see improvement. I said something about this before. The last book is something like twice as long as the first and probably five times as complex.
The Dark Tower series by the way was started decades ago and unless I am mistaken he finished the last book in that series several years ago. Yes it's an amazing series and yes it's still getting peoples attention several years after the release date of the final installment. BUT... the first book in the series is seriously hard to read through. Even king had a learning curve at one point. This is something he himself pointed out and apologised for when the book was rereleased a few years ago (to comemorate the finnishing of the series).
Steven King has lead a marathon life of writing lasting decades, Meyers has probably been writing for what 7 years. If she is still telling stories in 2030 and still hasn't refined her style to a level your satisfied with then you can complain.
As far as JK Rouling is concerned I say the same thing. Time and experience makes everything better and easier to do the last Potter book came out like 5 years ago. Other than a short book of fables she hasn't done anything and that book she admitted to writing during the creation of one of the other novels.

What I find really frustrating is that comments like these seem to make it difficult for Meyers to create more. She doesn't seem to want to interact with her fans. At least not directly. This coupled with the leak of the fifth book and derogitory comments by other authors (by the way King wasn't the only one). Lets just say it's no suprise that she is having a hard time with finishing Midnight sun. If I had to listen to the !@#$storm of comments and then have my work exposed way before it was ready I would lose the energy to continue too.

Very nicely put jay_teamRenesme....Dark Towers came out between 1970 - 2004 and I'm with you on how hard the first was to get thru. And not to be mean..but Stephen King has jumped on the vampire bandwagon that was restarted by the Twilight series..."American Vampire" comic book is set to come out in March of this year. I'm not bashing Kings work...I'm just saying that he made himself look bitter and petty by saying what he did. He's well established in the publishing world...he should be offering encouragement instead of put-downs.

In the long run yeah your right he really should have just given helpful criticism instead.
I guess I am being a little defensive because of some of the fans backlash towards him.

Well you know how us 'Twihards' can be....hahaha

i think thats crap cuz if people actually thought about it, she created her OWN world and everything she came up with was never written about before besides the fact it involved vampires. Even though it's written in first person theres an angle that she wrote at that is unique. its epic and hes just jealous he didn't think about it.

I don't know about that some of you are very good an sensible.
Something which I appreciate.
It allows me to debate better.

Hmm I may have spoke too soon lol

Stephen King is a fantastic writer, I own most of his books. He's been writing for a lot longer than both Rowling and Meyer and he writes a different kind of style and genre. It's his opinion, both women has their own writing styles and variations of myths. I don't think they're bad writers, they're good in their own ways.

hahaha

I think it was wrong of him to say it. No matter what the reason he has for disliking her I think it is immature to say that to the public. Stephen King has been around a lot longer and even though I've never read one of his books I would guess that his books are probably written better. But he still had no right to say that. It was just rude.

Yeah suppose so it was.

I agree with him to a degree. She's not the best writer at all, but, she knows how to tell a good story. From the looks of it, it doesn't appeal to you. But why question and critisize someone else's appeal to it?

I know you want to understand the ways of Twilight and why it's a big deal, but it seems like you are purposefully trying to cause a ruccus amongst the fandom. I respect your opinion, but the way you are wording your forums, I find somewhat provoking.

And about the content of Stephen King's statement... I found it rather rude. I mean, it's one thing to have a negative opinion or constructive critisism. But, to a fellow writer? She was completely knew to the entire literary world. Yet, he tore her down? I don't know if she heard his statement, but i would most certainly be heartbroken if someone I had looked up to said something belittling like his statement. His statement implied that she could never get better. Twilight was her first book. Maybe she's not a natural writer like him. Yeah, she's not the best writer, not only for the grammar, but shouldn't you be happy for your fellow men when they are successful? Maybe Stephen King was jealous? We don't know. Stephenie Meyer has gotten so much crap when it comes to vampire story owners. She's been accused a couple times of plagarism when she had not been the only one to have a vapmire/human relationship. It's because she's in the spotlight. I'm sure when Twilight is long gone, people will leave her alone.

Your right about that when Twilight goes down people will stop criticizing her when Twilight's popularity goes down.
Still the only reason why people criticize her so badly is because of the hype and what some people think of it.
So basically for every person who holds something in high regard there are people who hold it in low regard or they criticize more harshly based of its reputation .

I totally agree on that.

i know. With the limelight, there will be haters. It's only natural. But, with Twilight's sudden burst of popularity, the hating is more stronger. Maybe that's juts me, but with Twilight, the haters purposefully provoke the fans. I agree some of them are a little crazy and complete, pure fangirl, but all twilight fans shouldn't be characterized as horny teenage girls. Because, obviously, there are twilight fans ranging from ages 12 to 50+.

When I first came onto Fanpop..I was totally attacked for loving Twilight..I've learned to grow a tough skin since then ..but still it does get to me sometimes to read stuff posted by the crazy fangirls and then to watch the 'haters' attack. I dont think Stephen Kings fans act like this. lol

I thought it was kind of unprofessional for Stephen King to word it like that. He was being truthful, but he could have put it in better wording. His statement came out as harsh and cold. He is a good writer, but it doesn't mean he can lash out and insult her. I'm not even a fan of Stephenie Meyer and I thought it was rather cruel.

Hey guys, just thought I'd put my two cents in. xD

I don't think it was a great to say even though I somewhat agree. It's just kinda rude and arrogant. But I very much doubt he done it because he's jealous or wants to be back in the spotlight... Stpehen King is popular, and even without that, he is highly respected amongst authors. Even the films based on his books are usually rated highly which is not the case with the Twilight movies. Sure, they're popular, but critics are often harsh about them.

I won't deny it was rather unnecessary but what was worse was the response to it.

I get a lot of lulz from some of the fans responses. 'Omgg he is the one that cant rite!' when they've probably never even picked up one of his books. I know grown men who got scared by his books.

Indeed they are just jumping on the band wagon for insults.