Stephen King Thinks Stephenie Meyer is a Terrible Writer

Posted on February 3, 2009

Stephen King says he understands the appeal the Twilight series has on young girls but her is not a fan of author Stephenie Meyer's writing. King was absolutely brutal in a recent assessment of Meyer's writing: he says she "can't write worth a darn."

Stephen King's thoughts on Meyer's writing were published in an interview in USA Weekend. King compliments J.K. Rowling while slamming Meyer. King says, "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."

King also says, "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 it's not overtly sexual."

King also explains why he think young girls are attracted to the Twilight novels: "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."

King was a teacher before he became an author and perhaps he thinks he's giving his honest critique of her writing skills, but his comments seem unnecessarily harsh. He could have explained why he thinks the Twilight books appeal to young women without attacking Stephenie's writing skills.