Is Stephenie a bad writer? Showing 1,601-1,650 of 2,281

[Siobhan]

Indeed, I think books I've read before, things that have happened that day, past experience of an author all contribute to how I read a book (and even watching the film before the book, which I try not to do). But despite all that, peer pressure will always win out in best-selling series/books.

[[deleted user]]

Same here. I usually read books recommended by my friends before I read something I've never heard of before (bad habit, I know. *hangs head in shame*) But there are some books that a lot of people like that I just couldn't get into, like the Witch and Wizard series

[Siobhan]

I haven't read that series, but I remember being in Leicester Square and randomly being given a free copy (they had like two crates. I never say no to freebies, especially free freaking books). I kinda believe you can get into any book if you persevere enough, which is the only way I've read through the Count of Monte Cristo (amazing, amazing book, but so much unnecessary detail. Read it, then twilight, and you will never again moan about her use of adjectives. There was actually a physical description of someone which included exactly what muscles were holding the person's monocle in place), but you have to be in the right place.

And there's nothing wrong with recommendations. Half the time, I read books my friends suggest because I'm amazed my friends read as much as me (I know that shouldn't sound shocking, I sound like a prick, I know, but I'm from an area where people look at books like they're used condoms. No, they look at books like they wish they could be as high up the food chain as a used condom. Knowing there's someone near me who delights in written word is like a ray of sunshine). Your friends are your friends for a reason as well, so if they like a book it follows that you might too.

I have no idea if that makes sense by the way. I work nights and am about to go to bed so I doubt that sounds as fluent as it does in my head.

[[deleted user]]

Haha, no I got that loud and clear! An excellent point, by the way. Well good night! I suppose I really should be sleeping at the moment as well...

[Alex]

Siobhan wrote: "Half the time, I read books my friends suggest because I'm amazed my friends read as much as me (I know that shouldn't sound shocking, I sound like a prick, I know, but I'm from an area where people look at books like they're used condoms. No, they look at books like they wish they could be as high up the food chain as a used condom."

I had no idea that anyone from Issix could even read. Congratulations for prompting some kind of evolutionary change up there...

[Siobhan]

There's a few of us. We're underground ;)

[Alex]

Siobhan wrote: "There's a few of us. We're underground ;)"

I note that your name isn't actually "Shazza" either. It's a Brave New World out there now.

[Gerd]

CHING CHANG CHONG wrote: "The pages of the Twilight Saga make good toilet paper."

Ooookay, that tells us what you think of the paper quality - got anything to say about what you thought of the writing, perhaps?

[Amy]

CHING CHANG CHONG wrote: "The pages of the Twilight Saga make good toilet paper."

Sometimes I am rather surprised at the level of hatred and rage seen over a book of all things. Toilet paper? Just because you did not like it? A bit ridiculous don't you think? A more suitable response would have been, I really disliked it and thought the writing was atrocious. That gives more credibility to your point.

[Redd]

The answer's still yes.

Check out my webcomic (updates every Thursday): http://reddkaiman.blogspot.com/

[[deleted user]]

mkc120/Haley wrote: "Haha, probably not . . . I don't think it would be very comfortable."

Yep. I'd rather use good old toilet paper. If Twilight's really that bad, why would you want to, er, contaminate yourself with it? ^_^

[Amy]

Jocelyn wrote: "mkc120/Haley wrote: "Haha, probably not . . . I don't think it would be very comfortable."

Yep. I'd rather use good old toilet paper. If Twilight's really that bad, why would you want to, er, cont..."

Lol. I would have to be pretty desperate for toilet paper to use scratchy book pages :)

[[deleted user]]

Amy wrote: "Lol. I would have to be pretty desperate for toilet paper to use scratchy book pages :)"

Yeah. Too stiff, you know? It would be kinda... painful. Lol.

[Rebecca]

I like the way she writes, and I love The Twilight Saga! I really like how she tells Bella's point of view. I felt like I was in her position when I was reading it, but that's just my opinion.

[Jeanne]

I think The Host was the best book by Stephanie Meyer for the quality of the writing. However, Twilight is very good also, but not the same theme..

[[deleted user]]

mkc120/Haley wrote: "Don't forget the paper cuts. :)"

Ah, good point! Lol, the images I get from this convo are hilarious.

[Siobhan]

mkc120/ Haley wrote: "Jocelyn wrote: "Amy wrote: "Lol. I would have to be pretty desperate for toilet paper to use scratchy book pages :)"

Yeah. Too stiff, you know? It would be kinda... painful. Lol."

Don't forget th..."

What if you only had a copy on kindle or kobo or something?

[Amy]

Siobhan wrote: "mkc120/ Haley wrote: "Jocelyn wrote: "Amy wrote: "Lol. I would have to be pretty desperate for toilet paper to use scratchy book pages :)"

Yeah. Too stiff, you know? It would be kinda... painful. ..."

That would definitely pose a problem. Pretty expensive toilet paper just to show how much you dislike Twilight, ha ha.

[Jordan]

Jocelyn wrote: "mkc120/Haley wrote: "Don't forget the paper cuts. :)"

Ah, good point! Lol, the images I get from this convo are hilarious."

Yup... Ow. I get some strange images from the internet...

[Meghan]

She's not good at developing character. I've read all the Twilight books and The Host. The Host at least had a bit of suspense to it. Twilight's characters however, lacked any serious depth and their behavior was mostly deplorable (seriously, a guy watching me sleep: this is creepy, stalker behavior people!). I got into it at first and then I read that drivel that was Breaking Dawn. The novel with THE WORST ENDING EVER!!! That stupid story tore whatever was redeemable in the rest of the series down and negated it.

[Jordan]

Amy wrote: "Siobhan wrote: "mkc120/ Haley wrote: "Jocelyn wrote: "Amy wrote: "Lol. I would have to be pretty desperate for toilet paper to use scratchy book pages :)"

Yeah. Too stiff, you know? It would be ki..."

I would rather use pages than a kindle... haha!

[Ashish]

I dnt know whether stephaine is a bad writer or not but she created oen of the most frustating(bad) characters of all time in Bella

[Christina]

I personally don't think that many great writers actually exist, writers who have nearly perfect blends of simple and complex sentences coupled with a splash of colorful yet appropriate terms here and there. I wouldn't go as far as to call Stephenie Meyer a terrible writer, but she definitely doesn't have much skill when it comes to writing. She relies primarily on one type of sentence (simple), and her word choice seems a bit dull. Her storytelling ability, however, is completely set apart from her writing ability. The story is interesting enough once you overlook the writing itself.

[Zoran]

Ashish wrote: "I dnt know whether stephaine is a bad writer or not but she created oen of the most frustating(bad) characters of all time in Bella"

You think Bella is worse than Edward? Because I think Edward is terrible.

[Jordan]

Zoran wrote: "Ashish wrote: "I dnt know whether stephaine is a bad writer or not but she created oen of the most frustating(bad) characters of all time in Bella"

You think Bella is worse than Edward? Because I ..."

I love Edward. And Bella. I love the characters. JMO

[Sam]

Yes. Her writing is painful to read. Sorry but she just has no flow to her writing at all.

[Laura]

Haley wrote: "I hear a lot of people criticizing Stephenie's writing style (I don't know if they are talking about her grammar, her technique, her editing, or if Twilight is just a stupid book) and I just want t..."

The most important part of a book, in my opinion, is whether or not the story is good enough for the reader to connect with the book. When it comes down to it, it doesn't seem to matter if it's written perfectly. The characters matter. The plot matters. And records show people like it, so it doesn't matter if she's "good" or not.

[Kaleigh]

She isn't a bad writer. Though Twilight may not be the best book in the world, it is still a pretty good book. And even if Twilight sucked, she still wouldn't be a bad writer because her other books like The Host are amazing so ya. Hope this helped.

[Melissa]

I read the first one because my teen was reading it, I thought it was quite good YA reading, better than most. However, it is not the type of adult fiction I enjoy, and also there are plenty of other similar books, don't know how this author got so lucky, she touched a chord somewhere. What I don't understand is the 40 yr olds who love this book. I am not one of them. But I don't think she's a bad writer at all, I think she is a decent to good YA author based on the one book I read.

[[deleted user]]

She's not a bad writer at all, she is actually quite talented. She just was a little to depressing and repetitive when it comes to the twilight saga. I think that she could've really wrapped it up in only two books and called it good. There are a bunch of other books by her that are amazing like the Host series; you should read them

[Melissa]

No I think she is a good writer, I love her books! Not everyone is going to like her.

[Bill]

Seriously, why did you resurrect this discussion? The question was already addressed (hint: the correct answer was "she's a shitty writer who got undeservedly popular").

[April]

I think she's a great writer.. I love her books.. :) She's one of my favorite authors. :) Every book of hers that I read I fall in love with :)

[LaJonn]

I believe the mishmash called Twilight might have annoyed and irritated some folks. A 'chickflick' vamp was a bit much for a formerly terrifying, blood-sucking demon of the night.
However, Host has proven to be a very intriguing, and provocative tale of tolerance that I would highly recommend.
Overall, I would say SM is a good writer, she just launched with a bad notion. Some writers do. I would give her a little more time before simply labeling her, though. After Host, I think she does show a bit of promise. Even Edgar Rice Burroughs and Robert E. Howard were turned down, and criticized at the start, you know.

[Elise]

It's not that I think she's a bad writer or anything, I just think she can't depict. I don't feel that she portrays the characters and environment well enough, and when I was done with the books, I didn't feel that I really got to know any of the characters. She focused more on the action and their words than THEM, if you know what I mean. And her vocabulary and choice of words, is was too shallow for my taste.

[Katt]

Meyer is a good story teller I give her that, but she cannot write well. She constantly tells her readers what she should be showing along with coloring her stories in purple prose. There is really nothing wrong with purple prose here and there but she uses it far too often especially when describing Edward and any other Cullen. Her punctuation, like mine, is terrible and often placed in the wrong place or omitted when needed.

Then there is the characters. They are often flat and unrealistic and the ones who aren't are often condemned causes in point Leah Clearwater, somewhat Victoria and shades of this with Jacob Black whose character started going downhill in Eclipse and shattered in Breaking Dawn where he is turned into a pedophile/glorified babysitter. Rosalie Hale does not have a consistent personality and is changed at Meyer's will to fit a need which is why I much prefer her movie counterpart. I like Emmett, but he does not appear enough for me to begin disliking him, though, he has been shown to be a voice of reason at times which is quickly glossed over by Meyer. Jasper is a little psychopath, though, no one takes notice because he is Alice's true love and there for supposed to be one of the good guys. Alice, Bella, Carlisle, Edward and Esme are all Mary-Sues and it is frustrating.

She constantly has good ideas and story lines but goes in the other direction which often times ruins it. Has many contradictory statements throughout her story especially when it comes to vampire biology. I am nowhere near a science major but even I understand the going ons of the human body: i.e. you need to have blood in your veins to get an erection and an extra chromosome usually, if not always, results in down syndrome. The books should smell like fish with how many dead herrings are in them. Also, Edward Cullen is an abusive misogynist and so many people don't see it. I don't know if this is what her husband is like or what but it gives young girls the wrong impression of what good men are like. This is what makes her a bad writer in my view.

[Carol (bookish_notes)]

I don't think that she's necessarily a bad writer, since I have read worse. I think that it has to do with the plot and how she handled the development of the story to be the reason behind all these criticisms.

I begun reading the Twilight books before they gained popularity and I thoroughly enjoyed them at face-value. It was a quick read and good fluff. I think that one thing that really disappointed me was that there was so much build up to a big battle in Breaking Dawn, yet nothing happened. It just seems to be a disservice to readers, I feel, that Stephenie and the editing team could just leave it that way without a better conclusion.

[Loretta]

She not a "bad" writer, it's just that she is not a GOOD writer. I don't hate her. In fact I think her ideas are pure genius and she is very very creative, but I think that someone else could have done justice to her amazing ideas in terms of writing style. She drags on too much.

[Devika]

She's a writer with her own share of flaws. Though, that doesn't necessarily make her a bad writer, it prevents her from becomingg a good writer. Her vampires don't just steal blood, they murder humans on a weekly basis. And they have no weaknesses.. The sunlight can't burn them, silver cannot bind them, they never sleep, and most of them cannot be near a human without being overpowered by the urge to tear apart human bodies and drink their blood.
This puts the survival of the human race into question, something which I don't think Meyer had anticipated. Not just humans, even bears and mountain lions are bound to become extinct, seeing that a vamp lives forever..

[Miriam]

She's actually a surprisingly good writer but I find her style a little too choppy for me.

SM just can't choose the good stories to tell.

[lily]

I don't think she's a bad writer because otherwise she wouldn't have sold at least one of her books but I think the Twilight books are too childish. Written in a childish way. I read them all and I'm not actually a fan but I think the story could have been written in a better way. Some people are saying she's a bad writer because The Twilight movies got a lot of success but there's like a BIG difference between books and movies. The Twilight books aren't high literature like Shakespeare or whatever so I don't think people should be too harsh with her. She's just writing the books the way she feels it and either people like it or not. And I think people liked the Twilight books thanks to the love story and the romance because this book is all about it. They didn't appreciate the book thanks to the way ti was written. Because the way it's written is just...basic.

[Kyle]

Well, If I were to chime in on this subject, I personally didn't find her style "bad" just not good. It's mainly in the characters that I found were her weaknesses. I personally cared more for the sub characters than bella edward or jacob. Also, some of the plot details were kinda weak, and I couldn't even finish Breaking Bad, just because I got fed up with Bella's thoughts at that point, especially after such a strong section in Jacob's head. It just didn't feel right and because of that I just got so bored that I couldn't find the will to pick the book back up. Maybe someday I'll pick back up the book and read it, but I just don't have any reason to.
I feel like if she were to write in third person, or at least make the narrative character somewhat... more interesting to follow, then she wouldn't be considered that bad of an author.

[Kellie]

I think the books are a great read. They are easy reading material but still managed to have hell of a lot of detail.
To many people these days seem to confuse the writing for the acting. If there had never been the movies to put immagies that are not our own to story.

[Chris]

Candy wrote: "Yeah, I actually really enjoyed the Twilight series when I first read them - I think a few found the constant telling of Bella's daily life in the first book a little boring but it's actually one o..."


I think she probably was getting betters as she wrote each book. I think she was not an experienced writer and people who read a lot or have read a lot of different authors can see that in the first couple of Twilight books. I have read worse than her.

[Jayde]

Stephanie is an amazing write. Just because you don't like the plot line doesn't mean the writing is bad. I think the reason people think the characters are bad is because they watch the movies and the actors (KRISTEN STEWART) are terrible.

[Chris]

Jayde wrote: "Stephanie is an amazing write. Just because you don't like the plot line doesn't mean the writing is bad. I think the reason people think the characters are bad is because they watch the movies and..."


I thought we were talking about the writing, not the characters. lol.

[Madie]

Go team 'guy who almost hit bella with a car'!

[Loretta]

Madie wrote: "Go team 'guy who almost hit bella with a car'!"

lol

[Somerandom]

I personally don't think she's god awful, but she's no Shakespeare. Some may not enjoy her books due to their own personal taste, but there are some (like me) who think she could improve her technique immensley.

Firstly, her word choice is quite bad at times. When choosing a word to fit your sentence you must ensure it fits with your writing style, your flow and you're not showing off. SMeyer instead opts to chuck in random long winded synonyms in an attempt to show just how educated she is. This is bad word choice. It often severs the flow and is just patronizing. It is inexcusable for an author to use them incorrectly and SMeyer actually did. For example, Verbose is used to try and replace the word talkative. This shows SMeyer's inability to realize there are nuances in the English Language.
Many critique her prose as being too purple. Which may be the case. Personally, I think it does fit in with her style (sometimes.) Purple prose is often the trademark of a romance novel, plus she's speaking in the voice of a 16 year old drama Queen. I think she should have toned it down, but whatever. I didn't write it.
Her imagery confused me at times. Buttery Sushine? Oppressive clouds?
This is too vague and although I know the images it's meant to ellicit, it just seems fumbly and shows inexperience.

Her "tagging" is also woeful and again, shows her inexperience as this is a common rookie mistake. I'd look past this, if only she stopped doing it. But she kept on going.
"Tagging" is a word used by authors to refer to the usage of dialogue tags. Normally an author would either use no dialogue tags during dialogue, instead letting their characters breathe or use the tag "said" in most instances. This helps distinguish normal speech of a character from dialogue during times of duress or stress. It also helps to pack more punch to a chracter who is shouting or sobbing or what have you. Instead SMeyer avoids the tag said like it was the plague and her diologue suffers for it. Being somewhat bland or overly dramatic, depending on the circumstance.

Her characters are paper thin and never stray from their predetermined cliche role. Bella is the Damsel, who serves as the prize for Edward and rarely uses her backbone. Edward is the typical brooding hero, a figure with a dark history and is "damaged goods." He serves as the hunk to woo Bella and protect her.
Jacob is the third wheel. The typical close friend to the heroine, only to be pushed aside for the hero.
The other side characters are not horrible. I enjoyed Carlilse (sp?) and Alice at times. But there's really nothing new I can think of character wise. Which can be forgivable if they have enjoyable personalities or witty dialogue. Unfortunately, I found neither.

Love or hate Twilight (or Stephenie Meyer) I hope this explains a bit of what people mean when they call her a bad author. I, personally, don't see why she's either loathed or worshipped. She did her job, it was her first series and was bound to make mistakes. It's up to her to improve as an author.

But I did not like her vampires. Blech! Give me bloodthirsty creatures of darkness please. Not whiny crybabies who sparkle like a discoball.

(I apologize for my syntax and grammatical errors. It's been a long day for me. lol)

[Veronica]

Haley wrote: "I hear a lot of people criticizing Stephenie's writing style (I don't know if they are talking about her grammar, her technique, her editing, or if Twilight is just a stupid book) and I just want t..."

I could tell that the Twight light series were her first books , each book got a little better, although I disliked the series .Now The Host was well written and I liked the book.