Stephen King: Literary Genius or Hack?

What do you think, OT? I have my opinion, but I want to hear yours first.

He's somewhere in between those extremes.

With the amount of books he's written there are bound to be some great ones and some terrible ones.

He's somewhere in between those extremes.

superfluidity

no hack can write something as good as the stand...though it's the only book of his i've read :P

Why the two extremes anyway?dave123321

Prior to "On Writing", he was to writing what Michael Bay is to movies: successful, entertaining, popular, but no lasting literary value.

But after that book, critics were asking "wait, has he had the ability to be a great writer all along, but just never chose to do so?"

I have wanted to read his Dark Tower series but never read anything of his.

I've never read any of his books.

I did like the film adaption of Shawshank Redemption though.

Then again, The Shining is the least favorite Kubrick movie I've seen.

Some goods stuff. A lot of mediocre stuff. So in between the two choices.

You guys are nuts. Stephen King is a excellent writer.

a excellent writer.

Videodogg

Prior to "On Writing", he was to writing what Michael Bay is to movies: successful, entertaining, popular, but no lasting literary value.

But after that book, critics were asking "wait, has he had the ability to be a great writer all along, but just never chose to do so?"

Oleg_Huzwog

You're trying too hard with that comparison to Bay. At least King took the time to fully develop his characters in his works.

[QUOTE="Oleg_Huzwog"]

Prior to "On Writing", he was to writing what Michael Bay is to movies: successful, entertaining, popular, but no lasting literary value.

But after that book, critics were asking "wait, has he had the ability to be a great writer all along, but just never chose to do so?"

DharmaMember77

You're trying too hard with that comparison to Bay. At least King took the time to fully develop his characters in his works.

I said literary genius. Sure, he's had some duds, and some so-so books, but he's written soooo freakin many. The fact remains that his most brilliant books (such as It) were written by a brilliant author--him! As far as the so-so popcorn thriller type books, I chalk that up to his own enthusiastic interest in horror and the fact that he pretty much does what he wants.

meh,ive liked very very few of his books the rest are just eh

Well. I don't like horror regardless of medium. And Shawshank Redemption sucked hard. So he gets a 0/10 from methemajormayor

While not all his works are good(many are down right awful), when he hits his stride, he hits it out of the ball park.

And admire his work ethic, and willingness to branch out. Many modern authors fal into the trap of writting 1 big series, then writing nothing but spinoffs and self knock offs after that.

The shear amount of work he cranks out in soo many different genres is ahh inspiring.

He's published 49 novels alone!

One of my favourite authors. Has written some masterpieces in his time. Although due to his huge output of work, he tends to write some bad stuff too.

8/10 for me.

While not all his works are good(many are down right awful), when he hits his stride, he hits it out of the ball park.

And admire his work ethic, and willingness to branch out. Many modern authors fal into the trap of writting 1 big series, then writing nothing but spinoffs and self knock offs after that.

The shear amount of work he cranks out in soo many different genres is ahh inspiring.

He's published 49 novels alone!

dercoo

Not a literary genius, but certainly a great writer.

If you want a real example of a hack, look at Dean Koontz.

Not a literary genius, but certainly a great writer.

If you want a real example of a hack, look at Dean Koontz.

GreySeal9

What is meant by literary genius?

I have yet to read another author that has written so many novels, most of them top quality, and most of them connected to his Dark Tower Series.

As in:

Neither. Some of his stuff is brilliant, others are boring. But he's much closer to Genius than he is to Hack

Shawshank redemption.

Thread/

[QUOTE="GreySeal9"]

Not a literary genius, but certainly a great writer.

If you want a real example of a hack, look at Dean Koontz.

FelipeInside

What is meant by literary genius?

I have yet to read another author that has written so many novels, most of them top quality, and most of them connected to his Dark Tower Series.

As in:

He's somewhere in between those extremes.

superfluidity

I would say he's a bit of both. Some of his stuff has been really amazing and innovative, and some of it is just crap so he can get a paycheck.

[QUOTE="FelipeInside"]

[QUOTE="GreySeal9"]

Not a literary genius, but certainly a great writer.

If you want a real example of a hack, look at Dean Koontz.

NiKva

What is meant by literary genius?

I have yet to read another author that has written so many novels, most of them top quality, and most of them connected to his Dark Tower Series.

As in:

I've only read Thinner and part of Pet Sematary, and Pet Sematary had one part that involved them walking through the woods and doing nothing else. Stephen King rambled on for literally 10 pages on the characters walking through the woods. It was... meh.

Overall I don't know though, but I liked Thinner.

He's somewhere in between those extremes.superfluidity

Yeah.

I haven't read any of his books in years, but I remember thinking that he's a good storyteller and that he writes characters well. I don't think that he's a "literary genius" by any means, but then again I don't really know the criteria for that anyway, but he's good at telling his stories successfully. He's a very prolific writer, so he has written some mediocre books over the years, but that doesn't take away from the successful books he's written.

His book IT is honestly one of my favorite books. I remember being so surprised by its depth and the sheer size of its universe when I first read it.

Well. I don't like horror regardless of medium. And Shawshank Redemption sucked hard. So he gets a 0/10 from methemajormayor

I've only read Thinner and part of Pet Sematary, and Pet Sematary had one part that involved them walking through the woods and doing nothing else. Stephen King rambled on for literally 10 pages on the characters walking through the woods. It was... meh.

Overall I don't know though, but I liked Thinner.

Aquat1cF1sh

[QUOTE="superfluidity"]He's somewhere in between those extremes.t3hrubikscube

Yeah.

I haven't read any of his books in years, but I remember thinking that he's a good storyteller and that he writes characters well. I don't think that he's a "literary genius" by any means, but then again I don't really know the criteria for that anyway, but he's good at telling his stories successfully. He's a very prolific writer, so he has written some mediocre books over the years, but that doesn't take away from the successful books he's written.

His book IT is honestly one of my favorite books. I remember being so surprised by its depth and the sheer size of its universe when I first read it.

[QUOTE="t3hrubikscube"]

[QUOTE="superfluidity"]He's somewhere in between those extremes.mattbbpl

Yeah.

I haven't read any of his books in years, but I remember thinking that he's a good storyteller and that he writes characters well. I don't think that he's a "literary genius" by any means, but then again I don't really know the criteria for that anyway, but he's good at telling his stories successfully. He's a very prolific writer, so he has written some mediocre books over the years, but that doesn't take away from the successful books he's written.

His book IT is honestly one of my favorite books. I remember being so surprised by its depth and the sheer size of its universe when I first read it.

so when is Stephen King gonna give us Milkman no. 3?

by far the greatest of his works were Milkman no. 1 and Milkman no. 2.

even better than salem's lot, dark tower, it, the running man, different seasons and the stand put together.