Think josh’s point isn’t that artistic success isn’t subjective but that one wouldn’t deem something artistically successful if one thought it was badly written
― U. K. Le Garage (wins), Sunday, 3 June 2018 17:59 (five years ago) link
(& I think authors like king are the cases that really test this premise!)
― U. K. Le Garage (wins), Sunday, 3 June 2018 18:02 (five years ago) link
this is straying into all that “low” and “high” culture snobbery that i fucking hate and there are parts of the bible that are well-written imo (Revelations, Solomon, Isiah, Gospel of Mark) but that’s for another thread
― Squeaky Fromage (VegemiteGrrl), Sunday, 3 June 2018 18:14 (five years ago) link
idk if it’s snobbery to think something is badly written
― U. K. Le Garage (wins), Sunday, 3 June 2018 18:21 (five years ago) link
I think King can write well and what makes his work so frustrating sometimes is knowing he can do so much better.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Sunday, 3 June 2018 18:38 (five years ago) link
oh, so now we're doing poptimism with fiction?
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 3 June 2018 18:43 (five years ago) link
sure, maybe in the end, it is all subjective, but I still insist if a book is badly written it is not a good book.
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 3 June 2018 18:45 (five years ago) link
is there anybody that thinks Twilight or 50 Shades of Grey as well written? Clearly there is some standard.
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 3 June 2018 18:46 (five years ago) link
Their legions of fans might idk
― U. K. Le Garage (wins), Sunday, 3 June 2018 18:47 (five years ago) link
you're not going to get any argument from me that a book can be badly written and still effective. but if all it takes for something to be good and successful is somebody liking it, then literally everything is good and successful.
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 3 June 2018 18:48 (five years ago) link
Successful and effective are synonyms
― U. K. Le Garage (wins), Sunday, 3 June 2018 18:56 (five years ago) link
This is a Stephen King thread
― calstars, Sunday, 3 June 2018 18:58 (five years ago) link
Load up your coke nails and take it elsewhere
― calstars, Sunday, 3 June 2018 18:59 (five years ago) link
Sic's list of awful books read by dumbasses (purely ime) suggests something, probably
― albvivertine, Sunday, 3 June 2018 19:00 (five years ago) link
Also darraghmac genuinely no disrespect but nothing about yr posts has ever suggested yr a big reader
― albvivertine, Sunday, 3 June 2018 19:01 (five years ago) link
King’s faults are pretty well established (in fact I kinda feel like sometimes we dwell on them too much itt as they should be kind of a given by now); it’s interesting tho cause if it’s generally agreed that he’s a clumsy, inelegant stylist on a sentence level and his characters are lazy and cartoonish and his plots haphazard, what is left that would make him a “good writer”? & it just comes down to that Alvarez thing “voice”, king’s is unique and compelling and annoying
― U. K. Le Garage (wins), Sunday, 3 June 2018 19:06 (five years ago) link
I think that's fair.
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 3 June 2018 19:10 (five years ago) link
ha thats a mannerly zing
― laurel or hardyhearin (darraghmac), Sunday, 3 June 2018 19:16 (five years ago) link
but that isnt anything like the discussion here.
so..i guess i read these posts at least eh
― laurel or hardyhearin (darraghmac), Sunday, 3 June 2018 19:18 (five years ago) link
Eh tbh I'm on the point of stopping reading him, he's a bit like a YA writer who doesn't hold up later and I have Diana Wynne Jones to read
― albvivertine, Sunday, 3 June 2018 19:18 (five years ago) link
xp to wins
he cant close a long story to save his life but he p much always sets a great tone and opening
kings writing feels like good 80s movies
― laurel or hardyhearin (darraghmac), Sunday, 3 June 2018 19:23 (five years ago) link
who, darragh?
and there are parts of the bible that are well-written imo (Revelations, Solomon, Isiah, Gospel of Mark)
my wording was deliberate!
King sometimes writes bad sentences or bad ideas or bad plots or bad twists or bad novels. But he also writes loads of good ones, and enough novels with a whole bunch of good and bad sentences that keep you up for hours, turning pages faster and faster, that even if everything else was bad, he would still qualify as a very good writer
― we used to get our kicks reading surfing MAGAzines (sic), Sunday, 3 June 2018 19:35 (five years ago) link
dammit x-post
caveat that I haven't read a King novel in over 25 years
but the nostalgic rush that hit when the ersatz '80s Kingness of Hill's NOS4R2 got into gear was wildly thrilling
― we used to get our kicks reading surfing MAGAzines (sic), Sunday, 3 June 2018 19:38 (five years ago) link
Sic, do you read many novels that aren't graphic novels?
― Mince Pramthwart (James Morrison), Sunday, 3 June 2018 23:58 (five years ago) link
I think king's sentences are usually good -- standard post-Hemingway terseness that gets the key points across. There's a section in On Writing where he shows a first draft of a chapter along with his editing notes -- it starts out solid, and all of the editing decisions are good.
― adam the (abanana), Monday, 4 June 2018 00:44 (five years ago) link
The irony is that no matter where you stand on King's writing, On Writing is one of the best books about writing ever written.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 4 June 2018 02:33 (five years ago) link
Haha everyone itt being asked to submit receipts proving they have read booksI need to reread on writing! It’s hard to square some of the advice given in that book with the “he thought wildly” ish that clogs up his books
― U. K. Le Garage (wins), Monday, 4 June 2018 09:05 (five years ago) link
[full paragraph of unbearable italicised patter], it seemed to say. [3 more]
― U. K. Le Garage (wins), Monday, 4 June 2018 09:11 (five years ago) link
King is a perfectly good sentence writer. Try picking up almost any successful newsstand novel for comparison - Harlan Coben or Paula Hawkins, say. He has faults but that's not one of them.
― Chuck_Tatum, Monday, 4 June 2018 09:16 (five years ago) link
* when he's not using italics
King name drops Coben in the Outsider
― calstars, Monday, 4 June 2018 16:11 (five years ago) link
nah not really, too busy arguing on ILX
― we used to get our kicks reading surfing MAGAzines (sic), Monday, 4 June 2018 22:02 (five years ago) link
Fair enough
― Mince Pramthwart (James Morrison), Tuesday, 5 June 2018 00:00 (five years ago) link
I read Fountainhead quite a long time ago but I don't remember the prose being a problem. I wouldn't recommend it but I have kind of a soft spot for it.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 8 June 2018 17:10 (five years ago) link
(James - I definitely read far far more literary fiction in comics than in prose; probably only do one "serious" novel a year, but will typically do three Westlakes, two Starks, a Leonard, a Pelecanos, an Aaronovitch, a Compton Mackenzie, maybe two Fletches & one Flynn, two VNAs & one MA, and a couple of Wodehouses in a summer.)
― we used to get our kicks reading surfing MAGAzines (sic), Friday, 8 June 2018 17:47 (five years ago) link
I was kind of hoping you'd be more specific.
― Mince Pramthwart (James Morrison), Sunday, 10 June 2018 02:31 (five years ago) link
Almost done w/ outsider I enjoy King while engaged but I always ultimately feel that I kind of wasted my time
― calstars, Sunday, 10 June 2018 14:00 (five years ago) link
― U. K. Le Garage (wins), Monday, 11 June 2018 15:56 (five years ago) link
Anyway at the fair yesterday I bought a book of king interviews for a pound. Also read his and joe hill’s story “in the tall grass” and liked it a lot! Much better than the only other hill I’ve read, his novel the fireman
― U. K. Le Garage (wins), Monday, 11 June 2018 16:01 (five years ago) link
He's still not as bad as Ian Rankin
Michael Connolly at least has the politeness to namedrop LA jazz randos no one has heard of
― Chuck_Tatum, Monday, 11 June 2018 16:02 (five years ago) link
Heh I'm currently reading the new Bosch and was really impressed when Michael Connelly namedropped Horace Tapscott in the opening chapter
― Ward Fowler, Tuesday, 12 June 2018 05:26 (five years ago) link
“in the tall grass” was total rancid balls
― Mince Pramthwart (James Morrison), Tuesday, 12 June 2018 06:24 (five years ago) link
Castle rock looks kinda intriguing, it’s not gonna be available in the uk tho. I did watch the first series of mr mercedes, it’s not a marked improvement on the book (so, it’s all over the place in terms of quality) but gleeson is great as ever. I really hate the character of holly in those books but if ever a character were made to be in a David Kelley joint
― jeremy cmbyn (wins), Wednesday, 25 July 2018 17:05 (five years ago) link
Stuggling to get into 11/22/63 - worth persevering?
― Chuck_Tatum, Friday, 12 July 2013 09:39 (five years ago)
BOO this guy. What a wonderful, intense book. So glad I finally made it through.
I kind of want to dive into another giant one straight away - Talisman, IT or Duma Key, which is best?
― Chuck_Tatum, Wednesday, 13 February 2019 02:23 (five years ago) link
I'd go for It of those three, though if you've read (& liked) Ghost Story and Shadowland, Talisman gives you the back and forth of King & Straub.
― the body of a spider... (scampering alpaca), Wednesday, 13 February 2019 02:31 (five years ago) link
Talisman is currently 99p for the Kindle version in the UK.
Black House followed that up about 20 years later
― koogs, Wednesday, 13 February 2019 02:38 (five years ago) link
Duma Key is dumb fun but IT is probably a good recommend if you've never done it.
I would recommend Talisman 100% with the caveat that you should try to dive into the Dark Tower pretty soon after as it is a good way to grease the wheels towards that series and get you in the mindset.
― Squeaky Fromage (VegemiteGrrl), Wednesday, 13 February 2019 02:46 (five years ago) link
Yeah, IT.
Reread Talisman in the last year or so and it was ok but not as good as I remember from reading it as a kid.
Also: been working through the Castle Rock show which has been pretty decent but fuck me, what an absolutely fantastic piece of television episode 7 was.
― groovypanda, Wednesday, 13 February 2019 12:05 (five years ago) link
I recently read The Outsider and liked it a lot. He doesn't really stick the ending - there's a very "really? That's it?" quality to the climax - but everything before that is really good.
― grawlix (unperson), Wednesday, 13 February 2019 12:35 (five years ago) link