Stephen King: Genius or Hack?

How about creepy? That guys scary and scary…well…scares me.

To answer your question I will say “both.” the latter part of his career definitely leaning towards “hack.”

How many books about ancient Indian burial grounds is the man going to write?

I can’t judge. I will say that he’s a REALLY nice guy and I feel guilty saying something mean.

Can I please advise against starting a series of questions based around a theme. Don’t ask a question because you love the sound of your keyboard.

As far as Stephen King goes.. I always considered him a hack when it comes to writing books. But some of the movies that have resulted from his books are entertaining. He might be good with coming up with stories, but he should let other people write them.

dammit, johnpowell. Stop trying to be the fluther police. I’ll ask whatever series of questions I please, and not because I’m enjoying the sound of my keyboard, but because I’m interested in everyone’s answers. Well, most everyone’s.

If you actually happen to think of a string of questions that interest you about people named Steve feel free. If you are trying to think of questions about people named Steve that you don’t really care about you should stop.

why would I do that? Why would I waste my time asking about things I care nothing for? And why should you care, man?

Hack. Occasionally I’m surprised by a decent book, but never by a decent movie.

The answer to this question hinges heavily on whether or not you’ve read “The Dark Tower” saga. Having done so, I say genius.

Of course, if he hadn’t been a hack on many occasions, “The Dark Tower” would not have been possible.

He’s a great writer, in that he manages to notice the little details of life that make the non-horror parts of his books seem realistic.

He could probably stand to be edited with a firmer hand, but I don’t think he qualifies as a hack.

He has his moments of genius… Read “the girl who loved tom Gordon.”.... Or ” cell”.... When you’ve been writing as long as he has- youre bound to ” hack” up something…(pun intended). Besides, don’t we all have our moments? He had his.
Oh, and also ” misery”. What I love about Stephen king, is the ability he has to write things as if he were right in the middle of it. The visual picture I get from reading his books makes me so engulfed… I can’t put the book down. Then it ends and I want to keep reading it again and again. The movies, in my opinion suck because everyone sees a book better in their head. The movies don’t match up completly for me….but I am waiting for “the mist to come out on DVD…. I just finished that book.

Genius. Has anyone bashing King actually read the Dark Tower books? Those books are fscking incredible.

His book “on writing” is also a magnificent read for those who aren’t writers. Helped me to understand quite a bit about reading when you understand what it takes to write well.

I’m not really keen on horror so I haven’t read all of Kings works, but the Dark Tower I’ve read cover to cover three times in my life and it’s about time to start a fourth(and still I’ve never read the last chapter).

@tekn0lust: I tried, several times, to slog through the first Dark Tower book. It may be incredible, but life’s too short.

@cwilbur: That’s too bad. But I understand priorities all too well. If you get a chance, try the audio book version of the revised book 1. He made a few good changes from the original version.

I agree with the comments on “The Dark Tower”. He has some stinker books, but look at all he has written. There’s no way he could be a “hack”. As far as his current works, I was starting to get a little disenchanted,,,well a LOT, but then I read Lisey’s Story (better but still irritating) and then along came Duma Key, which was awesome.

He is no hack, although his style can seem, sometimes rushed, and indeed he has written some lower quality novels- yet he also has writen fantastic masterpieces; none who enjoys reading,who loves fantasy and science fiction should deny Dead Zone, the Shining, the girl who loved Tom Gordon are really gifted by genius.