Who Do You Think You Are, The King? Oh Yeah...
It seems Stephen King has been abusing his literary clout as of late, urging an author to write her books the way he wants them to, now that they so obviously need his advice, after selling (in total) more books than (perhaps - I haven't checked) King himself.
The author? Breakout YA novelist J.K. Rowling, author of the six best-selling Harry Potter books. She's revealed that in the seventh book of the series, two main characters die. She's also said that while many people will love the book for her decisive life-ending prose, many will hate it for the same reason. So, Stephen King and John Irving (author of The World According to Garp - On the OSC Literary Bootcamp list of books Orson Scott Card definitely recommended writers read (I haven't)) have made a public plea to Rowling, begging her not to kill Harry Potter, star of every preceding book (duh).
Before this, Stephen King had issued a challenge to the writers of the show LOST, saying they'd be doing a disservice to the public if they didn't complete the story arc by the seventh season. On this point I agreed with King, and applauded him for his outspoken advice to less experienced writers. However, I also know that he's a fan of the show, and is therefore inserting his own wishes as Stephen King (i.e. "If I were to do this show, I would..." And we all know what happens when the King is given any kind of movie or television show to execute total creative control over - it ends up sucking.)
So, now we have this King not wanting Harry dead, and so appealing to the author not to kill him. If this man were not Stephen King, it would not matter. But since he is, it means two things. 1) That he's hoping his influence as a force in the literary world will actually sway the outcome of Harry's end and 2) That he's Stephen King and he wouldn't kill Harry if he were writing the seventh book.
I sincerely hope King's not actually wishing for Rowling to alter her ending just because of what he's saying, because if he actually ended up doing anything, the book wouldn't be Rowling's anymore. And it wouldn't be the right thing for her, and for the characters she knows so well. She knows what she's doing, so let her do it. I mean, The Dark Tower just came out a year or two ago, and I know PLENTY of people who hated the ending of that (also the seventh book in a LOOONG running series) but it's not like King was going to listen to anyone else - he's the freaking King!
So...in the end, I have this to say. Stephen King - keep your hands to yourself. Ever since you retired, it seems like you don't have enough to say about other people's art. Maybe it's time you started making more of your own again.
The author? Breakout YA novelist J.K. Rowling, author of the six best-selling Harry Potter books. She's revealed that in the seventh book of the series, two main characters die. She's also said that while many people will love the book for her decisive life-ending prose, many will hate it for the same reason. So, Stephen King and John Irving (author of The World According to Garp - On the OSC Literary Bootcamp list of books Orson Scott Card definitely recommended writers read (I haven't)) have made a public plea to Rowling, begging her not to kill Harry Potter, star of every preceding book (duh).
Before this, Stephen King had issued a challenge to the writers of the show LOST, saying they'd be doing a disservice to the public if they didn't complete the story arc by the seventh season. On this point I agreed with King, and applauded him for his outspoken advice to less experienced writers. However, I also know that he's a fan of the show, and is therefore inserting his own wishes as Stephen King (i.e. "If I were to do this show, I would..." And we all know what happens when the King is given any kind of movie or television show to execute total creative control over - it ends up sucking.)
So, now we have this King not wanting Harry dead, and so appealing to the author not to kill him. If this man were not Stephen King, it would not matter. But since he is, it means two things. 1) That he's hoping his influence as a force in the literary world will actually sway the outcome of Harry's end and 2) That he's Stephen King and he wouldn't kill Harry if he were writing the seventh book.
I sincerely hope King's not actually wishing for Rowling to alter her ending just because of what he's saying, because if he actually ended up doing anything, the book wouldn't be Rowling's anymore. And it wouldn't be the right thing for her, and for the characters she knows so well. She knows what she's doing, so let her do it. I mean, The Dark Tower just came out a year or two ago, and I know PLENTY of people who hated the ending of that (also the seventh book in a LOOONG running series) but it's not like King was going to listen to anyone else - he's the freaking King!
So...in the end, I have this to say. Stephen King - keep your hands to yourself. Ever since you retired, it seems like you don't have enough to say about other people's art. Maybe it's time you started making more of your own again.
2 Comments:
A friend of mine read "IT" and right after he read the last page, he closed the book, walked to his garage and threw the book in the garbage. He hated the ending that bad.
I love Stephen King, but he write's some terrible endings. Not vague metaphorical literary endings, just plain, door-slammingly strange endings. To me anyway.
Let Harry die. Kids need to read other books anyway.
dude, found a comics mag for ya: jesus and snoopy. look on myspace: jesusandsnoopy
and yeah. people don't live forever, even wizards.
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