I <3 Stephen King

[ivyfic]

Stephen King on short story writing:
"Writers write for whatever audience is left. In too many cases, that audience happens to consist of other writers and would-be writers who are reading the various literary magazines ... not to be entertained but to get an idea of what sells there. And this kind of reading isn't real reading... It's more like copping-a-feel reading. There's something yucky about it."

Oh, I love you Stephen King.

Comments

[gryphonrose.livejournal.com]

I cannot for the life of me see why.

[ivy03.livejournal.com]

Oh, I don't agree with him on this point (or all of the reading I do could be considered "yucky"), but the idea of comparing any kind of reading to "copping a feel"? Hilarious.

[gryphonrose.livejournal.com]

Ah, I see. Okay. :)

[moonlightalice.livejournal.com]

He's pretty awesome. :)

[ecmyers.livejournal.com]

Here is one response.

[ivy03.livejournal.com]

Though I do agree with him on why people read literary magazines. If not for the reason he gives, I think most other literary magazine readers read it out of a sense of "preserving the literary culture" rather than because they actually want to read it. I'm sure there are people who love reading nothing better, but they are very very few.

[ivy03.livejournal.com]

I love peoples' comments: I <3 taffy! Oh, wait, this was a satire? Though if you didn't read Stephen King's column, the reference is a bit obtuse.

[bigscary.livejournal.com]

King is pretty awesome, as moonlightalice says. I wouldn't say "copping a feel", I'd say "inorganic" -- I am a firm believer that art needs an audience, and without it, it's more like plastic than taffy.

[ivy03.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure you could "cop a feel" of any sort of writing, really. I mean, all authors are asking for it, aren't they?