The Word Cloud

Ok, Technically I am no longer a teen. But I still love teen lit and I write material for young adults. When I was a teen, a lot of my inspiration came from authors like L.J. Smith (The Vampire Diaries, The Secret Circle) or Christopher Pike or R.L. Stine, stuff like that.

So ofcourse when Harry Potter came out, I was 19 or 20 and I followed that series too and loved it. J.K. Rowling not only has incredible writing style but told a captivating and thrilling story. I think she deserved all the success she got.

And then Twilight came out a few years back and I read those too and enjoyed them very much

BUT

My question is for those that have read both: Did anyone else find that Stephanie Meyer's writing was not as....'developed' as perhaps J.K. Rowling's? I don't know about you but I just found the story to be kind of blah in the first book. It was mostly just 'oh, how nice it is to fall in love with a vampire boyfriend and have him sleep in my room every night' And then the climax came out of nowhere. Dunno, it just didn't flow for me. I read the rest of the books because they were a quick and easy read and eventually I did get attached to the characters and setting but still found the style pretty basic in a lot of places. I think Meyer had a lot of luck on her side (the market was open to vampire romance and teen lit and she's able to write obseen amounts of material in a short time -again quantity vs quality)

Ok, so that's MY opinion, but I'm wondering if maybe I'm wrong so the big debate is:

Which do YOU prefer? : Harry Potter or Twilight? Why or Why Not? :)

The Twilight series is an interesting one. Would this have worked without the vampires? I wonder if as a love story, and with the arc that Bella's character goes through, it would have been enough. I have issues with a story like this being aimed at teenage girls. All Bella wants for her future is to be with Edward - that's it. No big ambitions to travel or experience a different lifestyle. She only applies for colleges because Edward pushes her. She is the sort of character I want to slap.

my daughters a teen - and has read both. she agrees with you: reckons twilight is 'nice' but not 'great' and like barb also wants to slap bella.

lol Barb. I just watched the buffy vs edward clip. Yes, edward was definite stalker material in the first book and a girl like buffy (with backbone, intelligence, and a weary eye for pretty guys) would have called him out on it. I agree that sometimes I wanted to slap bella out of her reverie. I can totally understand why it appeals to teenage girls though. Love = infatuation and obsession at that point in life. I know, I've been there. It's just a shame that it doesn't set a better example. But again, to each their own.

katie

I read the Twilight books and at first loved them but mainly because the stories are very adictive if badly written. But I find they were a bit like pixie sticks in the end.

You know how some people hate pixie sticks. Others can eat one but no more. Some people eat as many as four (hint hint) but any more makes them feel sick. Then there those people who can eat twenty and then annoy people because they're so hyper.

I think that's how reactions to the Twilight books panned out. 

Even when I liked them I hated Bella, the word I've heard commonly used to describe her is sap. But the series is a good example of how hype and publicity can effect the book world.

Harry Potter was much better in my view but near the end did start to suffer from the amount of hype I think. The first three are the best.

Joey

My biggest problem with Harry was it wasn't like a proper school. Where were the drugs? the sex? I'm sure it would have made a better read if Ron and Hermy actually had a bit of 'four play' behind the broom shed. And if Malfoy was court smoking a spliff, or snorting coke. After all this was meant to imatate a real school. The only thing this school had was fighting and kissing.
Twilight on the other hand turned Bella into 'Edwards' heroin, and a sex starved teenager unable to find or satisify her own needs. Do they not have an Ann Summers in America?
Jak

I think honestly, that although twilight has the "love story" going for it, that it is missing that something special that harrypotter has. Ive read all books in both series and i think although harry potter is obviously a little bit more out there then twilight is i find harrypotter easier to beleive. Twilight in the last book breaking dawn started to vear off on a wildy fiction path. There were some parts in twilight (the last novel) that made absolutley no sence whatsoever, and i think that even though i did enjoy both series that harrypotter is deffinatley better written.

I have to say, havig read Twilight, loving it to bits, watching the film and loving it to bits and then going back and reading/seeing it again, I now hate it. I got rid of every book I own on it! On the other hand, Harry Potter never fails to captivate me... Deathly Hallows was heartbreaking (especially The Prince's Tale) and it is extremely well written, something I think Twilight isn't. I absolutely adore the Harry Potter books (they're my "comfort read") so I have to say Harry over Edward for me :)

Ooh - such a good thread! I'm no longer a teen either, but I have a teen, who I've finally been able to get to read by offering her Twilight - yay!! Some might say that Stephenie Meyer is not such a prolific writer as JK Rowling, but she sure knows how to capture the heart and minds of, not just teens but mum's like me too. You only need visit the many, many internet sites dedicated to the series or listen to the conversations of teenage girls. Personally, I think it's a fantastic series that has enabled me to have some fascinating conversations with my daughter, and has finally got her to read. She's reading everything now!

I was and still am an avid fan of JK Rowling too, she is an amazing writer and I will always love Harry.

I've read both of them and enjoyed both of them (One a lot more than the other (the other only enjoyed at the time of first and second reading)).

With Harry Potter I can go back and re-read them, get lost in the "magic" again. They're clearly based at the young teens as the writing is sometimes simple but that's what makes them a great read. Especially when you're ill. I love to curl up on the sofa an re-read The Prisoner Of Azkaban for the 100th time.

With the Twilight Saga, I read them before they became popular in Cornwall. When only two other people had heard of "Sparkly" vampires. I re-read the series once more and then the film came out. This led to every teenage girl in Cornwall buying a changed cover copy of the book and reading it. Or read it after the film. This is when I lost interest in the books. Everyone had instantly fallen in love with them and wouldn't stop talking about them.
I've tried re-reading them but I can't because I don't feel the storyline was as good as it could have been and I feel the characters needed better development. Oh, and I never was keen on the idea that vampires sparkle like millions of tiny diamonds in the sunlight. Plus the ending of the fourth book (Sorry, I don't get the chance to vent about the Twilight Saga without being shouted at anywhere else) was practically "And they all lived happily ever after." No-one died!

So even though my favourite characters (*cough cough* Remus, Dobby and Voldemort *cough cough*) were killed off in Harry Potter. I think the Harry Potter series is the better series as I find you can go back to it more often.

You have opened up a big can o' worms here :P
I have read both, and I must *shamefully* admit that I was alot more addicted to Twilight, mostly because of how much you get to know the family etc etc.
However HP is epic because it is, as you said more developed. There seems to be more direction in HP whereas in Twilight it is sort of just a love story for teens :

I've read both.

I think that HP is much better than Twilight, but shame, who can actually compare? :)
But Sorry, Jak, I totally disagree with HP needing all those sick stuff you mentioned - all that can stay in the muggle world where you don't need to know or hear about it.
Being clean, most people will be able to read it and there are loads of dirty books you can read without having to mess HP up.

Twilight was okay; nothing brilliant. I thought it was a bit annoying that the first 200 pages or so of it was centred around the idea that Bella wasn't sure whether or not Edward was a vampire, when it was obviously building up to that, because a vampire love story is what the books are marketed as.

OKay I'll retract my previous statement. Harry wouldnt have been the same with 'muggle fratinising'.
I think the success of twilight is proabably based on the fact that it was written in Bella's POV, it was incredably drawing and intoxicating, (probably because it was simply writen) one of a few books I will shamefully say I enjoy in the first person POV.
Harry on the other hand started and grew over the seven +3 novels. Was the first book as good as the last? In my POV no, but it was a great introduction to the main characters and world of HP. It captivated people in it's magic and grew with the target audience. I couldnt have been the only person to cry when Dobby died, was I?

Just more to add: I love Harry Potter. It's better than Twilight because obviously it's more technically adept in its style, you only have to read two paragraphs to realise that, and also I found HP to be more atmospheric; so on that level I thought it was more enjoyable (also, I just found the characters in general to be more interesting).

And Jak; I cried a little too when Dobby died in the Deathly Hallows. But I cried more at Sirius' death.

Okay, I'm late into this thread...but I had to add my bit. I love both HP and Twilight, but it was Twilight that made me start writing... I saw an interview with SM and thought if she can, so can I, so nearly two years later here I am...so thank you SM. The key distinction for me is HP is written for children, my 7 & 9 year old are obsessed...Twilight is not! Therefore, it's like comparing Romeo & Juliet to Gnomeo & Juliet ... Totally different Market. I loved twilight, in fact to the point of obsession... I am not bothered about the characters, it's the way the story makes you feel...reliving first love and all that...but, since I am not a teen I can remember lots of other vamp films... Lost boys, interview with a vamp, and of course BUFFY...I loved Buffy! So, which is better... Why compare? Chalk and cheese!

As a pure HP lover, I feel I have to stick up for twilight in this thread as i don't feel it's as bad as everyone on here is making them out to be. I think SM made them simplistic because (unfortunately) a lot of teenagers are lazy when it comes to reading. They don't want complicated language or things which make your head hurt. I think she wanted something that was memorable, that stuck out from the crowded bookshelf. As a literature loving teenager, I think her writing syle was a bit too simplistic but it proved to many that you don't have to be a genius to write a novel, you just have to have a passion for what you're writing. I don't agree with the massive hype that followed the books and I am proud to say I read them BEFORE anyone had heard of them :)
As for HP, I love the way you can tell JKR was learning her trade as you follow the story. It's just like you can tell the actors were learning their skills in the first film. HP was my childhood and I loved it. I grew up wishing to create a story as well-loved as it. JKR managed to achive a rare gem in the world of literature- a book that was re-readable, that appealed to all age groups, that you found something new everytime you read them and something that would never pass away and be forgotten.
HP will always be a public favourite but Twilight has had it's limelight. It's time it admitted defeat and stepped aside for the next HP.