The Author of Twilight “Broke” These Two Rules In Writing, But We Love Her Anyway
Revisiting the YA series that popularized sparkling vampires and the love triangle we love to hate
It was 2008.
Hidden deep in the back of my closet was a set of amazingly designed hardcover books. Simple symbols decorated the onyx covers: ivory hands holding an apple. White roses with ruby drippings. A scarlet ribbon. The final book in the series simply had a chessboard with the Queen piece brightened in the foreground.
Earlier that year, I saw the books online and decided to buy them. I had never read them. I bought them solely based on the lovely covers and the blurb of one of the books.
Then, while sitting in a theater waiting for a movie to play, I see a preview of sparkling vampires, a girl being thrown against a window — shattering it; then it dawned on me: I have those books! Twilight!
Excited, I read every book in the series- sleep be damned. Each book kept me up at least past 2a.m. I don’t know how I pulled myself together for work those days.
Twilight for me, represents more than just another YA series that some call “cheesy” or “bad writing”. For me, it represented a change in how I view YA literature and how I should treat my own writing life.
I had purposely left Twilight in the dark catacombs of my closet because I was too busy “adulting” with other books. I was into Tess Gerritsen’s medical thrillers and Zane’s erotic fiction. Reading teen novels at the time, never crossed my mind.
However, Twilight zeroed in on more than teen issues and the vampires’ thirst for blood — the adults in the story, although they took a back seat, were still critical to the plot. We as readers were clued into their hot mess of a life through Bella’s eyes. Her mom lived in Phoenix and her dad lived in Forks, Washington — where you are guaranteed four different seasons in one day.
Hence, this was not a story about a teenager who lived with both loving parents. They loved her. Yet they coparented. That’s pretty much the norm in American society, so heck, it fits.
I can’t forget the uniqueness of this story though. I was surprised that the vampires sparkled in the sun. They can withstand sunshine perfectly in Washington (would they anywhere else though?). They did not have fangs, and the ones that liked Bella, were pretty hospitable, and of course Edward falls for Bella’s “singing” blood.
As readers, we quickly realized it will not just be Edward’s pretty sparkles and good looks that will arrest us. By the second book, Jacob, Bella’s best friend, proves to be a pretty competent rival for Bella’s heart too, and he represents the wolf clan.
This piece isn’t a recount of the series, but rather what I noticed.
I noticed that for the first time, I was reading a book where two male characters, vied for the protagonist’s heart, and I think that’s what made me turn the pages faster: who will Bella choose? How can this end well? She is very much in love with Edward.
The author of ‘Twilight’ was bold enough to do this…
While taking composition and creative writing courses in college, there was one golden rule (there were many, but this one stood out), that my professors said to avoid in writing:
Avoid using your dreams as inspiration for a book.
In one of my courses, we used Stephen Minot’s Three Genres as a source for understanding and writing fiction. In one section, he listed the 7 Deadly Sins of Fiction.
Stephenie Meyer, author of the Twilight Series committed at least two of those sins.
“Recording a dream for its own sake may be of personal value to you, but the result belongs in your journal.”
In an interview, Stephenie revealed that the series is actually based on a fleshed-out dream she had of a “sparkling boy”.
Stephen Minot continues,
“The resurrection [of vampires] seems to have originated, not in Transylvania but in Hollywood…it was once good dream stuff, but the convention has been repeated so often…”
To be fair, Stephenie Meyer did something pretty special with the vampire genre. She did not resurrect Dracula, per se, but we can view Edward and his family as the children of the brainchild of Dracula. To me, Stephenie refreshed the genre by turning it into an angsty, love triangle teen series anyone of any age could enjoy.
By breaking two rules beautifully:
- Writing based on dreams.
- Resurrecting vampires.
Twilight was reportedly rejected 14(?) times before Little Brown published the books. Propelling them to Bestseller status.
Ever since reading the Twilight series, I was never afraid to record my dreams. As Minot says, “dreams belong in a journal” and I rarely dream. Maybe I do dream and just don’t remember, but I do think somewhere in our foggy visions, is a story to be told. Like Stephenie, it may take some picking away of the fluff to grab the tale.
As far as waking Dracula-esque stories from the grave…I have no problem with it, because most topics and tropes are redone over and over, but we love them anyway because they are different.
Take Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion, for example (my favorite teen movie based on a book). A zombie falls for a human, which creates conflict throughout the story. Classic Romeo and Juliet stuff, right?
Just with zombies.
Stephenie Meyer is just one of many authors who took a common tale of forbidden love and turned it into an extraordinary, and profitable gem.
Thank you for reading.
Resources:
Minot, S. (1998). Three genres: The writing of poetry, fiction, and drama. Prentice Hall.
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