tMF Special report on Twilight. Part 1 of a 4 parts series

Stephenie Meyer sounds like most novelists - she is happy to provide details about her books and the characters she created, and to explain how these characters, the result of a dream and later sustained by her vivid imagination, actually represent a part of her identity and personality. But unlike many novelists, her success in reaching out and connecting with her audience is, quite simply, incomparable.

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Numerous websites and blogs are available (including the author’s official website) if you need to read more of the author’s bio. We, however, want to focus on Ms. Meyer’s biggest influences and how they played pivotal parts in her quest to write her first novel. Now that the Twilight Saga is all the rage, we also took note of how she is coping with her newfound celebrity status.

Religious and Pragmatic: Simply being a Mormon and having been educated at that religion’s most venerable educational institution (Brigham Young University) is not enough for us to consider Stephenie a conservative and a follower of the faith. While she considered herself religious, she is also quite a pragmatist. This sense of objectivity and practicality make her a woman who can stand on her own.

"I didn't mean to write for anyone but myself, so I had an audience of one twenty-nine year old (and later one thirty-one year old when my sister started reading). I think the reason that I ended up with a book for teens is because high school is such a compelling time period--it gives you some of your worst scars and some of your most exhilarating memories. It's a fascinating place: old enough to feel truly adult, old enough to make decisions that affect the rest of your life, old enough to fall in love, yet, at the same time too young (in most cases) to be free to make a lot of those decisions without someone else's approval. There's a lot of scope for a novel in that. "

"I grew up in a community where it was not the exception to be a good girl. It was sort of expected. And all of my friends were good girls too, and my boyfriends were good boys. Everybody was pretty nice. And that affects how I write my characters. There aren't very many bad guys in my novels. Even the bad guys usually have a pretty good reason for the way they are, and some of them come around in the end. I don't see the world as full of negatives. "

While her pleasant demeanor certainly endears her to her huge fan base, she is equally capable of speaking her mind and being brutally frank about things that she feels strongly about.

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Music: A foremost source of Inspiration

“Lips are turning blue, a kiss that can’t renew, only dream of you, my beautiful” Lyrics from the song “Sing for Absolution” by Muse, Ms. Meyer’s favorite band.

A lot of novelists are known to love music one way or another. Ms. Meyer has made it known how much music affects her work and that it’s one of her sources of inspiration. To the surprise of some, her choices in music are not what one might expect from a stay-at-home Mom! Ms. Meyer apparently prefers modern rock music - those that echo the angst and dreams and frustrations and beliefs of the young.

I can't write without music, and my biggest muse is the band Muse, ironically enough. My other favorite sources of inspiration are Linkin Park, My Chemical Romance, Coldplay, The All American Rejects, Travis, The Strokes, Brand New, U2, Kasabian, Jimmy Eat World, and Weezer, to mention a few.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, she added:

Linkin Park is fantastic for action scenes, because it just has that beat that drives the momentum of the writing. [Writing] New Moon, I listened to a lot more Muse all the time. Muse is my favorite band, and they're really good for writing because they've got an angsty kind of emotion. The new book [Eclipse] was perky; I listened to OK Go and Gomez.

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A True Feminist: True feminism is about choice.: A quote from the Twilight Lexicon:

Stephenie talked about how true feminism is about choice. It means that a woman can do whatever will bring her the most happiness. It doesn’t mean that women have to do everything men do. Stephenie considers herself a feminist because she does what brings herself the most happiness—she stays at home and takes care of her kids. Some people think being a stay-at-home mom is anti-feminist, but it isn’t really. Some people think that Bella is a wimp, and think Stephenie is anti-feminist because she wrote such a “weak” main character, but she insists that she is not anti-feminist, but anti-human. In Twilight, the vampires are stronger, faster, better looking, etc. than humans are. Bella cannot compete with the vampires because she just isn’t physically strong enough. But she deals with being surrounded by super-strong, etc. vampires in her own way.

One of the most important characters in the Twilight series is none other than Bella Swan. While she has no preternatural powers, she is a typical teen who has to endure the many biases and prejudices of today’s society. Getting thrown into the dark and chaotic world of vampires when she falls in love with one of them (Edward Cullen) makes it doubly hard for Bella to come to terms with life.

But Bella has one thing going for her - love. As Ms. Meyer explains, Bella is someone who is more open at heart, quite the romantic type and not like herself actually (she is more pragmatic and realistic.).

“Bella is an every girl. She's not a hero, and she doesn't know the difference between Prada and whatever else is out there. She doesn't always have to be cool, or wear the coolest clothes ever. She's normal. And there aren't a lot of girls in literature that are normal. Another thing is that Bella's a good girl, which is just sort of how I imagine teenagers, because that's how my teenage years were,” says the author.

In a way, it was Ms. Meyer’s intention to portray Bella as simply as that - someone who might be considered a wimp. But once you get over the issues of physical clumsiness and so on, you will agree that Bella is also a courageous and fearless human being. How could she even imagine marrying a vampire if she is a spineless teenager? How could she be a weakling when she deals with both werewolves and vampires? While critics may question the seemingly impossible transformation of a wimpy girl into a romantic heroine, is it really that hard to believe? Vampires are fictitious characters in the first place, isn’t it? This is supposedly a fantasy-romance novel right? So why all the fuss?

“Maybe these critics are over-intellectualizing something as common and as universal as love. When someone is in love, expect the unexpected,” says one Twilight fan.

There was this immature (and quite pathetic) review of Twilight posted at Amazon.com and here’s the gist of why many considered the critic to have not understood many of the author’s intentions:

There are so many things that bother me about this book, it's hard to know where to start, but I suppose the characterization is one of my biggest gripes. Let's start with the narrator, Bella Swann. I mean her name! It basically translates into "Beautiful Swan" fer Chrissakes! What kind of name is that for a teenage protagonist? Then there's the fact that we're obviously supposed to believe that she's special and wonderful and that she lives her life by putting others ahead of her--or at least that's what the author says. But if you look at the Bella of the novel and her disdain for her fellow classmates, her blatant manipulation of Jacob, and her barely-there relationship with her father--well I call BS on that account. In fact, she seems downright sociopathic at times. Hasn't anyone considered the moral implications of her burning desire to be turned into a vampire? She's going to spend all eternity as an enormous danger to the humans around her, quite possibly killing someone if she loses control for one second…

Aside from the fact the she is already hooked by the book, as evidenced by her strong feelings and reactions to some of the characters’ actions, she has begun to question certain situations that actually do happen in real life.

“…her barely-there relationship with her father”
“…her blatant manipulation of Jacob”

An icy relationship between father and daughter is nothing new. A girl relating to and dealing with a male friend,  and thus arousing jealousy in her boyfriend, is as common as teens engaging in premarital sex.

Ms. Meyer’s intention is quite clear. After you have been introduced to her characters, you get to discover more about them. Finally you will appreciate how the author developed her characters and you’ll understand the rationale behind their actions. This is admirable and one of the strengths of Ms. Meyer’s books.

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Next: The Twilight Fandom: Who they are and what they are capable of

It would be a mistake to classify The Twilight Saga as ‘adult teen’. It would be an even bigger mistake to identify her fan base as being young teenage girls. Many online writers made just those mistakes, assuming perhaps that very few would react to their apparent lack of research and basic knowledge of the book and it's author.

Well, they are in for a big surprise! Coming up in Part 2.

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Comments (6)

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written by Lady Noliana, April 16, 2008

Wow. Thank you guys so much for understanding the appeal of these books. I get so sick of people ragging on the characters. Just because no other author seems to care enough to write "normal" characters... It's so hard to defend the series when so many people won't even give it a chance. The thing is, as you guys pointed out, the books are really much deeper than they first appear. You have to keep reading, keep discovering, to learn what makes the characters tick.

*eagerly awaiting the next parts*

Excellent
written by Cocoa, April 16, 2008

Excellent article Jed! Truthful, well thoughtout and researched. I look forward to reading the rest.

~Cocoa
www.twilightlexicon.com

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written by sbk, April 17, 2008

I LOVE all the articles about Twilight and Stephenie! Keep it up!

In reference to your next part, let me just say, that maybe this book was "intended" for teens by the publishing company, etc., but I am not a teen and I love these books and there are a lot of other non-teens, who love these books, too.

Vamptastic
written by Ann, April 17, 2008

Thank you so much for writing such a well researched, thoughtful, insightful and unbiased report on the books, the films, and the author. I can't tell you, as a fan, how much I appreciate someone going deeper than the Harry Potter comparisons and the talk of obsessive fans. It means alot that someone is taking these stories that mean so much to me seriously and looking at it from multiple angles! I'm giving you a hug over the internet! You totally have my respect and I can't wait to read the next instalments!

-Ann

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written by JESSICACAKES., June 12, 2008

Really in depth! Thanks! You're awesome man

Great!
written by Aly, July 22, 2008

I really good review about the novels of Stephenie Meyer.
People go over board with them, not only the..."haters" but the youngs ones too.

I enjoy the story because it's so about teenage life [:

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