The vampires that sank their fangs into Harry Potter were born in the low
desert of Arizona. They arrived in a dream, were immediately translated to
paper, spread through the adolescent population like a virus and
transmogrified into a publishing phenomenon.
The trail to their origin leads north out of Phoenix. Under pain of a slow
death, it has been agreed that an exact location will not be mentioned. If
the truth got out, the place would be overrun with besotted teenage
bloodsuckers. Let us just say that off a highway, down a dirt road, lies an
adobe-style house, secluded among giant Saguaro cacti, their arms pointing
wildly in every direction like signposts striving to send a visitor the
wrong way. This is the home of Stephenie Meyer, a Mormon mother of three who
has sold seven million copies of her books about high-school vampires and is
building the most convincing claim to date to be the true heir to the
world's most successful author.
Last year, when the third book in Meyer's series was published just two and a
half weeks after Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows hit bookshops, it went
straight to No1 in American charts; a high school displacing Hogwarts to
depose the final instalment of the Potter saga. “The next J.K. Rowling?”
asked Time magazine recently, before appearing to answer its own question by
including Meyer in its list of the 100 most influential people in the world.
Never heard of her? Well that's probably because you are not 13 and female.
But you soon will. Although five million of her sales have been in the US,
momentum is growing in Europe and with the release of a film of Twilight,
the first book, scheduled for early next year, the books are expected to
take off here. British bookshops are planning midnight openings on the day
that the fourth book in the series is published in August.
On the face of it, the formula for Meyer's fantasy series sounds unlikely.
These are vampire novels with little blood shed and a strong moral message,
written by a woman with a robust Mormon faith who does not like horror books
(she hasn't even read Dracula) and has never seen an R-rated film on
principle.
The books are essentially high-school romances with a twist. The protagonist
is an ordinary pupil called Bella, who falls for Edward, the best-looking
guy in the class. The twist is that he happens to be a vampire and, while he
is very taken with her, too, he has to watch out that he doesn't get carried
away and have her for lunch. How their relationship develops in these
awkward circumstances and how the heroine deals with other less scrupulous
blood-guzzlers, is the basis of the books. There is dark stuff lurking off
stage but it is not explicitly presented to the reader.
Meyer, 34, had no plans to become a writer. She studied English at Brigham
Young University, a college run by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints in Utah, but her only professional work before she started a family
was as a receptionist in a property company. Then one night in June 2003 she
had a dream. She prefaces this story by saying: “It's absolutely true and
sounds so cheesy. I was really embarrassed about telling it at first. My
publicist said, ‘It's a good story'. I'm like, ‘It sounds silly: no one is
going to believe it'.”
In her dream Edward and Bella were standing in a meadow having a conversation.
“I already knew he was a vampire and he was sparkly and beautiful and she
was just kind of ordinary and in awe of this creature. He was explaining how
hard it was not to kill her and she was amazed that he wanted to be around
her even if it was risking her life.” When Meyer woke up she wondered:
“Where would it go next? Would he kill her or would they work it out? I just
thought about it until I had to make breakfast.”
Later that day she wrote down the dream and kept writing. “The dream is what
started me off. I had fun that day. It was just ten pages. I didn't think
about writing it as a book, I just wanted to see what happened next. I know
when I started writing because I had it marked on my calendar. That was the
day I started my summer diet and it was the first day of swimming lessons
for the kids.”
She felt compelled to keep writing, oftenwith the youngest of her three sons,
who was then a baby, clinging to her. Her husband became “kind of mad at me.
He said: ‘You never sleep, you don't talk to me, I never get to use the
computer. What are you doing?' I told him I was writing some stuff for fun.”
When she had finished the story, which ran to 130,000 words, her sister
persuaded her to send it to literary agents. Of 15 letters she wrote, five
went unanswered, nine brought rejections and the last was a positive
response from an intern at Writers House, who pretended to be an agent,
asked to see some chapters and eventually brought the manuscript to one of
her bosses. Quickly, she had secured a $750,000 three-book deal.
Twilight was published in 2005 and two sequels followed at yearly intervals.
The phenomenal success came largely from teenagers spreading the news on
social networking sites. Then adults - especially mothers wanting to find
out what their kids were up to - began to buy as well.
She is well aware of the debt she owes J.K.Rowling. “I'm a big fan. All of us
YA [young adult] writers are, especially those of us who write big books. If
it weren't for her, our books wouldn't even have gotten a chance. People
wouldn't put an 800-page YA book on the shelf because there was no way kids
were going to read it. Now everyone knows that kids love big books, you just
have to make them interesting for them.”
When her third book, Eclipse, was scheduled for publication so soon after
Deathly Hallows, she “pitched a huge fit with my publisher because I did not
want my book to come out so close to hers. I saw a tidal wave of Harry
Potter that would erase Eclipse. They said ‘trust us'. I thought that the
book would disappear.” She remains astonished that she knocked Potter off
the top spot. “I still can't totally believe it. It seems kind of...
sometimes life does seem like fantasy.”
She is wary of media attempts to draw similarities between her and Rowling.
“She has a better Cinderella story than me. She was really down on her luck
and then it went crazy in the other direction, but I was in a pretty good
place. The biggest similarity between us is our fans, because every fan is
also a J.K.Rowling fan.”
Strip away the vampires and it is easy to see how the themes of Meyer's books
appeal to teenagers, especially girls. The heroine is swept off her feet by
a handsome hero. In the unremarkable Bella, who wins the heart of the
charismatic man with a dark secret, there is a strong flavour of Jane Eyre.
But the traditional theme of the girl who falls for a monster is also
strong. Meyer says that criticism of her as anti-feminist is “a bunch of
crap. If anything I am anti-human,” she cracks.
Meyer says she didn't set out to write young adult novels, but just naturally
set her story at a high school “because it's the first time you fall in
love, it's the first time you kiss somebody. All those feelings are so much
stronger. You are not calloused up yet, you haven't had your heart broken a
few times so you know how to handle it. Everything is very vivid so it's a
lot of fun to write about.”
There is no pre-marital sex in Meyer's books but sex - or the lack of it - is
much of what they are about. The pages swim with teenage hormones. Edward's
battle to restrain himself from sinking his canines into Bella's neck is an
obvious metaphor for the importance of sexual abstinence.
That is hardly surprising perhaps from a Mormon who attended a college where
pre-marital sex is a violation of the college honour code. “My high school,
college experience, a lot of it was about restraint.” She is appalled by the
sexual promiscuity of many teenagers. “As a mother of three boys I just
think that there are so many ways you can screw up your life when you are
too young to understand what you are doing. I would hope my sons are smart
enough to see that coming and make the right choices, so they don't get
themselves in a situation where their future is on the line. It makes me
sad. I see so many teenagers who have so much promise and they screw it up.
Kids don't get to be young any more, it kills me. It's good to be a kid for
a while.”
She has known her husband since childhood, but “we didn't like each other at
all. He was part of a different crowd and some of his friends were kind of
mean”. They ran into each other again when she was home from college and he
had returned from a mission with the church of LDS to Chile. They were
married within nine months of getting reacquainted and she had not yet
finished college. He became an auditor, but has now retired to look after
the boys, aged 10, 7 and 6, while she earns millions tapping out her books
at a marble desk in the family living area.
Meyer, who does not drink alcohol or caffeine because her church teaches that
such drugs can interfere with her ability to express free will, writes books
that convey a message about the importance of making careful choices in
life. As well as the lack of pre-marital sex, drugs and underage drinking
also do not feature.
Meyer believes that this lack of social realism is part of the appeal to her
fans. “There are a lot of kinds of reality. There is a lot of representation
[in contemporary literature] for a kid in high school who is drinking and
sexually active. There are a hundred books they can relate to. When I was in
high school, the people I related to were Jane Eyre and Elizabeth Bennett
because I wasn't having that experience. I know a lot of kids who relate to
my books because they don't drink and they are not sexually active. There
are a ton of them but they don't get a lot of representation in literature
or television or movies. Kids who are just good kids and follow the rules -
they are out there and they don't get any playtime.”
Now those fans have built numerous Stephenie Meyer websites and turn up in
droves to events celebrating her characters' birthdays. The internet is
awash with teenage scribblings involving the characters from the books,
something Meyer has mixed feelings about: “Teenagers are prone to want to
live in things they are excited about. I do worry about some of the fiction
writers because some of them are very talented and I don't like them wasting
their time on something they can never claim as their own.”
She says that some people are surprised that a Mormon is writing vampire
novels, but they generally haven't read her. “When you think about vampire
novels, there is a lot of gruesomeness, a lot of sexuality, a lot of
darkness, blood obsession. When you read my books it is completely
different. Really, the whole vampirism thing is a metaphor for feeling
trapped in a certain role. I never got into any trouble from the Latter Day
Saints people. My strongest fan base is probably in Utah.” How Meyer came to
write about vampires, however, is a mystery to her, given that she was very
far from steeped in the vampire tradition. She is too “chicken” to read
horror and doesn't watch R-rated films because “there are things that you
don't need to have in your head. There are R-rated movies that I would like
to go and see - I heard The 40-Year-Old Virgin was hysterical. But when you
have an unbroken streak, you don't want to mess that up.”
The film of Twilight, the first book in her vampire series, will star Robert
Pattinson, who was Cedric Diggory in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and
Kristen Stewart, whose films include Panic Room and Into the Wild. It will
not be a gore-fest. “I put in a clause in the contract that the movie had to
be PG-13 so I could go see it,” says Meyer.
There will probably be more films, and possibly more vampire novels, although
the fourth book will be the last written from the perspective of Bella.
Meyer's adult sci-fi novel, Host, is published this month.
Despite her prodigious output and huge sales, she scoffs at suggestions that
she is turning into the first post-Potter phenomenon. “Everyone is looking
for the next J.K. Rowling. It's not going to happen. That's just something
that is never going to happen again. She was, is, something that will not be
repeated.”
I love all of your books. YOu keep me up till morning reading your books. I got my dad into liking your books and he is wanting to see your movie so badly. I also want to seee it badly too. You have inspired me to want to write storie and maybe even books in the near futer.
savannah love, leander tx, North America
i agree. j.k. rowling is phenomenal, the first to show the world that the unbelievable can happen. i'm kind of skeptic when i heard meyer's the new rowling because, well, such a claim is just absurd.and it always will be. maybe twilight is good, but definitely not in the same way harry potter is.
danielle, manila, philippines
i agree, it does get really annoying that people r saying that shes the next JKR but i think its just the fact that she is selling her books to the same people and having success as JKR did....i love both the series, and nothing can replace Harry!! trying 2 decide if i want to see the movie though..
M. Allen, SPF, NJ, USA
Maybe I should read these books, but from the sounds of them, Id hate them. Anne Rice never had sex in her books because, well vampires are dead people, therefore they lacked the facultiy do anything in that manner.
But what she talks about seems utterly unbelieable, and highly big headed.
Nicola, London,
Christopher Pike: The Last Vampire Series.
Give it a whirl
AK, Pig Hill,
I get really tired of hearing everyone saying that she is the new JKR, ive read all the HP and her books so far but i think its the biggest overstatement of the 21th century, i mean comparing this book series that have sold around maybe 10 million world wide to HP that has sold 350 000 million.
Anton Lundstrom, Sydney, Australia
I wish people would stop comparing Meyer to J.K.Rowling. Rowling will be a classic. Meyer is another fad. Meyer's books are fun and an easy read. The teenagers love them because what teenager doesn't want to have the most beautiful and mysterious boy in love with them.
Samantha, Atlanta, United States
The only good thing to come from these sad, emotionally & psychologically stunted novels is that perhaps a few kids will be turned on to reading through them, then move on to better books. Faith-based moralising brought us Dubya Bush & 9/11. 'Nuff said
beau, sydney, australia
I love the books. Not only do they have romance but they also contain an excellent plot.
Kiki, nc, usa
Dear god, these books are terrible. The characters are shallow and too perfect, the storyline is cliche and it's not written well (maybe if you stopped being so dazzled by, PERFECT BOYFRIEND, Edward Cullen for 5 minutes you would see how rubbish this 'literature' really is)
Hannah, London, England
Hey chaps, they're just books. You know fiction, not real, written for amusement! We dont have to draw tribal lines and hate each other. Do we ..... ?
Craig, Leighton Buzzard, Beds
I adore the Twilight books they are my new obsession. They are beautifully written and evoke every emotion possible. I have read many forums full of 30 something woman saying how these novels have made them feel young again and I'm pround to be one of them.
Elaine, Gloucestershire, England
I read all 3 books and it was good! As a teenager, i was never really interested in love stories as i found most of them the same, but Twilight was different. Most vampires were evil and wanted blood, but books about Vegetarian Vampires are certainly something you don't see everyday in bookstores!
Ryanne , Kent, England
As a parent and a teacher I found Ms. Meyers books very disturbing. I missed the high moral part when I was reading them. I saw a self-indulgent teen-ager with uninvolved parents. The main theme of her books seems to be, boyfriends are more important than anything else in life.
C. Samuelson, Declo, USA
i love the books, they are amazing....i want to see the film and read the fourth book, i love them! i am a huge fan as are all my friends in my class!
Alice, Hertfordshire, england
I'm just now getting in to the twilight craze. A good friend of mine recomened me the books and by the 3rd page I was hooked on the story. This is way better than HP. I am going to see the movie when it comes out.
Kandi Bauer, New Blaine, AR, USA
We don't need reminding on every comments section that there is something called the Twilight Moms. The truth is that there is an extreme majority of Twilight fans who ARE teenage girls, and a small minority who are older than 25. Its called a YA book because thats the demographic of most fans.
Kate Hughes, Kingswinford,
I love her books and agree with her on presenting a wholesome love story that I would have related to as a youth. As a parent, I still find many things about her books fascinating, and I have become a huge fan.
dbert, madison, USA
Hardly the new JK Rowling! Rowling knows how to build an in depth interesting plot. Meyer writes beautifully, but her Twilight series is just a lot of sighing, yearning and "does he like me??" junk. It's nothing more (and probably not as much as) Anne Rice meets Barbara Cartland.
Jean, Wittmann, U.S.
I love The Twilight Saga!!!! My favorite one is probably Eclipse but OMGOSH!
Like Stephenie said the Twilight stories can connect to us girls that have a normal life. Apart from the vampires perhaps!
Stephenie Meyer is by far my favorite author - she-s the best! Team Edward and Bella!!!!
Jessica Calvert, Mirfield, West Yorkshire, England
Im so glad Stephenie Meyer is finally getting coverage over here :D I love the books and I am ecstatic that they are being developed onto the movie screen
Im not 13 and completley adore the series I agree with others when they say have you never heard of twilight moms it appeals to many people :D
Rebecca Birch, Stafford, United Kingdom
Stephenie is amazing! And her books too! I'm absolutely crazy about what she writes. I hope 'The Host' comes out soon in Spain ^^ And I wish see the 'Twilight' film soon, the teaser trailer and the poster were absolutely awesome!
*-*
Andre, Phoenix AZ, USA
i had never heard of twilight until now! since i moved to japan last year i have been a bit out of the loop! however they sound great so ... amazon here i come !!
K Brecknell, saitama shi, Japan
I was so excited when i heard that Twilight was being made into a film. Oddly enough, Robert Pattinson was always the guy i pictured Edward as when i read the series! The rating is also a good idea, as it means more people can share in this wonderful and exciting story!
Olivia, Kent, England
I am definitely most happy to hear what Twilight will be rated. Thats something i have been trying to find out.
I really agree with how the books do not have sex and drinking and drugs, that isn't every teenager's experience.
Anja, Calgary,
I wouldn't compare the two, because they are so different, but I LOVE them both. I call Twilight my Post Harry Potter medicine, because it was another series to get obsessed about that wasn't yet finished. I think Meyet and Rowling are geniuses and are amazing!!!
Laura, zurich, switzerland
I'd like to say that she's not COMPLETELY right about them sharing fans. I admit most people I know who have read one have read the other, but I have several friends who would not read Harry Potter if they're life depended on it but LOVE the Twilight series. =] Of course, I'm not one of them.
Abbi, Lexington,
This was a great article! Not only are her books captivating, but something about Meyer herself is just so likeable.
A., California,
I absolutely love Twilight and I am really excited for the movie. However, I just wanted to point out that her fans are a bit older than 13. The twilight series is more popular in high school and late middle school rather than elementary school. But, besides that good article =]
Rebecca, Chalfont, The United States of America
The Twilight series and the Harry Potter series are both phenomenal stories and neither could replace the other. I can see how you would compare the # of fans for each book but, comparing the success of the story - I just don't think you could do that; they are both just so captivating.
Twilight<3, Florida, USA
I love the Twilight saga. Stephenie is such an amazing writer. I have always been a big book reader and was wary to read these because a Vampire love story didn't sound appealing to me. One day, I finally thrust myself into the fandom and haven't emerged yet. Meyer is a wonderful, beautiful genius.
Amy, Liverpool, England
Nice article, but I don't think people should continue comparing Stephenie with Rowling. Yeah, I know, both of them are great and all, but these comments are completely unnecessary. So stop comparing her to J.K Rowling. It's kinda rude, in a way.
No offence intended. Awesome article! Thank you.
Natasha, Singapore, Singapore
Twilight has been the most captivateing book since the first publication of Harry Potter. People like to compare Meyer with Rowling only becuase its a new story about fantasy and mystery that no other writers have portrayed to such an extent. Both authors have accomplished what others dream of.
Samantha, Utica, USA
Thank you for this great article! I love that you pointed out that she said that the strongest simmilarity between Stephenie and J.K Rowling is their fanbase. This is absolutely true, and I'm glad that this has been brought to attention. Also, the title of her latest book is The Host, not just Host.
Sarah, Atlanta, USA
Thanks for your article,my only wish is that people would quit comparing Twilight with Harry Potter.It only makes people take sides.I wish people would read Twilight before making comments and assumptions about it,the same thing happened to HP when it first came out.Twilight is awesome,HP is awesome
Ann, Houston, USA
Yay! Finally the UK is starting to ackowledge Stephenie's brilliance publicly! I first read Twilight just prior to Christmas and I was hooked from page one. I now spend too much time thinking about it at not enough on some other important things. Like school. Oops…
Anyway, once more; Thank you! =]
Rebecca, Beckenham,
This was a great article and thank you for it.I am glad for any coverage of Twilight because I am a huge fan.My only problem is that every one wants to compare Twilight with Harry Potter and JKR.It makes people feel they have to take sides.They are each awesome,read Twilight if you have not and see
Ann, Houston, USA
She's nothing like JK, I mean the romance doesn't come in in Harry Potter until the fourth book! Yet in Twilight it is the central theme! Both are brilliant, yet different. I hope Meyer gets more publicity in the uk most of my group at school have read it, now we're just really excited for the new!
Shivvy, Stourport on Severn, England
Hey thanks for for posting This article im a big Twilight Fan who lives in england i heardly ever hear anyone talk about twilight. soo thank for posting this and you should cover twilight more for example the Movie that just got finshed filming ...you should do more stories on twilight
Thank you
Hannah, London , England
Rather than being a Mormon and writing about vampires being incompatible, the cynic might suggest that it grabs the attention a little more, perhaps thrusts the books further into the limelight.
I've never read them and they don't sound like my thing, but she's obviously done something right!
Daniel Xuereb, Cardiff, Wales
Do not ever compare the two books!
JK ROWLING WILL NEVER BE REPLACED!
Stephenie Meyer is awesome herself-- but twilight lovers [who used to read and love HArry Potter] should not stop loving Harry Potter, and replace JKRowing with Meyer.
JK Rowling and HP series should always be in our hearts.
Susan, Sydney, Australia
Ron, you need to get out and meet some Mormons. I'm one and having a faith in Christ does not stop me from enjoying fictional stories about mythical creatures. I love Harry Potter, Buffy the vampire Slayer, Angel, Lord of the Rings, and I can't wait to get into this series.
Gemma, Leighton Buzzard, UK
Thank you, England, for finally acknowledging Stephenie! She isn't very well known in the UK, but in America, she's famous!! I hope this means you'll be giving her more coverage and attention.
Clair Couper, Bury St Edmunda, England
I just like to say, fair play to her for doing so well.
I would like to point out that in this article it states her location won't be disclosed, by the press. It's a shame they didn't give Prince Harry the same respect and allow him to serve his country while in Afganistan.
Max, NCL,
sorry but i love them. and im not fake harry potter fan.harry potter very touched and humanistic story.
i must say twilight cast not dood.robert doesnt very handome,cool,and he can't act.its very imstake and wrong choose.i reading series i could imagine to edward very handsome,unique,cool.
joey, athena, greece
I find it strange that a Mormon should find it acceptable to write about vampires, surely her religious beliefs would prevent her from maing money out of the dark arts.
Ron, Milton Keynes, Bucks
Who is Stephanie Meyers? What on earth is a Twilight Mom? I am a mother 24/7. At the age of 61, am I missing something here?
Mary, Sydney, Australia
Love the article, thank you. I adore Stephanie Meyer, will read ANYTHING she writes. The Twilight series has brought me and the female members of my family - of all ages, I might add, from my grandmother to my youngest cousin - together. Its incredibly addicting.
Melissa, Portland, USA
Thanks for the article.. I hope you'll have more coverage as the release of 'Breaking Dawn' gets nearer! (82 days to go!)
Jenny, Stockport, UK
um guys, adults, and teenagers over thirteen read Stephenie meyers work. For example have you ever heard of Twilight Moms??
Chelsea, Windsor, United States
i dont think that all twilight fans are jk rowling fans.some of my friends are twilight fans and have never read harry potter. no offense or anything to rowling. shes awsome & also, i think WAY too many articles are stating that twilight is only for teen girls. i know moms and guys who read twilight
Carol, atlanta, usa
She is one of the greatest authors of all time im proud to say i have turned about 30 diffrent girls into twilght obssessed fans. Every single girls boyfriends and entire work has been turned upside down because of twilight. Boyfriends getting ignored and mad because thier gfs are reading twilight.
Heather Landin, Fresno, United States Of America
Stop comparing harry potter with twilight.
Also the book might be toward young adults but it is enjoyed by so many other age groups.
have you heard of the twilightmoms?
I personally don't fit with the young adult group and LOVE the story.
Esther, New York City, usa