A year and a half later where do things stand with Stephenie Meyer and Midnight Sun?

In August 2008 we learned that Stephenie Meyer, author of the Twilight Saga (I found the books in the beginning to be cracktastic and craplarious but then, in the end, all-out-batshit-crazy/offensive/frighten鈥?sexist) had discovered that one of the drafts of her novel, Midnight Sun, had been leaked. Meyer had given a copy to Robert Pattinson (Twilight lead actor Edward Cullen), Catherine Hardwicke (Twilight director), Melissa Rosenberg (Twilight screenplay writer) as well as to her sisters and her mother. Meyer threw a prissy hissy fit on her website threatening to take all her toys and go home. Wrote she: ';I think it is important for everybody to understand that what happened was a huge violation of my rights as an author, not to mention me as a human being.'; You know. Like how they torture some people for writing anti-governmental pieces in some countries. Only worse. She was also very careful to protect whomever it was that leaked her draft - understandably - because the only thing creepier than Edward Cullen are the people who love him.



And some of us were left wondering if Meyer didn't protest too much and walk away a little TOO easily from something that seems at first glance to be really easy money. Why easy money? Well, there's a guaranteed audience, or was, before Midnight Sun the draft appeared on the internets. Also, the book is already written. Yup, it's a re-telling of the entire first book from the beloved Edward's point of view. Meyer had little to do but go in and switch ';I'; to ';Bella'; (or ';the girl'; as Edward's character calls her - the better for your reader to try to project themselves onto the bland character) and change the ';he'; to the first person and voila! because she isn't an imaginative enough writer to have differing narratives - both characters have flawless memories and remember everything perfectly without bias. Of course if Meyer had had an unreliable narrator as so many fantastic works of literature have had, her readers heads might have exploded. ANYWAY, this book did not involve as much of an expenditure on her part - the plot was taken care of as was 90% of the dialogue and so she just had to tweak the narration perspective and add some over-the-top obsessive and creepy stalking and too much angst so that she could ensure that her fans would adore Edward and everyone else would find him thoroughly unlikeable. And that's where the questions start mounting about marketing. This book was never going to have the impact that Twilight had because this book IS Twilight. The only people who want to re-read Twilight being told by the sparkly boy vampire whose hormones have been replaced by venom are the already-fans. There won't be a movie. There's won't be a sensation. No birth of new fan sites. No new series of marketing ventures - Barbies! Rings! School Supplies! T-Shirts! Just a book that would sell to a large and loyal fan-base. Well, that's still easy money. Except...except when half of it gets published online.



Then maybe it's better to act shocked, SHOCKED, I tell you, and VIOLATED and throw a big pout/cry/woe is me prissy hissy fit and take that thing off the radar before it can totally underwhelm in sales compared to the other books in the series.



And go home and count your millions.



So...I don't think she's going to come back to it. The pool of potential buyers has dwindled. And there's little room for it to have any ';legs';. It's still an easy project but that's not what drives a writer and I'm going to give Stephenie Meyer enough credit to say that just knowing that there is a group of people who would buy this book NO MATTER WHAT isn't her deal. What do you guys think?A year and a half later where do things stand with Stephenie Meyer and Midnight Sun?
I couldn't agree more. She realized it was basically a super-fluff book aimed at her most loyal Twits and once it was leaked (I heard by her niece) she lost some market in what was already a super narrow market and it never had any growth potential. Is there any way this book could have been good? Ok, granted none of Ms. Meyer's novels are fine literature - but Twilight captured the hearts and imagination of many fans. It is notable because it was a phenomenon and what's notable about MS is that is has zero of that possible appeal. Had it been published it likely would have earned her harsh criticism and the distinction of being the worst-selling Twilight book.



And I totally agree with my fellow question-answerer. I admit that like the question-writer I find these books to be a guilty pleasure, but when I hear girls squealing about how Stephenie Meyer is, like, the best female novelist alive...well, I just want to put my head in Margaret Atwood's lap and cry.A year and a half later where do things stand with Stephenie Meyer and Midnight Sun?
I completely agree with you.
I agree with you 100%.

Doesn't the whole thing just make you sick? I mean, I've spent the better part of a year working to get my novel published, and this crap is on the shelves???? Oh gosh, it's unbelievably frustrating!!!