Thread: Twilight - should I keep reading??

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Originally Posted by hermitcrab

The only vampire novel for teens I've ever read is The Thief of Always by Clive Barker. Now that's a good read.

Love Clive Barker's work.

There's good vampire novels out there for teens that are in the same "romance" genre but have plot development and characterization. L.J. Smith's works come to mind. And there's ones that lean more towards horror/drama that are very well done, as well. The Silver Kiss and Christopher Pike's The Last Vampire series come to mind. Granted, I was reading teen books years ago, so all my suggestions have originally been published a while ago (the pre-Sparkle years ), although since vampires are "in" right now, all of the old books I used to read are getting reprinted.

I read Twilight about a year ago and could only, barely, get through the first one. I had heard the general plot and knew that it was something I wouldn't like, but my co-worker (a very bright, no-nonsense 28 year old woman) raved about it, claiming it was "the best vampire book she'd ever read." Hearing this, I naively thought, If she likes it, maybe it's not all that bad? I could not imagine my co-worker liking something like Twilight -- I still can't.

From a writer's standpoint, the writing is very bad, filled with purple prose and adverbs, a lack of characterization and plot, and weak research on places/people (many of the Native Americans seemed like cardboard cut-outs of stereotypes).

I have flipped through the other ones, wondering if it gets better. I found it did not, in fact some of the things that happen to Bella disturbed me on many levels and I wondered why anyone claimed she was a strong heroine that was a good role model. Her blind devotion to Edward borders on creepy. Edward's emotionally abusive tendencies are definitely creepy. In a way, they're made for each other.

If you dislike the book now, I doubt it will get better for you. If you dislike it enough to question whether you should be reading it -- then stop. There's so much to read out there, why waste your time? But, I would suggest making your own opinion about the series.

Speaking of Stephenie Meyer, I just read on her website that they're turning her adult novel, The Host, into a movie. Yay!!!

The Host? Oh goodie. How do I get off this bus?

Mind if I'm blunt?

The Host is a warped Animorphs / Invasion of the Body Snatchers cross in the poorly-written style of Twilight (published in 2005—a Mrs. Meyer fantasy; fan fiction at its worst), which itself was a snatch and grab mainly from the novel The Southern Vampire Mysteries (informally known as The Sookie Stackhouse Novels / Chronicles and retronymed the TRUE BLOOD Series upon their reprinting, a series of books written by The New York Times bestselling author Charlaine Harris, first published in 2001 - all credit for the SVM info goes to Wikipedia), among others. So thanks, but no thanks. There are far better writers on this site than Mrs. Meyer, with far better stories to tell.

And yet you still read the books. Just saying.

Ah now, reading the books does not mean I thought they were in any way good or would recommend them. I just call 'em as I see 'em.

I read Twilight out of hype curiosity. Read the first few pages of The Host for the same reason. Wish I hadn't... but so it goes. They did do two things for me though - they made me appreciate good works even more than I already did, and made me feel more deeply (anger directed at the publishing world, mostly) for the many deserving but so far unlucky authors.

Originally Posted by Hawke

The Host? Oh goodie. How do I get off this bus?

Mind if I'm blunt?

The Host is a warped Animorphs / Invasion of the Body Snatchers cross in the poorly-written style of Twilight (published in 2005—a Mrs. Meyer fantasy; fan fiction at its worst), which itself was a snatch and grab mainly from the novel The Southern Vampire Mysteries (informally known as The Sookie Stackhouse Novels / Chronicles and retronymed the TRUE BLOOD Series upon their reprinting, a series of books written by The New York Times bestselling author Charlaine Harris, first published in 2001 - all credit for the SVM info goes to Wikipedia), among others. So thanks, but no thanks. There are far better writers on this site than Mrs. Meyer, with far better stories to tell.

Am I one of those writers?

In any case, she apparently majored in literature. You think that would help with her writing, but I suppose not. Taking AP Senior Lit greatly helped with my writing--plus, it made me discover that writing short stories isn't hard as I thought it once was. If I were the university who graduated her, I'd tear that diploma right out of her hands, because she just made a mockery of it.

I know there are probably worse writers out there, but I doubt those writers aren't even close to being big like Meyer is.

Wow now that is just mean.

Hawke, did you read the rest of the Twilight series?

I don't mean to break off topic here, but I'm curious: if these writers (Meyer, for example) are that bad - and I'm not disagreeing or agreeing that they are - how do they get published? Are there ideas generally just good enough to carry the book? Friends with publishers? Money to get it started? Just plain luck?

Originally Posted by edropus

I don't mean to break off topic here, but I'm curious: if these writers (Meyer, for example) are that bad - and I'm not disagreeing or agreeing that they are - how do they get published? Are there ideas generally just good enough to carry the book? Friends with publishers? Money to get it started? Just plain luck?

For one thing, it's marketable. Since the majority of its audience consists of young teenage (or pre-teen girls), it attracts that crowd. I mean, this novel does play on fantasies of getting a hot guy (blech).

Plus, don't quote me on this, some author on another writing website told me that an intern at either Jodi Reamer's agency or her publisher picked it up and didn't realize that her word count was too big to be considered YA--although this is rather touch and go, because agents don't always dismiss something because of word count, even if it is YA.

It's poorly written, but it seems that the story is too good and just disguises the poor writing. Plus, the masses out there who eat this book up don't seem to realize it's poorly written.

I think she went to Brigham Young. She's a mormon, right? I'm not sure how I know either of those things. I think I read an article about her when the movie came out. I'd never heard of the series and googled it to see what it was.

Originally Posted by Dreamworx95

Hawke, did you read the rest of the Twilight series?

Yes, I read it all. Pretty sure I gave my thoughts about it and the messages it sends to young readers earlier in this thread.

My apologies if I came off sounding harsh, but that work and its messages really, seriously makes me grit my teeth.

So the girl in Twilight becomes a vampire? That's what I'm hoping Sookie will do in True Blood.

Just saw this video of Stephenie Meyer, and it was really cool. She seems like a great person in real life.

YouTube - Stephenie Meyer Talks About Twilight, New Moon, and Eclipse