Next month marks 20 years since the first Twilight book came out, kicking off a craze that brought us six books, five movies, an upcoming animated series, and 50 Shades of Grey. It also made Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson into superstars. I know 20 years is a long time, but that feels like a completely different lifetime ago.
To celebrate the big 2-0, the four books in the original series are getting re-released with brand new cover art. Author Stephenie Meyer also sat down for an interview with Nightline, where she reminisced about what inspired her to write the series in the first place, gave her thoughts on why the books got so popular, and admitted that she’d love the chance to rewrite them because she’s a “better writer now.” She also shared that she never expected interest in the books to last as long as it has.
More Twilight novels? “I have other stories outlined,” Meyer admitted, teasing future additions to the world. While she said that she wasn’t sure if she’d “ever get to” writing the novels, she did make a promise to fans. “I’ll have somebody disseminate them after my death, my outlines, if I never get around to it. But to me, the stories go on.”
On potentially rewriting the first four books: If she had her way, Meyer might even rewrite the original four novels: 2005’s Twilight, 2006’s New Moon, 2007’s Eclipse and 2008’s Breaking Dawn. [Julu] Chang noted that Meyer told her she’d love to refresh the books “if she could.” As for why, Chang recalled, “She said, essentially, ‘I’m a better writer now.’ ”
Why people love Bella: “Bella is a quiet girl; she reads books. We don’t get a lot of quiet readers as our heroes,” she told Chang. Meyer also hypothesized that the series took off because she “was able to capture just a little bit of what it feels like to fall in love.”
The idea came to her in a dream: “It was a boy and a girl, and they were sitting in the sunshine in a beautiful forest. And he was glittering and sparkling. And in my dream, it was so beautiful.”
On the series’ lasting popularity: “I don’t even know how to process that. I wasn’t expecting fans when I started this. To be back here and still have people care … I mean, it’s really, really flattering, but I never expect that to last.”
I love that the idea for the series came to Stephenie in a dream. That’s one heckuva of a dream diary success story. How do I manifest a dream like this? I read the first four books during the height of their popularity, around the time that Breaking Dawn came out. I had mixed feelings about the way the books ended, and I don’t think I’m alone in that opinion. I appreciate Meyer’s honesty about wanting to rewrite them now that she has more experience and skills, but she shouldn’t be too hard on herself. Those books did make her pretty rich. But if she wants to put in the work to do Twilight (Stephenie’s Version), then by all means, go for it.
As for the series’ staying power, I’m not surprised. I remember flying out of LaGuardia one day and seeing so many women reading those books on my flight. I also remember how insane Comic-Con was during those years when the movies were coming out. Something about Bella and Edward’s romance really resonated with people. And while it was probably never going to be Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter big, it was definitely going to stick around for the long haul. Fan communities remain loyal and I bet many of the hardcore fans from its original release are now introducing their own daughters to it. It wouldn’t surprise me if Twilight ended up getting its own reboot TV series on HBO or Disney+.
Photos credit: Martin Sloan/Avalon, Getty and screenshot from YouTube
I clearly don’t understand popularity but I tried twilight after a lawyer friend suggested and it was beyond awful. It was a joke. I love light reading, this wasn’t light it was childish. I completely understand the world we’re in from the popularity of twilight. We are idiocracy
Sadly, hard agree.
Girl, same.
You would think that with all the money she made from these books she would have given back some of the profits to the Quileute Tribe who she used as silly plot elements. She never gave them anything.
Has the tribe ever complained about being included in the books? Seriously asking because I’ve never heard about any controversy. By this logic, she should also give money the people of Volterra, Italy, which is also a real place.
Video of Quileute Tribal member talking about how the Tribe used the story popularity to resolve their northern boundary dispute: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i46BSmYhC-w
But, yeah, nothing from the author directly.
I think my daughter was reading those vampire romance books back then. I think I actually watched one of the movies; one’s enough.
I was a college literature instructor during that time and taught an intro course to literary theory. I had so many papers on the Twilight saga that I grew from indifference to pure hatred of the story. At one point, I was reading at least 20 Twilight papers a semester. I was always hesitant to ban the use of Twilight in these papers, because students were always more engaged and their quality of work greater if they picked a book they loved – but, man I was sick to death of it.
Did anyone frame the story as – horrific that he’s 100 and she’s 17 and/or she married her stalker?
Because that is what i took from the story.
that and that disgusting thing at the end where the dude she didn’t choose “imprinted” one her newborn baby.
Yuck.
Not as often as one would hope.
The domestic violence imagery was more noticed for my students across the board – that Edward often bruised Bella with his touch, but it was somehow romantic and proof of his passion.
So, at least for the most part, they recognized something of its problematic nature.
I remember seeing the first film with a friend and thinking that since it was entertaining that the books would be better as that’s usually the case, boy was I wrong.
The writing was terrible, Bella was insufferable as well as her granola breakfast bars that Stephanie insisted on telling us about.
Reading the comments here, I’m so glad I managed to circumvent the whole sorry madness around the books & movies. For some reason, none of the stories circulating piqued my curiousity. I was just indifferent!
On a completely different note, I went to a Arundhati Roy event yesterday & was bowled over! She’s a remarkable woman: a brilliant story teller, funny & wise. A unicorn I reckon, given the wild & crazy childhood & life experiences she’s been through! She was promoting her latest book, a memoir of her mother. I am looking forward to reading her book when it arrives today.
I will never, ever stop laughing at the scene where Bella tries to dress up to meet Edward’s family. She comes down the stairs in a button-down navy-blue blouse and a long khaki skirt and Edward is like “Ooooh Bella you are sooooo sexy.”
Stephenie your Mormon is showing. Thank you for the infinite laughs.
Sue, even though these books are completely mindless reading, I did read them and soooo many parts are funny like that. The movies somehow made parts so much more funny if that is possible? Like the thunderstorm baseball game is incredibly funny and it is not meant to be haha!
I have to admit, I loved these books. Are they great literature? No. But they are engaging, they do create a fun world of unnoticed magic around us, with vampires and shape-shifters. They directly reference / take inspiration from works by authors like Austen and Shakespeare, so it’s engaging to read themes and story lines we’re familiar with woven into a new story – which hopefully got a lot of young readers to those authors. For me, the reason Twilight resonates is because it captures the feeling of first love – of falling completely, irrevocably, and obsessively for someone. The thrill and the heartache. Especially while in high school, of feeling like you can’t live without that person. Meaningful books don’t always have to be by an Austen or a Fitzgerald or a Helprin.
OH! That’s why I didn’t “get” Twilight. I hate Austen, too.
Inconceivable!
The Romantasy Genre has exploded over the last few years. I am not surprised at all that Twilight has had a bit of a resurgence. While I think there are much better books now, it certainly was at the forefront of this trend.
I love Twilight – I think Stephanie Meyer has brought back the era of romance with its angst, its shivers and its heartbreaking love stories. The reflection on the unconscious, the hidden, the dark, the shadows comes from this time. After the Enlightenment, a soul and its embodiment were needed.
There is a small two-volume paperback series called “Angst im Abendland” (Fear in the West), which describes the main horrors addressed in Romanticism. I’m not sure if it’s been published in English and French. I hope so. These two volumes are a treasure trove that leads straight to Twilight. 🌷🌷🌷
And – Twilight is very successful literature.
I’m only commenting here because I thought that was a picture of Jodi Hildebrandt, and the fact that they look so similar to each other is… yeah.