In the middle of the first decade
of the 21st Century, an aspiring writer from Phoenix, Arizona saw
her first novel published. That story of about a human girl and her eternally-teenaged
vampire boyfriend greatly affected the media portrayal of vampires and
transformed the book into a franchise and its writer into a household name for
young adults. Stephenie Meyer’s “Twilight” saga would span four books adapted
into five films, plus spinoffs. She even rewrote the first novel with vampire
Edward Cullen as narrator, only to stop in 2008 when her early manuscript
chapters were leaked. For a time fans thought that was the end of things. It
was not.
As The Guardian and many other media sources would happily report
(from the POV of still-loyal “Twilighters” or “Twi-hards”), the
thought-unfinished “Twilight” rewrite entitled “Midnight Sun” has finally come
out this Tuesday, August 4. That makes it twelve years since author Stephenie
Meyer put the task of retelling her first vampire young adult romance on
indefinite hold after her partial work got out on the internet. It was not
entirely a surprise however, since she put a countdown on her personal website
back in May.
When fans from a decade past, excited
out of their minds at the new release of a “Twilight” saga book, asked Meyer
why she chose now to finally bring “Midnight Sun” back, the author simply replied
that she had finally finished writing it. Followers might recall her statement
following the 2008 draft leak, where she remarked that if she forced herself to
continue writing she would have had the antagonist win against the heroes. It
certainly took her some time but, as Meyer said she was aware that people still
waited, she began taking steps to have the book published upon seeing that she
was nearly done writing it all.
And what a treat “Midnight Sun”
is for still-there fans of Bella Swann and Edward Cullen. Whereas the original “Twilight”
as seen from the viewpoint of Bella was close to 500 pages, the same story as
seen from Edward’s eyes registers as a 672-page journey. Social media buzzes
from Twi-hards crowed at getting to binge-read that one-time literary
phenomenon all over again with a different voice, and Stephenie Meyer notes
that with COVID-19 keeping many people at home, now was a good time as any to
give them a nice book to pass the time.
My Edward Cullen loving ass is going to be reading for the foreseeable forever #MidnightSun pic.twitter.com/GTl4Pa9KAO— Jordan ϟ ⚯͛ (@_lawlz) August 4, 2020
I GOT IT I GOT IT I GOT IT I GOT IT I GOT IT I GOT IT I GOT IT I GOT IT I GOT IT I GOT IT I GOT IT I GOT IT I GOT IT I GOT IT I GOT IT I GOT IT I GOT IT I GOT IT I GOT IT I GOT IT #MIDNIGHTSUN pic.twitter.com/GexILezTwu— Abby (@perksofabby) August 4, 2020
It is known that Meyer had started
work on “Midnight Sun” as early as the first “Twilight” film from Summit
Entertainment began filming for its 2008 premiere. She was said to have shown
the early chapters to director Catherine Hardwicke and Edward actor Robert
Pattinson to give them a feel for the vampire heartthrob’s inner world.
Interestingly, even as work on the book was halted, Meyer was able to, in time
for the 10th anniversary of “Twilight,” complete another alternate take
on that original book, “Life and Death,” where all characters were
gender-flipped (giving readers Beau Swann and Edythe Cullen).
It is also assumed that Meyer did
not seriously resume writing “Midnight Sun” until after 2015, due to British
author E.L. James “beating her to the punch” as it were, with the rewrite of
her own hit book “Fifty Shades of Grey” as told by male lead Christian Gray. As
many fans know, James retooled “Fifty Shades” from what was originally her “Twilight”
fan fiction, under the pseudonym “Snowqueen’s Icedragon.” Stephenie Meyer has expressed
no plans to rewrite the rest of the saga in Edward’s POV, at least for now.
Image courtesy of Comic Book.com
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