Twilight... love it or loath it, you may be interested by this...

[SW]

By the way, her success may not have been due so much to her great writing, but rather an original plot.

I've never slammed a Harry Potter or Twilight plot.

But the writing is another thing. Sure, it's decent; at times, good and even fantastic occasionally - but sometimes it's perhaps not what we'd expect from such a esteemed work.

[calligraphy]

Originally Posted by SW

Mike - I disagreed somewhat. It's not like the books didn't do anything, but the movies helped a lot as well.

Calli, I don't think it's so much attacking an author as picking things out. Certainly, I'm not a millionaire with a best selling novel, but what - can only these people criticise other best selling authors? There has to be room for discussion and critique, else we stop recognising what are gems in the literary world.

Well lets see...

"After writing and editing the novel, she (Meyers) signed a three-book deal with Little, Brown and Company for $750,000, an unusually high amount for a first time author. [20] Megan Tingley, the editor who signed Meyer, says that halfway through the reading manuscript she realized that she had a future bestseller in her hands"

Prior to the movie...

"Following the success of Twilight, Meyer expanded the story into a series with three more books: New Moon (2006), Eclipse (2007), and Breaking Dawn (2008). In its first week after publication, the first sequel, New Moon, debuted at #5 on the New York Times Best Seller List for Children's Chapter Books, and in its second week rose to the #1 position, where it remained for the next eleven weeks. In total, it spent over 50 weeks on the list. [22] After the release of Eclipse, the first three "Twilight" books spent a combined 143 weeks on the New York Times Best Seller List. [17] The fourth installment of the Twilight series, Breaking Dawn, was released with an initial print run of 3.7 million copies. [23] Over 1.3 million copies were sold on the first day alone, setting a record in first-day sales performance for the Hachette Book Group USA. [24] Upon the completion of the fourth entry in the series, Meyer indicated that Breaking Dawn would be the final novel to be told from Bella Swan's perspective. [25] In 2008, the four books of the series claimed the top four spots on USA Today's year-end bestseller list, making Meyer the first author to ever achieve this feat. [26] The series then won the 2009 Kids' Choice Award for Favorite Book, where it competed against the Harry Potter series"


So that was on Meyers and her work with her editor and publisher alone as the movie wasn't released until 2008.

Hmmm amazing for a hack that has no talent IMO..

Only rejected by 14 agents (yes only)

"but became an instant bestseller when published originally in hardback in 2005"


"debuting at #5 on the New York Times Best Seller list within a month of its release [6] and later peaking at #1. [7] That same year"

Years before a movie release *gasp*

[Reddy Dean]

Yeah, but just because she sells doesn't automatically she's a "good" writer. A lot of things sell but are still bad at what they do.

(ignoring the whole "what is good and what isn't" argument)

[calligraphy]

Wrong.

It means she is an excellent writer.

Calli

[Secret]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viRSB...layer_embedded
Enjoy the twilight

[SW]

Cal, you missed the point of what I said.

Twilight may have made best-selling lists in the USA, but books are still books - I'm talking about popularity from teens, and there are plenty of teens who no doubt wouldn't have read a Twilight book until watching the movie.

[SW]

And no, it doesn't mean she's an excellent writer at all.

JK Rowling and Meyer were rejected plenty of times not due to a bad idea, but probably because their writing wasn't the best.

[Reddy Dean]

Originally Posted by calligraphy

Wrong.

It means she is an excellent writer.

Calli

I respectfully disagree. I've seen plenty of things (music, writing, movies, etc, etc) that sell high, but the content is rather weak. I know we can argue all day about the subjectivity of "what is good," but I'd like to hear why you think that she is an excellent writer because she sells.

[calligraphy]

Originally Posted by SW

And no, it doesn't mean she's an excellent writer at all.

JK Rowling and Meyer were rejected plenty of times not due to a bad idea, but probably because their writing wasn't the best.

Actually for her first novel 14 times rejected is nothing...

[calligraphy]

Originally Posted by Reddy Dean

I respectfully disagree. I've seen plenty of things (music, writing, movies, etc, etc) that sell high, but the content is rather weak. I know we can argue all day about the subjectivity of "what is good," but I'd like to hear why you think that she is an excellent writer because she sells.

Sells?

That wasnt the only thing in the above content. She was picked up for 750k right off? Were they duped?

MY GOSH for a first novel getting picked up for 750k three book deal is insanely good!

These people didnt pay that because they saw a book that might hit big with teens... Nope. They knew adults and teens alike would enjoy and pay the mo ney to read it.

And they were right.

If I have to take the word of people on a forum vs people in the industry and not just IN but RUNNING it well then...

[Reddy Dean]

*shrug* That's a very good point. Shelling out that kind of dough is crazy enough. I guess they did know a little something. But hell, what do I know? I'm just a 20-year old with dreams. I'm sure there's a bit of jealously in me, whether or not I'm able to admit that. :P

[calligraphy]

You just did.

I am proud

It was hard for me as well.... I felt that my vampires that ripped hearts out old fashion should have been made famous too...

[SW]

I've said this countless of times already - it was a good plot in a genre that wasn't (yet) incredibly saturated. It was rather original. It was written well enough.

That doesn't mean it stands up as a brilliant piece of writing in the literary world.

[J.P.Clyde]

This is all I have to say about Twilight and I don't even have to write anything on it.

Sadly the difference between Harry Potter and Twilight, is that Harry Potter at least had some characters I could stand. And it had an interesting cast.

[Hallowless]

if twilight did anything for me, it would be that inspired a run-on joke for my own story.

my story has demons and such, and the joke would be that everytime a teen would learn of the existence of a demon, they would first assume that its actually a vampire, confusing the main hero, a sheltered person who has absolutely no clue what a vampire is, and always can't pronounce it.

To me, this joke makes more fun of the teens than twilight, being that teens are twilight's audience target.

[Secret]

Of course I can not be the only one who has heard about this new "biting" trend that is out amongst the teens. Yep. A biting trend. They bite each other on the neck, drawing blood.

[Gwyndolin]

Or at least try to leave marks - even on the arms, or somewhere visible....

[Shrub]

Originally Posted by SW

I've said this countless of times already - it was a good plot in a genre that wasn't (yet) incredibly saturated. It was rather original. It was written well enough.

That doesn't mean it stands up as a brilliant piece of writing in the literary world.

This is exactly my opinion regarding the HP series.

As for Twilight, it's alright, but not amazing.

[Writing.Geek.]

Well, I must confess, I read all of the Twilight books a couple of years ago (right before the first movie) and I loved them all. I literally was obsessed with them. Not hardcore like the girls you hear about, however.

They were my favorite 'vampire' books until I read Vampire Academy, which is NOTHING like Twilight. This series changed Twilight for me. I realized Twilight was poorly written, didn't have plot development, and the characters were one dimensional. Unlike Vampire Academy which is well-written and has plot/character development.

I now do not like Twilight as much as I used to, and I don't understand how people can hold it up as the 'best book' ever written. It's not. I will never reread Twilight, but I do still watch the movies, which are better than the books.

This blog was hilarious, and I totally agree with it. Thanks for sharing it.

The Twilight Saga is nothing compared to other books, and like I said before, I don't understand why people love it so much. It's a poorly written book.


Happy Writing!
-WG

[Lagrange]

Reddy: "I respectfully disagree. I've seen plenty of things (music, writing, movies, etc, etc) that sell high, but the content is rather weak. "

My friends and I have had this debate about bands. For instance, I hate crap like the Backstreet Boys and Britney Spears, but I disagree with my friends who pronounce them as crap.
I say you don't sell twenty million albums if you're crap. That's just not possible.
The backstreet boys and Britney are very damn good at what they do--which is making disposable pop music. We may not like that style of music, but there will always be a huge market for it, and we should be able to see that some are better than others at making that style of music.

So I think it's more fair to say we find disposable pop music--or disposable fiction-- to be crap, but some artists doing it are damn talented at it.

[Reddy Dean]

But what is, quote unquote, "weak"? That's just it, for the most part you don't know what is weak and what isn't, because it's all subjective.