Stephenie Meyer Secret History! Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn!

Stephenie Meyer (née Morgan, born December 24, 1973) is an American author. She is the author of the young adult Twilight series, which revolves around the relationship between mortal Bella Swan and vampire Edward Cullen, consisting of the books Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn. A film adaptation of Twilight will be released on November 21, 2008. Meyer has also written a partial draft of Midnight Sun, a potential companion novel in the series. However, she indefinitely postponed writing this book after a partial draft was leaked on the Internet. [1] Meyer is also the author of the adult science-fiction novel, The Host.

Personal history

Stephenie Meyer was born in Hartford, Connecticut, to Stephen and Candy Morgan. She grew up in Phoenix, Arizona, with a large family. She has five siblings: Seth, Emily, Jacob, Paul, and Heidi. She attended Chaparral High School in Scottsdale, AZ., and Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, where she received a B.A. in English in 1995.[2] She met her husband Christiaan, nicknamed "Pancho", when she was growing up in Arizona, and married him in 1994. Together they have three sons, Gabe, Seth, and Eli. Meyer is a Mormon.

Meyer says that the idea for Twilight came to her in a dream on June 2, 2003 about a human girl and a vampire, who was in love with her but thirsted for her blood. Based on this dream, Meyer wrote the transcript of what is now Chapter 13 of the book.[3] She had not written anything much before the dream, but in a matter of three months her first novel was finished.[4] After writing and editing the novel, she signed a three-book deal with Little, Brown and Company for $750,000.

The sequel to Twilight, New Moon, had an unintentional staggered release all over North America, beginning in early August 2006. Stephenie Meyer initially wrote an alternative sequel to Twilight, called Forever Dawn, which she then used as an outline for the remainder of the series. She has stated that the novel will never be published, as it doesn't fall into the genre of young adult.[5] The third book in the series, Eclipse, was released on August 7, 2007. The fourth book, Breaking Dawn, was released on August 2, 2008 in the North America and on August 4, 2008 internationally. Meyer revealed that Breaking Dawn is the last book to be written from Bella Swan's perspective.[6] Meyer was also writing Midnight Sun, a companion piece to the series than a genuine sequel that would describe Twilight from the view of Edward Cullen.[7] However, the novel has been put on hold until further notice, due to a leak of the transcript. In response, Meyer made a rough draft of the first 12 chapters available on her website.[7]

Meyer says that her writing is strongly influenced by music, and she posts "playlists" on her website of songs which inspired her books. Bands included most often in her playlists are Muse, Blue October, My Chemical Romance, Coldplay, and Linkin Park.[8][9][10][11]

Published works

Meyer's first novel, Twilight, was published in October 2005. By November, Twilight had reached #5 on the New York Times Best Seller list for young adult chapter books[12]. It has been translated into 20 languages [13].

Meyer soon published the sequel to Twilight, New Moon, in August 2006. In its first week of release, it debuted at the number 5 position on the New York Times Best Seller List for Children's Chapter Books. In its second week it rose to the number 1 position, where it remained for the next eleven weeks. In total, it spent over 50 weeks on the list.[14]

One of Meyer's stories was published in Prom Nights from Hell, a collection of stories about bad prom nights with supernatural effects. Other authors who contributed to this collection are Meg Cabot, Kim Harrison, Michele Jaffe, and Lauren Myracle. Prom Nights from Hell was released April 10, 2007.

On May 5, 2007, the special edition of New Moon was released. It included New Moon temporary tattoos, an Eclipse poster, and the first chapter of Eclipse.

On August 7, 2007, Eclipse, the third book in the Twilight series, was released. In total, the three books have spent a combined 143 weeks on the New York Times Best Seller list.[15]

On May 6, 2008, Meyer's adult sci-fi novel, The Host, was released by the adult division of Little, Brown and Company; it follows the story of Melanie Stryder and Wanderer, a young woman and an invading "soul", who are forced to work as one in order to find Jamie and Jared, Melanie's little brother and the love of Melanie's life respectively.

On May 31, 2008, the special edition of Eclipse was released. It contains the cover art and first chapter of Breaking Dawn[6] as well as "Team Edward" and "Team Jacob" t-shirt transfers.

On August 2, 2008, the fourth installment of the Twilight series, Breaking Dawn, was released. 3.7 million copies were printed of the 754-page book, with over 1.3 million copies being sold on the first day alone.[16]

Critical reception

Twilight quickly gained recognition and won numerous honors, including:

* A New York Times Editor's Choice
* A Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year
* An Amazon.com "Best Book of the Decade...So Far"
* A Teen People "Hot List" pick
* An American Library Association "Top Ten Best Book for Young Adults" and "Top Ten Books for Reluctant Readers”

However, critical reception has been mixed. Booklist wrote, "There are some flaws here—a plot that could have been tightened, an overreliance on adjectives and adverbs to bolster dialogue—but this dark romance seeps into the soul."[17] Kirkus wrote: "[Twilight] is far from perfect: Edward's portrayal as monstrous tragic hero is overly Byronic, and Bella's appeal is based on magic rather than character. Nonetheless, the portrayal of dangerous lovers hits the spot; fans of dark romance will find it hard to resist."[18]

Fan following

Meyer has gained a following among young adult readers for her Twilight novels, which are set in the small town of Forks on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington state. Forks has thus received an unusual amount of attention, and celebrates "Stephenie Meyer Day" on September 13, the date of character Bella Swan's birthday, in honor of the author. [19]

Fans express themselves in other ways: "[They] dress up like her characters. They write their own stories about them and post their tales on the Internet. When she appears at a bookstore, 3,000 people go to meet her. There are Twilight-themed rock bands."[20]