Stephenie Meyer
Unless you've been living under a rock for a year or two, chances are you've heard of Twilight and it's creator Stephenie Meyer. Thought in equal parts to be a whiny bitch with the mind of a 13 year old, and a god.
Just The Facts
- Can't take critisism. She complained when the publishers did their job.
- Wrote Twilight based on a wet dream she had one night.
- Would leave her husband for Edward or Jasper.
- Only seems to have one expression.
The good
She wrote Twilight and the sequels, giving aparent hope to young girls everywhere that a boy will appear and will instantly fall in love with her and be perfect in every way and blah blah blah. I don't want to end up writing Twilight out here.
She also donated a little of the money she made to a charity.
Supporting her friend.
Who had given her money to send Twilight to a publisher.
The bad
Stephanie is a self-obsessed, narrsisistic, hypocritical and infantile woman.
Here's one statement that shows that she is both infantile and unable to handle criticism:
"I will state, for the record, that my queries truly sucked, and I don't blame anyone who sent me a rejection (I did get seven or eight of those. I still have them all, too). The only rejection that really hurt was from a small agent who actually read the first chapter before she dropped the axe on me. The meanest rejection I got came after Little, Brown had picked me up for a three-book deal, so it didn't bother me at all. I'll admit that I considered sending back a copy of that rejection stapled to the write-up my deal got in Publisher's Weekly, but I took the higher road."
Oh wow! You didn't do something you shouldn't have even considered!
Supprisingly, when you send a book in to the publishers, they have to read and critisise it. You're opening yourself to judgement.
'Meanest rejection?' Are you 10? What, did they push you off the swings in the playground? Grow up.
Lets have a little look what Stephenie thinks of other, more talented authors, shall we?
Tw Staff: Reading Twilight it came to me the story of Westley and Buttercup. Is Bella and Edward's love True Love like theirs?
Stephenie: Actually Bella and Edward's love story is better than them. When I was in college, I wrote a lot of papers from a feminine perspective (it's an easy way to write) on the Princess Bride. Buttercup is an idiot and it doesn't bother anyone, all that matters is that she's beautiful,
Buttercup hated being beautiful. I don't think you read the book, Meyer, because the fact that Buttercup hates being beautiful is made very clear. She deliberately tries to make herself uglier and wants people to see her for her mind. She says this. A lot.
at the end she became a little more smart, but the female characters are very weak in that story. Westley is brave and smart and fights, Buttercup is just beautiful , it's her only thing, her brain means nothing, her personality means nothing to him, they have the kind of love where they can't live without each other. It's not a great example to me,
Actually, Westley was the only one who loved Buttercup for her personality and not her beauty. That's one of the reasons that she loved him. Weak female characters with big, strapping men to rescue them WHERE HAVE I READ THAT BEFORE. It sure as hell wasn't in The Princess Bride. Did Stephanie confuse Twilight for another book?
I couldn't find one who was a really good comparison to me, I mean, Elizabeth Bennet and Mr.Darcy is pretty good, except you should think that if either one of them dies the other one will carry on bravely,
'carry on bravley'? Isn't that what happens, oh I don't know, in real life? Real people don't do a New Moon.
and Romeo and Juliet were kind of idiots, they didn't know each other very well.
That's the whole point! Shakespeare was being all satirical. Do you know that word, Meyer? SA-TI-RI-CAL. Yes, it's a big word, isn't it?
And Anne Of Green Gables and Gilbert Blythe, but they are much more like Jacob and Bella, they're friends,they get on the nerves of each other a lot. I didn't find out yet a Bella and Edward love story that really satisfied me that way.
Really, Meyer? Oh yes, you're so much better than all those authors.
Austen, who lived in the time when wimmens were in the kitchen, had stronger female role models than Meyer. Meyer criticises things that are only problems in her books. And how egotistical must you be to think that your characters and "love" story are better than those of these amazing people. At least Shakespeare intended Romeo & Juliet to be a satire on teenage lust. Meyer makes it out to be srs bsns.
Here's what Robert Pattinson (Edward in the Twilight movies) has to say:
"...when I read [Twilight], it seemed like I was convinced Stephenie was convinced she was Bella and it was like it was a book that wasn't supposed to be published. It was like reading her sexual fantasy, especially when she said it was based on a dream and it was like, 'Oh I've had this dream about this really sexy guy,' and she just writes this book about it. Some things about Edward are so specific, I was just convinced - I was like, 'This woman is mad. She's completely mad and she's in love with her own fictional creation.'"
When the guy playing your character in a movie think's you're weird, you've gone far beyond the human limitations of insanity.
The Ugly.
A girl waited in line all day at a book signing to ask Meyer a question. She wanted to know 'how she could write such an anti-feminist main character and if she wasn't ashamed of herself for letting young girls read her misogynist works.'
Meyer didn't answer. She said she didn't get the question, and moved on to someone asking about how pretty Edward was or something.
And now, before this gets ridiculously long, let me introduce you to Seth Meyer: Stephanie's brother.
He runs her site and also comes off as arrogant. He does not allow any emails to reach his sister that say anything short of 'OMG STEPHANEI U R MAZNG A LIETRARY J3SUS AND GOD!11!1 LOL I LUV UR BOKS TH3Y R MASTERPEC3S!1!!!1!1!', preventing Meyer from receiving any kind of criticism, which is not helping with her apparent case of narcissism.
One huge point of this is with an online petition by fans of Twilight, wanting an explanation to Breaking Dawn.
When the petition got 1000 signatures, this email was sent to Seth:
Seth,
I completely understand that you are not the whipping boy for Stephenie Meyer, but she has given us no address to reach her directly, so sadly, I have few choices- and one of them was to send this to you.
My name is Heather Faust, and I have written a letter to Stephenie and to Little, Brown. As suggested by a number of others on message boards, I posted this letter as a "petition." Today we reached a thousand signatures. (It has only been live for a few days.) We will continue to leave it live and see how it grows.
I feel that it is well written and respectful, and I would hope that you would take a few minutes to read it. If it gets through to Stephenie, well, I'd be thrilled. We are not looking to hurt her, we aren't looking for her to rewrite it... We just want our opinions acknowledged, and we'd like to no longer be referred to as a "vocal minority." We'd also love it if she'd be able to answer our concerns with more than just "it's fiction," "I'm not a biology major" or other brush offs. We don't, of course expect that at all. But just a simple "Yes, I hear you, I'm sorry that you were disappointed" would be enough for us.
Anyway, sorry that you are in the middle of all of this. That must suck for you.
Thanks for your time
Polite, well written, and thought out, this is a perfectly alright email. What's not alright, is Seth's response:
Heather,
First, let me assure you that I will not forward this email to Stephenie. You say that you are not looking to hurt her, but it would be ignorant to believe that criticism of any kind does not hurt the person to whom it is directed. I didn't even forward any of the 35 emails that I received today telling me (or Stephenie) how much they loved Breaking Dawn, how the series changes their lives, etc.
There are a few other reasons why I would not forward the link to this "petition." (By the way, you have heard that online petitions never generate results, right?). I disagree that it is "well written." Besides the grammar mistakes (which are not hard to overlook), you address the letter to Stephenie, but by the end of the first paragraph you refer to "Meyer" in the third person. I am not sure if you are speaking to her or not. Also, the "signatures" (which are completely invalid) are not just names, but a discussion board. I went to one page and found three people defending Breaking Dawn and saying things like "I am surrounded by self absorbed teenagers or adults that think they can write better books and never do!"
And, although I got very bored and wasn't able to read the entire "petition," I want to try to answer a few of your main points (although I'm sure that Stephenie's answers would be a lot better than mine):
#1 and #2: At the end of Eclipse, Alice specifically says that nobody has ever made the conscious decision to become a vampire, and so none of them had any idea how Bella would handle the entire process.
#3 and #4 (and everything else in your : These books are fiction. They are filled with FICTIONAL characters that Stephenie made up all by herself. In an attempt to keep the books clean and not make young girls think about things that they don't need to think about, no other book mentioned anything about reproductive systems. They are Stephenie's characters, she can decide anything that she wants.
And finally, Heather, your letter is not respectful at all. It is libelous in many instances. I would be embarrassed to say such things about someone who I have never met.
Really? Really?
So, critisism is 'hurtful'. Yeah, we all know that. But it's important too! You never heard J.K.Rowling having a tantrum when Christians didn't like her books.
Even worse is Seth's reaction. 'Oh, it's fiction' doesn't count as an explanation. Oh fictional character, yeah sure. But even fictional characters and storylines need to make sense. Twilight doesn't.
and the last few lines.
'Not Respectful'? Really? Did you accidentally read your email?
And she isn't allowed opinions now?
So there we have it.
Stephanie Meyer.
Really?? Only 7 or 8 rejections?? And she's for some reason complaining about this?
ReplyMan, Seth wants to bang his sister pretty hard, doesn't he?
ReplyActually Meyer is quite an accomplished author. She managed to piss off an entire native nation and disillusion anyone who does research on them, and that is quite an accomplishment.
ReplyThat aside, if you can't even take constructive criticism, you fail.
When I first read the Twilight series, I was in the eight grade, and I thought it was the most amazing thing ever. Because I was, you know, a thirteen year old girl and Twilight had the kind of love story I was looking for. But as I grew up a bit and started to look back on it, I could see the flaws in the book. Like how Bella is about as interesting as a Lego block, a Mary Sue, and because of how little detail she was given as a character, a self-insert for the reader (and Meyer too, apparently). Then you pair that with Edward, who is constantly being called "godlike." Do you really think the perfect rich boy in any high school would fall for the uninteresting new girl? No. That's not how it works, especially not if that boy is afraid of killing the girl he loves.
ReplySpeaking of which, Meyer contradicts herself while writing. Bella states that she had visited Forks before, when she spent summers with her father. Then she says she doesn't know anybody in town, even though it seems everyone in town knows and is highly interested in her. Did Bella stay in the house all the time during those summers spent with her dad, or did she just forget everybody she might have met when she was younger? And why is it that Bella relies so much on Edward? She pretty much forgets about all the new friends she made upon moving to Forks, and all for her boyfriend. I'm the same age as Bella when the series starts, and I would never, EVER, turn my back on my friends just for my boyfriend. That's a horribly stereotypical way of portraying a teenage girl--A helpless girl that is thoroughly devoted to her boyfriend. Does she think all teenage girls act like that? That they all shut down and can't function anymore if their boyfriend leaves them, even if it's what's best for her (like Edward did)? I pity her if she does.
And Meyer has a horrible writing style. I mean, her sentence structure and grammar and improper use of words I think she just pulled out of the thesaurus because they sounded pretty...Ugh. I realize that she's writing teen fiction novels, but does she really have to make it so simple and try to make it seem smart by throwing in big words? I got through Twilight in a day, and I am a slow reader.
And, honestly, I didn't even know about Meyer's aversion to criticism. It looks like, as an author, she'd be more willing to her what those that have read her books have had to say and not just get ass-pats for writing a series that mocks the intelligence of the teenagers reading it. To say a publisher was "mean" for turning you down...That should have been a sign that something wasn't right and she might have needed to go back to the drawing boards.
But that's enough out of me. I had my time where I absolutely loved the Twilight series. I grew out of it because I got smarter and started noticing all the flaws in it. Now, I enjoy laughing at it.
Nah, it's not so much that Bella dumped her friends because she's a girl, but she dumped them because they were unworthy of the "perfect" vampires and herself (since she's heavy-handedly "destined" to be a perfect vampire too). Basically, everyday people are lower creatures to be pitied and despised.
I agree that Stephanie Meyers views are wrong. But she IS human, and the abuse on this isnt too nice. Seth was wrong to cast a judgement when he hadn't read the whole petition. For those who criticise the books, the audience seemed to be young teenagers, and im pretty sure half the people commenting on this are older than that. I think the films ruined the books because of the openness for sex. Dude, its a 12a and there were like... 7 sex scenes. I thing Meyer was morally wrong to allow that. Anyway, posting stuff like this is fine, just dont be SO insulting. You say she needs to grow up with her criticisms, but I think you need to grow up too. Sorry.
ReplyActually, the writer did include good points about her too, but in all honesty, Meyer brings it upon herself a lot of the time. She DID compare Twilight to some of the greatest and most inspiring love stories of all time and she DOES reject all criticism.
I've seen her say that her books were 100% original, but look at any fanfiction on the web and 9/10 will be almost identical to Twilight, even those written before she brought her books out.
She's immature, lazy (seriously, her books contain so many spelling and grammatical errors) and SHOULD be more open to criticism.
This is from someone who has read the Twilight books and seen the films, so it's not like I'm just opposing it / her ignorantly.
I honestly believe that Stephenie Meyer is absolutely nothing compared to J.K.Rowling. In my opinion, they shouldn't even be compared to each other. I always loved how Rowling was open to criticism, understanding of how some individuals might interpret her books. Stephenie? Well, apparently, she abhors all those who even have something bad to say to her. She reminds me of my younger sister (no offense to her, I do quite love her with all my heart), how she covers her ears and starts to mutter "lalalala" in order to block out any outside noise. I have actually tried to read twilight, I have borrowed the book from a friend, but to no success. I ended up hating it more. So to Stephenie, the most egoistical individual in the world, who also happens to own the most cracked up mind. Cheers.
ReplyI'm half convinced the author of this article was drunk when this was written.
ReplyGo to hell, Meyer.
ReplyBella: Gets cornered by some rapist thugs or whatever. -must be saved by her dude-
Buttercup: Jumps out of a boat to escape captors. Then later shoves her new captor, "Dread Pirate Roberts," down a hill.
Yeah, Bella is obviously wayyyy stronger.
Oh, and also, to be truly in love, you CANNOT breathe without your 'other half." That's a display of strength and value of life. Bella's f*****g quality of life is based off a man instead of herself? She is defined by a man. How sexist. How pathetic.
This was an interesting article, but the quality of it seriously worries me. Cracked, have you fired all of your editors? I've noticed that grammatical errors are becoming more and more common, and this article clearly wasn't even glanced at before it was posted. The spelling and grammatical errors are just awful. :(
ReplyAnd yeah, Meyer's attitude doesn't really surprise me. She has enough people telling her that she's amazing that she can afford to just cover hear ears and hum really loudly whenever someone tries to say anything else. It's a shame, but I suppose with her millions, she doesn't really need to become a better author. She's like the literary world's Ke$ha.
EVERYONE NEEDS TO TONE IT THE f**k DOWN!!!!!! Twilight is probably one of my favorite books, and I really love it. I do agree that the fanatics are a LITTLE [[insert sarcastic tone]] too crazy about it, but that doesn't mean that everyone who reads Twilight and happens to maybe fall in love is a crazy, psycho f*****g fanatic. I think everyone needs to stop being so f*****g mean to Stephenie and Twilight and EVERYTHING, and everyone needs to stop being SO crazy about them!! Yeaa, I agree, some of the s**t she has said was stupid and junk, but I'm kind of in love with the character I'm writing.....and the same for my friend. But we aren't taking it as far as you say she does, but it still happens. I mean, we're creating our perfect man; how can we not fall in love? I'm tired of everyone teasing me about how much I like Twilight, and I like people to know I do, because I want people to know that I. Don't. Give. A. Fuck! Alright, quit your bitchin', and move the f**k on.
Reply Hide All See All 4 RepliesThat is all.
P.S. oh and all your hateful f*****g comments. f**k you, assbitches!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! >~
You say to "tone it down" but hon your tone is no where near that. You calling names just makes the haters want to hate more. I loved Twilight as a fun romance novel but its a fact its no where near the quality of a great novel like Pride and Prejudice. Also this is about how the author is terrible about handling press and critics not about the quality of her books. Please take a moment to collect yourself before rage posting again and I guarantee you will be taken more seriously c:
LEAVE BRITTANY ALOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONE!
During your rant you mentioned twilight fanatics, but i think you pretty much described yourself in that painful comment.
I agree somewhat, I completely love twilight and I think none of it is junk, and I do think everyone who is Twihating needs to stop, it is insulting, and completely wrong and mean, and I think that everything in that article is like when in Harry Potter, the Prophet makes everything not what is, and I think that the author was like that one character, forgot her name that could turn into a beetle and listen to conversations, and that quill she sucks on and it rewrites the whole conversation not anywhere near what it really is.
That woman has the confidence and maturity of a depressed 12 year old. "Yer being mean! Waaa" come on lady, how old are you? Grow the hell up.
Replythis.... is... BRILLIANT
ReplyBitches be crazy. This is well done, but the author of this article needs to learn to use spell check. I nearly couldn't get past the incredible amount of errors in here. Examples: "narrsisistic," "critisise," "Supprisingly." The list goes on.
ReplyMy criticism of Meyer is this, explain in the world that is "Twilight" how all of the legends of vampires started.
Reply Hide All See All 3 RepliesBlade: Vampires secretly rule the world behind the scenes to use us as cattle.
Underworld: There is a truce between humans and vampires, The vampires look for ways to cure their thirst but retain immortality.
Twilight: ?????, Vampires just go after Jailbait.
I was forced to read the books. (GirlFriend wouldn't put out till I read them. I think Eragon (Poorly written, but by a 15yr old) is a much better book series. There is actual character development, you grow attachment to the characters. In Twilight, no one ever evolves in the story, you gain no more attachment than what you had when you met the character.
Hell, she couldn't find a close match to Belle and Edward, look at Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley.
Belle: Edward Left Her, she fell into a comma and nearly died
Ginny: Hsrry Left Her, went to a school that she knew would harm her (Death Eaters ran the school), and started a resistance.
Well that shows the "strong female character" Meyers could write. What does that say about her personal views. "Without her man, a woman is useless," remember she said this came from a dream and that means deep down that is how she feels.
King may be dated now, but he gave us "Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption," an awesome book (and adapted to a movie) that is just epic.
I got better character development from Goosebumbs and the Animorphs.
Dump your girlfriend. She's a bitch.
I'm sorry you had the misfortune to read those atrocious novels. I on the other hand forced myself to read them (I wanted to see what the hype was about). And nearly found myself gagging to the disgusting bad excuse for a series. She has no strong female characters and honestly brings shame to authors everywhere.
The glorifying of abuse and pedophilia found in the books are enough to make a person smash their head on a brick wall. I've seen more character development from "2 Girls and 1 Cup"
For one, her name is Bell-a and second, Stephanie Meyer had the idea of Twilight the first book from a dream, not the second one, New Moon. I fell in love with Stephanie Meyer's Characters and I think she is the best author ever! Stephanie Meyer is clearly a way better person than u for the reason why u read the books, which I don't want to type because they are so embarassing
I enjoy the Twilight novels and movies the same way I would enjoy trashy romance novels (without all the throbbing members, of course). I look to them for entertainment, not fine literature. When I want something a little more intellectual, I'll look to other authors.
Reply Hide All See All 3 RepliesHowever, after a semester of graduate school and reading nothing but scholarly journal articles and textbooks day and night, the Twilight series was a welcome vacation for my brain when it was winter break. I think of it as junk food for the mind. Stephanie Meyer is potato chips, Stephen King is seared ahi tuna (or something else equally fine, delicious, and nourishing).
But who among us eats seared ahi tuna every day of the week? Most people get a hankering for some junk food every now and then, and the mind is similar in this respect.
What I don't understand is why it is so important to some folks that Stephanie Meyer hear their criticisms... most people writing well though-out intelligent book reviews are NOT her target audience anyway; the target audience is of course teenage females. There are things I loved as a teenager simply because they were fun, not because they were earth-shaking works of genius (see The Spice Girls). And I have a hunch that a lot of teenagers are just as (if not more) concerned with fun as they are with meaty literature. As a teenager, you get plenty of exposure to that in school, and when you get home and plop down on the couch, you just need something to veg out to for a bit. The Twilight books are the equivalent of say, Degrassi.
So if Stephanie Meyer doesn't care what you think, it's probably because
a) You are not her target market
b) She has already made her millions, what you say really doesn't matter much
c) Stephanie Meyer is not an 'author,' per se, but just a regular lady who felt like writing a book one day; it was a sheer accident that it became so popular with teenage women (kudos to the publisher that saw THAT cash cow for what it was).
d) As a regular lady (not an author) she's not interested in improving her skill and craft the same way a 'real' author is. And why should she be? As I said, she's already made her millions.
So... if you don't like Twilight and don't like Stephanie Meyer...
don't expose yourself to it.
Seems simple enough to me.
I think the problem, at least for me, is that his story is not cheetos. It's maruchan. Sure it's easy for the mind, but it fucks with your digestive sistem. It glorifies everything that feminists have fought against. It shows young and impressionable girls that being walked on is OK. If people want to read badly written stuff, ok. There's animorphs and tons of cheetos out there. But twilight is hurtful for these girls.
Stephen King qualifies as your weird-metaphor-tuna-steak? Oh, honey...
jokes on you, buddy, she definitely considers herself a writer and is in fact working on more books. So she SHOULD be looking to improve.
Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You insulted the Princess Bride. Prepare to die.
ReplyWhere can I find a copy of the article where Stephenie Meyer said all this? I've seen these quotes before, but I've never found proof that they're true. (Not that I'm a Twilight fan; I'm just trying to be objective.)
ReplyAs someone who works in publishing and has to send out those rejection letters everyday, there is no excuse for a "mean" one. Though I have a feeling that what she considers mean is actually honest, and the writer of the letter was probably pulling a lot of punches.
ReplyI'm an artist. As such, I value constructive criticism more than anything. I owe my current ability, and growth, to the criticism I received when I was younger. Back when I received it, I was young and didn't really accept it as well I should have. Looking back, I worked on those things, and I realize how invaluable they were.
ReplyI understand blocking non-constructive tripe like "U SUCK!", but to cast all criticism under a blanket label of hurtful insults is so ignorant that it actually hinders her as an author, in the long run.
Before now, I didn't care about this author either way. Twilight is a series for young girls, so I don't care that it doesn't appeal to me.
But her arrogance is just unbelievable.
Buttercup is "just pretty". Yeah... and what, Bella's an intelligent, funny super model with the bestest best personality ever?
ReplyAnd you couldn't find "anyone else to compare" your work to? Perhaps you've been searching in the wrong catagory. Check the children's section, you stupid f*****g bitch.
I've read ABC books that were better than the Twilight series.