Sept. 8, 2008
Read my review of the movie here!
– – - — – - – –
Images of the fourth-generation iPod Nano were leaked onto the Internet recently. Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple, immediately announced, “That’s it. We’re not making any more iPods. The idea that someone would leak those images is hurtful and wrong and because of that, no more iPods will be available for purchase until my feelings aren’t so hurt.”
In related news, Metallica’s new album has also been leaked onto the Internet after a store in France sold a copy early. In response, Metallica destroyed their studio and in an interview told their fans, “Listen, We’re so glad we have your support during this distressing time, and I’m sure you’ll sympathize with us when we say that because of this leak, we’ve decided never to record any music ever again.”
Metallica wasn’t the only band to suffer such a terrible calamity. After Bono played songs from U2’s forthcoming album too loudly on his stereo, a fan who’d recorded them uploaded them to the Internet. While U2 has refused comment personally, a representative produced the following press release: “Bono, The Edge, Adam, and Larry are all inconsolable due to this horrific breach of their rights as artists. As a group, they’ve completely lost their motivation to create music and have decided not to complete the album.”
“Twilight” author Stephenie Meyer reached a similar decision when the unfinished manuscript of her Twilight re-telling “Midnight Sun” was leaked. In a statement on her website, she wrote:
My first feeling was that there was no way to continue. Writing isn’t like math; in math, two plus two always equals four no matter what your mood is like. With writing, the way you feel changes everything. If I tried to write Midnight Sun now, in my current frame of mind, James would probably win and all the Cullens would die, which wouldn’t dovetail too well with the original story. In any case, I feel too sad about what has happened to continue working on Midnight Sun, and so it is on hold indefinitely.
Fortunately, only one of those stories is completely true, and you probably know which one. After observing the furor in the Twilight fandom over the past week and a half or so when the first twelve chapters of Midnight Sun were leaked, the only description possible is “bizarre”. As shown above, artists’ work gets leaked all the time. But why is Stephenie Meyer’s case so terrible that she has decided to cease writing the Midnight Sun altogether? Frankly, it’s bewildering and Meyer’s behavior seems to be much more similar to that of a spoilt child than of a professional author. Still, her decision has provoked her fans’ sympathy in an unparalleled fashion. The many Twilight fan-sites have joined together to create a virtual “quilt” (a somewhat revolting work of Photoshop), a support video (complete with a somewhat revolting homemade soundtrack), and an entire site devoted to sending care packages to Meyer in the wake of the distressing event.
Now, it’s understandable that Meyer would be dismayed that an unfinished and unpolished version of her manuscript would be released to the public. But frankly, what kind of artist goes “oh, it’s not worth it to finish” in response? The situation brings to mind a quotation by Julia Cameron in “The Artist’s Way”:
“Art is not about thinking something up. It is the opposite — getting something down.”
Now, writer’s block is one thing, but that’s not the vibe I get from Meyer’s statement. So where is her fire for the story itself? And why punish her fans (certainly not the ones that leaked it, especially considering the infamous and slightly frightening nuttymadam3575’s video on the subject)? Frankly, the whole state of affairs reeks of infantilism.
Meyer did, however, take back some control by posting a slightly cleaned-up version of the incomplete manuscript on her site and I decided to check it out for the sake of comparison. After all, Jacob’s book in the mostly-atrocious “Breaking Dawn” was better-written than just about everything Meyer has done so far, so I was hopeful that a second attempt at a perspective other than Bella’s would also be as decent.
Unfortunately, not so. My colleague Terri Schwartz disagrees, but to be quite honest I found Midnight Sun as boorish as the rest of the series. There is almost no discernible difference between the writing style of Edward’s point of view and Bella’s, and his personality is revealed to be even less appealing than in the other four books. In a nutshell, Midnight Sun goes as follows:
EDWARD: My life is boring. Everything is boring. High school is so boring. Why bother with humans? They are so boring. I’m so superior, that even I bore myself.
[enter BELLA]
EDWARD: Everything is borin-lo! what do mine eyes behold? She is lovel-NO! The Monster wants to eat her! No, wait! I mustn’t! Let me stalk her instead!
And add in a few hundred pages of angst, endless confirmation of Bella’s ridiculous “Mary Sue” characteristics, and even more purple prose and you basically have the gist of it. And while Edward’s point-of-view was at times mildly interesting thanks to his sort-of negative self-image and his inner conflict, it is ruined thanks to Meyer’s nonexistent grasp on subtlety and craft.
So where does that leave us? Well, as callous as it might sound, Meyer’s decision (as childish as it may be) to leave Midnight Sun incomplete leaves me, at least, sort of relieved.
Edit: Just found out this article got leaked. That’s it. I’m never writing another damn word.
Follow Kellen on Twitter!
The part about Metallica, U2 and the Ipods had me laughing so hard.
You win at life, hun.
I’m glad to see someone intelligent finally having something to say about these books. While I do not dare to read any of them, for I fear my sanity and social status would become nonexistant, I have my opinions and really wish these people who get so worked up over how great (read: sugarcoated and plastered with how amazing Edward is) these books are would shut up and retreat to their dimly lit caves and cradle printouts of what is completed of Midnight Sun, whispering “Why?” constantly.
Hahaha, wow…for a while I started to feel alone and like no one else disliked Twilight. It’s nice to know I’m not alone.
Just curious though – does anyone else want her to finish Midnight sun and have James win with all the Cullens dying? I think it’d be hilarious. I might even buy that one.
That video has frightened me indefinitely.
Give poor Stephanie a break. Of course she’s gonna be upset, wouldn’t you be if a uncompleted, unpublished, PRIVATE draft of your book had been deliberaterly leaked?!?
Just stop wasting your time, people.
Brilliant, Kellen. Pure. Genius.
I love you!!
I can’t believe that you people actually bother. Go love Twilight in your own crazy little world filled with sparkly emo vampires and stupid brainless Mary Sues. Don’t bring them here.
If you love Twilight,then why even bother with this site? Pfft.
Of course we’d be upset, but that’s nothing to go into withdrawal symptoms. Just write another geez. Stupid woman.
Anyway, I love your reviews. I’ve read all four now, and I agree. Completely and utterly: Twilight is trash.
Hmm….
Leaking happens all the time….it’s how the author plays it out that actually makes it a ‘leak.’ Nobody had to know before the book really came out that there was even a ‘leak’ but…
Didn’t peices of Harry Potter get leaked? Yea…it did. I find it rather funny that the leaked peices of Harry Potter trashed the whole Twilight series.
It may have been a stunt to try to talk it up that its ’so good’ that it got leaked. Granted, i was all OMG when the first book first came out but after New Moon I realized….holy shit, this sucks!
It’s save to say I fell off the Twilight bandwagon….hell, I jumped!
I actually preferred Midnight Sun to Twilight. It’s not that bad in my opinion. I want it to be published. Which has greatly decreased what little repsect I ever had for Stephanie Meyer. I understand that she’s hurt, but I was pissed to learn that it wouldn’t be published. So I agree with about half of your article.
She can be upset.. but the fact that she won’t finish the damn book is childish, and very immature.
I personally am very grateful for Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series. They exist as a reminder to me that I don’t have to have writing ability, an interesting story to tell or any sort of consistency within what I say from book to book in order to become a fabulously wealthy author!
It helps me get out of bed every morning.
lolz i loooove that XD
i read the Twilight series and i couldn’t put it in better words than you.
Good Job.
lols man this is great! anti and proud!!!
THANK YOU! I believe you are my new hero.
I loathe Twilight. No, that’s not the correct word. ABHOR would do better in my case.
Please please write more on Stephenie Meyer. I love your stuff, have read all of it, it’s brilliantly expressed and puts Smeyer and Co. and fans, etc. all in their proper place … which is basically chick lit heaven and literary hell.
Ah…someone who finally speaks sense!
Stuff gets leaked all the time – and, as far as I am aware, a manuscript is simply the first draft of the book, and oftentimes has to go through several re-writes before the final story is finished and ready to be published. That stuff might not even get into the actual book (because it might not contribute to the plot…oh, wait, what plot?).
I might feel even a tad sorry for Meyer if it were a NEW story, but it’s not. It’s Twilight again, simply written from Edward’s point of view. It’s nothing new: this time, we are simply *treated* to what what it is like in the barely-existing, empty mind of a completely personality-less dude who claims to be a vampire.
(And does anyone else think that ‘Midnight Sun’ is an awful title…?)
Meyer said it was a rough draft, but it was probably the real thing because she doesn’t edit. Twilight proved either a) she doesn’t edit or b) her editing skills suck.
Midnight Sun Response:
I like Midnight Sun because I get more of
an insight into the other Cullens. Since
I can’t stand Edward and I’m on/off again
about Bella, its nice to spend more time
on my favorite characters.
I don’t like Meyer’s attitude and I
agree with your opinion
of Meyer’s attitude. So it got leaked.Get
over it! My hope is that just to make
Meyer realize that she can’t be a spoilt
child, her publishers will contract her into
finishing it.As you mentioned about the
importance of profit, I can’t see a
publisher being willing to close off the
books when the movies are doing so well.
Even JK Rowling has worked on short
stories and an encyclopedia. She can
get over her prissy attitude.
I always find it amusing how the Twilight fangirls make complete fools of themselves by abusing their caps lock button. If I wanted to defend an author, I would try to list logical reasons calmly, but no… In response to an accusation of S. Meyer’s behavior being immature, what do the fans do? Throw a temper tantrum! Yeah, accusing everybody else of being idiots who should be denied their 1st Amendment right to speak out because they have a differing opinion from yours looks really mature. By the way, being surrounded by Twilight fans who think that Twilight is the best book ever, and that if you don’t like it then you must be lynched, is hell on earth.
I just read all your articles about the “great” Twilight Saga and I so agree with you. That series is totally bullshit. I never read anything so badly written. *laughs* The bad thing is, it´s even poorley written in German translation, where you would think they could at least pepper it up a little bit^^°.
About the movie we don´t even need to talk. I watched it and only thought ???…. and that was all one could actually think about it. Bad lines, bad acting and I never understood what it was with all the shades of grey… Perhaps an attempt to show the rainy Folks weather^^
Thanks for speaking out what many think.
knuffs
karumanta
Hooray for you and your articles(:
The ONLY thing i hate about this article, kellan rice, is that you linked that fan made video for stephanie meyer. I AM MORTIFIED, I ALMOST PISSED MY PANTS! These fans are freaking crazy! Your article is awesome, all of them are, but you must realize that there are twihards (check meaning on urban dictionary) out there and they will come after you with an army of verbal abuse, but they have their opinions and you have yours, and i hardly consider this a hate article instead it is a critique, and people who have different opinions opposed to yours need to stop crying that someone called stephanie meyer on her little hissy fit and write their opinions opposed to yours instead of writing childish comebacks like xXEdwardLoverForeverXx calling you those terrible things. I can understand that people have their own opinions but they should not act childish because it shows there immaturity. Don’t take crap like that to heart cuz twihard are junlike ust that brainwashed and mindless and i would actually respect their different opinion if they acted maturely unlike the person mentioned above. But still, i respect twilight fans and kellan rice for their different opinion but those of you who could only write such mean things to rice, i pity you, you give twilight fans a bad name and thats why people make fun of them and dislike twilight, people you people take this book to seriously and can’t handle criticism. I’m sure even stephaine meyer wouldn’t approve of such things and would be ashamed that this is the type of fan base her books are generating.
OMFG!!!!!! I HATE YOU!!!!! YOU BITCH YOU DON’T KNOW NOTHING!!!!!
OMG, bella is not a merysue!!!!!!! she is a sweet kind human bieng and someone that YOU wish you were! oh but wait your too much of a LOSER to comprhand just how much of a angel bella is!!!!and omg, JUST LEAVE EDWARD CULEN ALONE.
your just jealous bitch because edward will always love bella and not you.edward is perfect and hes smart and he can do everything!!!!!!!! how can u NOT like him??!?!??!?!plus hes so so so so so so so sos os os so HOTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!!
stepheny mayer is a GENIOUS, AND YOU WISH U WRITE LYK HER, OMGGGG. UR JUST A JEALOUS FAGGGG.
pwnd.
oh, sorry, i forgot to get rid of that comment from my comment, it is not by me, it is by xXEdwardLoverForeverXx. I loved this article. Wow, twilight does generate alot of conflicting thoughts doesn’t it?
um, sorry, one more thing,does xXEdwardLoverForeverXx know that twilight is just a fictional book and in no way real! I probably wouldn’t be surprised if she goes to forks looking for edward in the forset.
I just read all your articles, I totally agree with you and I think they’re concise, hilarious and really pleasant to read.
I personally think that the whole idea behind twilight was a really good one; it was a properly sweet and cheesy story and had the potential to appeal to a really wide audience including straight guys…but then S.Meyer had to fuck it up…and the story went into free fall with the sequels.
I didn’t read midnight sun(not really interested to read the same story under another equally unappealing character’s perspective) nor did I read breaking dawn(eclipse was just too much, besides, the fans think BD sucks). So if you want to insult me with caps lock on, please do so.
Here are the reasons why I think S.Meyer fucked it up:
1. The characters were not appealing at all. Why did she have to make the Cullens such a bunch of high and mighty snobs? I keep asking fans why immortals would be hanging around in high school, don’t they have more interesting things to do?(unless they have unhealthy tastes in teenagers?? mmmm) You might tell me that they’re just trying to fit in, trying to make Carlisles compassionate motives more believable. But why would they sit around during lunch time not talking and not eating? Why don’t they mingle, make friends, share their experience. You might tell me that they’re trying to keep a low profile but I believe they’re generating even more gossips by being utterly snobbish and antisocial.
If she hadn’t fucked that first point up, Edward could’ve been so much better. Just a suggestion: Edward could’ve been introduced during the Seattle episode where he rescues Bella from a supernatural gang of evil-doers which he and the other Cullens were tracking and Bella just happened to be their victim. Something like that would be totally cheesy and cliche but appealing nevertheless.
2. Bella is totally fucked up. No personality, hobbies, hint of intelligence whatsoever. She’s just shallow and has an overwhelming sense of superiority. The only reason I found in the book for Edward falling for her is because she’s clumsy and smells good. How shallow can it get? It would’ve been much sweeter if say, Edward falls for her gradually while discovering the different aspects of her personality by spending time with her(as opposed to other people who are all open books to him). But if that were to be, Bella would need an attractive personality and something unique apart from her infuriating clumsiness and so called “selflessness”(yeah, apparently abandoning your folks to embrace immortality and good looks is selfless).
3. The endless drool splattered pages where S.Meyer described Edward. Pretty self explanatory. Made the book painful to read and made the non existent storyline move at a f*ckin slow snails pace. And further reinforces Bella’s shallow image because, let’s not forget, she loves him because he’s just awfully good looking! (and saves her sorry ass frequently, yeah, getting your ass into trouble means you’re really THE smartest person around)
4. I really cannot believe that one. They’re being tracked by James and the only person who comes up with the most brilliant idea is Bella. How I laughed at that bit. Living for a century made y’all lose your brain cells eh? So much that y’all had to trust some dumb teenager? But I guess since S.Meyer mentioned that Bella is smart, she has to show some smartness right? But it ends up blowing up in her face and Meyer doesn’t realise she just contradicted herself.
*just a little conclusion, these really fit into the idea that the books were just a fantasy(pure, not sexual, mind you!) of the author. She thinks she led a pitiful life where all the girls were being bitches(poor Lauren) to her . She was just hoping that one day her Edward would come and dazzle her out her chagrin and the other ‘normal girls’ would be left gaping (up yours bitches! now I can be all high and dazzling and y’all can suck on this!!!)*
The sequels are really not worth mentioning(self destruction? love triangle? mutant baby? go to f*ckin hell!!!)
Therefore,
That’s all folks! =D
*I really cannot believe fans would be ready to buy the same story from Edwards perspective(but then, Meyer needs to mind rape all of you some more $_$)…I can totally picture him, just another 13 year old girl who thinks she’s dark and dangerous (as opposed to the weak, fragile and misunderstood girl in twilight)*
Holy shit, that was long…hope I didn’t bore you :p
Ms Rice- I love you just for this article. It is exactly what I think about this whole MS Debacle (not that I could put it so lulzy)
Twihards- You have you’re forums, we have ours. We don’t go on your forum (though that mainly because we don’t want diabetes) to tell you that we don’t like twilight so please leave us and our bitch fests the hell alone.
so im not an author here, as a matter of fact, im still in high school.
ur article is well written and i understand the points u make but i still love Twilight and i always will.
smeyer is being kinda immature but thats her prerogative, whatever.
SHE IS GONNA FINISH THE BOOK THO! she made it clear.
all of the twilight books do have a plot tho, and i thought the anti-climax was brilliant because she surprised us all!
and lets not forget that thanks to her 13 year olds know SAT words, so i think its a WIN
NOT AS GREAT AS HARRY POTTER! smeyer should bow down to JKR but they’re still good books
ur articles are still really funny tho, and i didnt mind the bashing at all, u actually gave me a different perspective, which is always good.
there are some sexist things about twilight that disturb me but its literary drug and i cant stop reading it so oh well!
good job kellen but i guess that series is just not for u. lets not insult all of the fans tho, because not all of us are ignorant tweens.
You are hilarious. I mean this as a compliment. I have just completed three of your critiques of the Twilight Saga and found your perspective well thought out and supported by the text you were challenging. Rock on.
Wow, that’s ridiculous. Could you EVER see, say, J.K. Rowling, J.R.R Tolkien, or Rick Riordan (Yes, Percy Jackson) doing that?
She’s a wimp. I’m sorry, but that’s what she is. As an author, she should be able to take blows much harder then this. Sorry, Smeyer, but this is the real world, not your Mary-Sue Vampire fantasy. Not everyone is going to go “Awww, Pumpkin!” When you get your “feelings hurt.” Edward isn’t going to swoop in and save you when your attacked. Suck it up.
Excellent work! I’ve just read all three of your articles on Twilight and I agree whole-heartedly. It’s good to know there are people out there who share the same opinions as yourself and have the courage to put them out here on the Internet.
I love you!Go Anti-Twilighters!
Will you marry me?
I have to agree that it is pretty childish of her. I mean, jeeze. How much of a spoiled bratt can she be? If I was to ever act out like that my teachers in college would say to me “That’s life… Now get back to work or you’re never going to get a job!”
Tough love. She’s a diva because of one success and now she thinks that she can act like Paula Abdul (or at least how the media is saying that Paula acts – I don’t know, I don’t follow it so I’m completely in the dark about how she actually is).
If I was writing a book – which I will eventually, and my work got leaked, I would write it differently. And you know what? It would be better! There were authors who wrote entire 2000 page novels for a rough draft and you know what they did after they finished writing all of those pages? Threw them in the fire! Yep, that’s right. Because they were like “Ok, now that the bad writing is out of the way, commence with the proper writing!”
You never write the exact way twice – unless if you have a freakishly good memory like if you were some sort of cyborg or something. Usually if you write something and it’s fresh in your mind you will think it’s the freaking greatest thing ever! But come back to it in a month and you’ll be saying “Wow, this is total crap” *edit edit edit*.
There are plenty of things that Meyer can do to keep writing. If she plays around with it and puts in a little effort she might even come out with something half decent.
Wow..
I looked at that “Quilt”..
YOU WOULD THINK SHE WAS DIAGNOSED WITH CANCER!
really?
Really?
can you say, over dramatic?
lol thank you so much for posting this. meyer is acting like a spoiled brat. i wonder what her publisher thinks about this. I mean, didn’t she already get an advance or something to finish the book? personally, I think she couldn’t handle the pressure and leaked it herself or something of that sort, mainly because after breaking dawn people finally realized what worthless shit the entire series really was.
Well, I am late, and I do apologise; but, Harley, I’m a fellow British twelve-year-old and I have to admit I’m disgusted by that behaviour.
And most people with half a brain can work out for themselves how bad Twilight is.
kellen, love, you’re THE BEST, need I say more ( I didnt really plan on abusing my capslock, its just that. . kellen does really sound THE BEST!! )and man, I am having so much fun reading all the comments, I am so surprised that not even one twilight fan can write in proper english. . hells bells, no wonder they idolize her.. and kellen!!! that part about Edward where he goes everything is boring-lo. . she is lovel-no I mustnt…. bahahahahahhaha, that was hilarious . . all you twilightey poos, suck it up your ass baby coz, kellen is here to stay!
Stephanie Meyer is basically your run-of-the-mill fanfiction writer. They pull this shit all the time!
Okey, so even though I’m a Twilight fan (not as much anymore, though) I found your reviews hilarious! I’ve been feeing that I’m starting to…dislike Twilight, and now I don’t know how to feel. I’ve always known Edward is an obsessed stalker, and Stephenies behaviour is unacceptabe… I don’t know what this hysteria is all about though, okey some people adore a book which you find nothing interesting about, not such a big deal, in my oppinion. I’m just curious as though why they shouldn’t like it? Yes, you’ve made it clear that you think the book doesn’t set good examples for teenagers, but I’m pretty sure it’s not the only book which does that… In fact, isn’t part of the fun in reading knowing that it can only happen in the imaginary world which you just entered? At least that’s what I think. I know there are lots of good books which are non-fictional, but they are often based on some happening or other that’s often very surreal happening in the oppinion of the reader, something he or she feels as though it couldn’t happen to him/herself. In my oppinion… I’ve no idea why I’m “arguing” with you since I’ve noticed I find I think everything you’ve just said true. But I also happened to enjoy (at least I enjoyed) reading the books so I guess I feel like I have to defend myself. Or somehting.
anyways, this was really fun reading, and now I’m going to check out your review on the Twilight movie which I’ve never even liked.
Sorry for the long, very much rambling review. it was fun reading, but just for the record, not all Twilight fans are brain washed.
Lovisa, 15.