Catering to your sparkly vampire obsession since 2005!
"If you're not writing for teenage girls, you're missing out on a lot of love."
— Meyer in an interview
with Entertainment Weekly
with Entertainment WeeklyStephenie Meyer (born December 24, 1973) is an American author best known for writing the Twilight saga. She also wrote other books including The Host and The Chemist, and additionally contributed the short story "Hell on Earth" to the 2009 young adult horror/romance anthology book Prom Nights from Hell.
She has also produced the film adaptation of Lois Duncan's Down a Dark Hall and co-produced the film adaptation of Austenland.
Works by Stephenie Meyer:
- The Twilight Saga (2005 - 2020)
- Twilight (2005)
- New Moon (2006)
- Eclipse (2007)
- Breaking Dawn (2008)
- The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner (2010). Novella that details the last days of a character introduced in Eclipse.
- Life and Death: Twilight Reimagined (2015). A Rule 63 retelling of the original novel to celebrate the series' 10th anniversary.
- Midnight Sun (2020)
- The Host (2008)
- The Chemist (2016)
Other works by Stephenie Meyer contain examples of:
- Approval of God: She was very gracious towards E. L. James, the author of Fifty Shades of Grey which began life as erotic fanfiction of Twilight; although Meyer stated that erotica "wasn't really [her] thing" and she'll probably never read the books, she expressed that she was glad James had found success.
- Author Vocabulary Calendar: One short story of hers uses "chagrin" and variations of the word at least three times.
- Creator Backlash: She experienced a bit of this in regards to Twilight, stating in 2013 that she was "so over" it and even going so far as to say that the only new material she'd write for the series for would be "three paragraphs on my blog saying which of the characters died". It's indicated this was less out of regret for writing Twilight as opposed to her wanting to move onto to other projects and getting tired of her other works being overshadowed by it. She later softened her stance, releasing Life and Death in 2015 for Twilight's 10th anniversary and completing Midnight Sun in 2020, after which she announced she had plans to write more Twilight novels.
- Creator Breakdown:
- She had one when a few chapters of her new project Midnight Sun were leaked on the internet, refusing to work on the book anymore. She did consider going back to it in 2015, but then Grey: Fifty Shades of Grey as Told by Christian was released and it put her off the idea. note She finally completed and published Midnight Sun in 2020.
- And then one followed when the Breaking Dawn backlash hit and The Host movie didn't do well.
- Creator Cameo: She has two cameos in the film adaptations of Twilight; in the first movie she can be seen sitting in a restaurant typing while Bella and Charlie are having lunch, while in Breaking Dawn Part 1 she's seen as a guest at Bella and Edward's wedding as Bella is walking down the aisle.
- Creator's Favorite Episode: Meyer stated in a 2020 interview that if she had to choose, she'd regard The Host as her "most important story in a lot of ways" and the one she'd want to be remembered for (though she also added that she knew it was likely Twilight that everyone would remember).
- Creator's Oddball: Meyer is largely known for writing fantastic romance books (e.g. Twilight is a paranormal romance featuring vampires and werewolves, The Host has aliens that possess human bodies, with both the human host and alien getting separate love interests). The Chemist is a largely mundane spy thriller (although it does still prominently feature romance).
- Doorstopper: She tends to write long books. Her debut novel, Twilight, isn't too hefty (544 pages hardback, 498 pages paperback), though even that is unusually long for a young adult novel. The sequels are all over 500 pages long, with Breaking Dawn clocking in at 700 pages (the paperback edition that is; the hardback edition has 756 pages), making it her longest novel to date. Both of her non-Twilight books are also over 600 pages in length. The exceptions are Life and Death (which is only 400 pages) and the novella The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner (just under 200 pages).
- One-Hit Wonder: Twilight was a huge success, but her other works haven't fared quite as well. The Host was a bestseller and got a film adaptation, but the latter was a flop at the box office, none of the announced sequels have materialised and it's largely overshadowed by Twilight's popularity. Her next non-Twilight novel, The Chemist, also faded into obscurity after its publication.
- Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism: Most of her books tend to lean more towards the idealistic side; even if bad things happen to the characters they usually get a happy ending (the last chapter of Breaking Dawn is even titled "Happily Ever After"), The Power of Love often triumphs over all, and her works don't tend to dwell too much on grimmer subjects. It's to the point that The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner sticks out from the rest of her work for being much bleaker and more violent with a Shoot the Shaggy Dog ending, although this was a Foregone Conclusion for anyone who has read Eclipse."I don't think my books are going to be really graphic or dark, because of who I am. There's always going to be a lot of light in my stories."
- What Could Have Been: She was heavily involved in the television adaptation of The Rook early in production, but dropped out due to Creative Differences.
