Stephenie Meyer

Stephenie Morgan Meyer
Occupation	Novelist
Genre	Fantasy, Romance, Young Adult
Website
http://www.stepheniemeyer.com/

Stephenie Morgan Meyer (born December 24 1973, in Hartford, Connecticut) is an American author. She is the author of the books The Host and Twilight, along with Twilight's sequels New Moon, Eclipse, and the recently released Breaking Dawn. She has also written about half of the first draft of Midnight Sun, a companion novel in the series.

Personal history

Meyer grew up in Phoenix, Arizona with a large family. Meyer attended Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, where she received a B.A. in English in 1997. She met her husband Christian, 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 member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Meyer says that the idea for Twilight came to her in a possibly LSD-induced dream about a girl and a sparkling vampire sitting in a meadow on June 2, 2003, the transcript of which is now Chapter 13 of the book. 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. 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. 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 United States and Canada and on August 4, 2008 outside of North America. Meyer has revealed that Breaking Dawn will be the last book written from Bella Swan's perspective, and stated on her website that there will be more than four books. Meyer has also stated that her other novel, Midnight Sun, will be more of a companion piece to the series than a genuine sequel, as it will describe Twilight from the view of Edward Cullen. A rough first chapter of Midnight Sun has been posted on Meyer's website, though she has stated that it will be edited and otherwise changed before being released as part of the novel in the future.

The band Muse features prominently in the Twilight series. Meyer is a huge fan, and always includes songs by the band in her playlists for the books. She has also told fans that a concert featured in her third book is a Muse concert, and that some of the main characters are fans of Muse. Other bands included in her playlists include Blue October, Coldplay, and Linkin Park.

Published works

Meyer's first novel, Twilight, was published in October of 2005. By November, Twilight had reached #5 on the New York Times Best Seller list for young adult chapter books.

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.

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.

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 as well as "Team Edward" and "Team Jacob" t-shirt transfers.

On August 2nd, 2008, the final installment of the Twilight series, Breaking Dawn, was released. 3.7 million copies were printed of the 768-page book, with over 1.3 million copies being sold on the first day alone.

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”
• Translation into 20 languages

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." 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."

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.

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 even Twilight-themed rock bands."

Upcoming works

Meyer hopes to have Midnight Sun, a retelling of the events of Twilight written from Edward Cullen's perspective, published some time after the release of Breaking Dawn.

She is also "almost done" writing a possible sequel to The Host, entitled The Soul. If she were to continue the series, the third book would be called The Seeker.

She mentions having several other book ideas on file, including a ghost story titled Summer House and a novel involving time travel, as well as another about mermaids.

The Twilight Saga: The Official Guide, which will give further information on the world of the Twilight series, is slated for release on December 30, 2008.

Film adaptation

Main article: Twilight (2008 film)

Summit Entertainment optioned Twilight in April of 2007. The film version is currently categorized as Post-Production on Summit Entertainment's website. Catherine Hardwicke has signed on to direct, with a script by Melissa Rosenberg. It will star Kristen Stewart as Bella Swan and Robert Pattinson as Edward Cullen. The movie is set to be released on December 12, 2008.

Bibliography

In rough chronological order by publishing date (release dates of forthcoming works are uncertain):

• Twilight (October 2005)
• New Moon (August 2006)
• short story in Prom Nights from Hell (April 2007)
• Eclipse (August 2007)
• The Host (May 2008)
• Breaking Dawn (August 2008)
• Midnight Sun (forthcoming)
• The Twilight Saga: The Official Guide (forthcoming: December 2008)
• The Soul (forthcoming)
• The Seeker (forthcoming)

External links

• Stephenie Meyer's official website
• Stephenie Meyer's bibliography
• The Twilight Series's official website
• Exclusive Stephenie Meyer Video & Interview
• The Twilight Lexicon
• Stephenie Meyer at IMDb
• Reviews of Stephenie Meyer's work at FantasyLiterature.net