How on Earth did Twilight get published?

Question

It is absolute literary filth. At least Harry Potter has an almost universal appeal to everyone, Rowling's writing, while it won't enrich your English is certainly enchanting due to her imagination and mostly very tight plot. Twilight on the other hand is written by a talentless author who then went on to write 2 other books just for the money.

Answer 1

Good question.  I can't stand them either, and the person who said they are a piece of art ummm are you kidding me?  Put the crack down and read it again.  

Answer 2

Absolute literary filth?  Hmmm, They wrote this about The Marquis de Sade and his publications too...not that Twilight and his works are ANYTHING alike, but still, the critical words are the same and that's what caught my eye here.  Twilight is by no means "the great American novel," I'll give you that.  I've read it from cover to cover and it's easy to see where the author starts out writing not really knowing what she's doing and then gains momentum as the storyline picks up.  Honestly, that was a nice little "bonus" to experience speaking as a novice writer.  

As far as the actual story goes, I think it's appealing simply because it's a story about imperfect first love.  Teens today don't buy into the whole "dreamy prince" scenario.  Life is much more serious, complex, and sometimes dark and Twilight reflects these nuances.  The teen world and ways of thinking are paralleled in this book and what may be deemed as "drivel" to an adult, resonates profoundly with teens.  Heck, it even took me back to my days as a teen in some parts.  I can remember having a lot of the same feelings Bella did.  I'm sorry you didn't enjoy the book.  All I can say is, teen emotions and dark love isn't for everyone and not all writers can please all readers.    

Answer 3

What you think is 'literary filth', could be genius to someone else. What one thinks is 'certainly enchanting' could be meaningless and unimaginative to another. Basically what I am trying to say is that just because you don't like the twilight saga, it doesn't mean no-one else does. Everyone has different tastes. Personally, I would rather read Twilight any day, and stopped reading Harry Potter during the second book, because I was so bored. Mind you, I was four at this time, and even though I loved the first one, being four may have impacted my likes and dislikes in reading. Anyway, Stephenie may seem talentless to you, but she obviously isn't if she did get her book published

Answer 4

'Twilight' isn't bad as teenage fiction goes.  It is rather too bogged down in romance for my taste, but a lot of teenage novels revolve around romance, and I personally quite enjoyed reading 'Twilight'.

I do prefer the Harry Potter books, though I don't think 'tight plot' is exactly how I would describe them. The later books are far too long in my opinion, and the last one was quite repetetive.  And although there isn't as much romance as in the Twilight books, there is rather a lot of it in the last few books.  Someone I know said she thought the series should be renamed 'Sweet Valley Hogwarts'.

I don't think either series is exactly great literature, but what of it?  Fiction is for fun, in my opinion, and people should read what they enjoy reading.  The publishers of 'Twilight' clearly knew what they were doing, since the book and its sequels have been enormously popular.  Any book that gives its readers as much pleasure as 'Twilight' has, clearly was worth publishing.

Answer 5

(To LT - No, she didn't. She completed the entire first novel before ever even considering getting published. She got rejected quite a few times and sent around her manuscript to a lot of places. She ended up being snapped up before she recieved her harshest rejection and got a three book deal. NO publisher gives an advance to an unpublished author who gives them a ten page sample of their dream. They ONLY look at completed works from unsolicited manuscripts.)

Anyway, to the question at hand, I think that the answer at the top of the page is right - I did laugh when I read it - indeed, the Davinci Code WAS absolutely dire but hey, people lapped it up. Some Authors have superior style and story- others just get the controversy or the catchy story people get hooked on like a craze.

I read a reviewer that compared Stephenie Meyer to bad fan fiction. Well, I don't really know since there is some pretty abominable fan fiction out there but, what do you know, there's a huge audience for fan fiction (particularly of the Vampire love story variety) so why wouldn't it be popular. Also: Mills & Boon is utter trash and yet it is one of the most sucessful book franchises in the world. I think everyone (but especially women and teenage girls) wants to hope that there is ideal love out there- I guess Twilight appeals to those who want to feel that it exists.

Answer 6

She's didn't publish it for the money, becuase she didn't think about publishing it till the end of the first book. Yes, Twilight appeals to teenagers becuase its more of that kind of book. But not everyone loves HP, I don't. Stephenie writes for the fun of it.

Answer 7

Yeah, but at the same time,

I'm one of those people who hesitate to read/watch something just because of it's immense popularity,

it took me forever to finally give in and read Twilight.

And you know,

I actually liked it.

I don't care who else does or if it's "cool"

Whatever, none of my friends read the series,

but I'm just saying,

while I'm sure a lot of people read them just because it's cool,

some of us actually enjoyed them.

P.S. It's easy to enjoy c**p. Such as Grease 2. Love that movie, but even I know that it's soooo bad.

Answer 8

To be honest I don't care if fangirls get uproarious about this, I completely agree with you. I've read bits and pieces thrown at me and it's complete drivel, I literally can't fathom the appeal of these books. They're poorly written, the plots are banal and I altogether see why the target market are 13 year olds. Why other people enjoy them, I have no clue.

It's dissapointing that you're the first person I've seen who doesn't think this woman has written a literary masterpiece.

Answer 9

Well, though I haven't read it I'm not surprised to see someone ask this. From all I've heard it's one of those books which appeals to teenagers and becomes popular not because it's good but because it's 'cool' (or whatever slang the kids are using these days). And so a market is produced in which, much like the pop music industry, talent is not a requirement. The name is established and it'll make money through that and that alone.

Still, I imagine there's worse stuff out there. I mean take Dan Brown's DaVinci Code, ok it had a fairly entertaining story but all in all it was a pretty dire book. And have you ever read any James Patterson? I read London Bridges last year and oh dear god it was utter garbage, the worst book I've ever read.

Answer 10

How it got published and how bad it is doesnt matter now. It already is published and has many fans, and there is nothing to do about it.  

Answer 11

if you dont like it then why you talking about it? its simple

by the way if she was talentless the why did she sell millions of copies? have sites dedicated to her? and have  her book made into a movie?

it got published because it was great and she went on to write 3 more book because thats what her fans wanted

Answer 12

Meyer had a dream about vampires and when she woke up she started writing and ended up with 10 pages which she showed to a publisher who  offered her a 6figure book deal straight away!

Answer 13

wow you really just said talentless author.?

fyi, she wrote twilight for herself first cause it came in a dream and she wanted to write more and since people wanted more she wrote more..

wow you aree justt no word can explain

Answer 14

ok i completly disagree with you but if you dont like it...dont read it

no need to post "questions" insulting the author and the series

everybody likes different types of books

if you didnt enjoy twilight then just forget about it and move on. im sure there are plenty of books you will like

im pretty sure you don't personaly know stephenie meyer so i dont think you should be talking about how she only wrote the next 3 books for the money....unless you have proof keep your mouth shut

Answer 15

If Twilight is the worst book you've ever read, then you're lucky.  Check out some of the other books in the young adult section or the romance section.  It won't be long until you find something that REALLY sucks.

And as for making money... that's what publishers do.  They don't publish something unless they think they can sell it.  They'd be in the red if they did it any other way.  Just because a piece of work is well written and intelligent doesn't mean it will sell well.  

I don't think Meyer wrote the rest of the books just for money.  I think she would have written them anyway, and when someone is offering you a fat check to do something you would have done anyway, would YOU take it too?

Twilight is to books what the Princess Bride is to movies.  Neither are th epitome of their art.  They're both lacking in several elements that would ahve even made them decent from a critical standpoint.  But there is something compelling about each of them that makes people love them.