I read the first book in the “Twilight” series of books, but have since decided not to read the rest of the books after hearing nothing that gives me any reason to continue and it seems author Stephenie Meyer has also decide to halt work on the series, but for entirely different reasons.
Posted on her official site we learn the following about her planned novel, “Midnight Sun,” which would retell the “Twilight” stories only this time from the perspective of Edward. However, her draft found its way online (really? I didn’t know) and she has decided to stop working on the story indefinitely:
As some of you may have heard, my partial draft of Midnight Sun was illegally posted on the Internet and has since been virally distributed without my knowledge or permission or the knowledge or permission of my publisher.
I did not want my readers to experience Midnight Sun before it was completed, edited and published. I think it is important for everybody to understand that what happened was a huge violation of my rights as an author, not to mention me as a human being. As the author of the Twilight Saga, I control the copyright and it is up to the owner of the copyright to decide when the books should be made public; this is the same for musicians and filmmakers. Just because someone buys a book or movie or song, or gets a download off the Internet, doesn’t mean that they own the right to reproduce and distribute it. Unfortunately, with the Internet, it is easy for people to obtain and share items that do not legally belong to them. No matter how this is done, it is still dishonest. This has been a very upsetting experience for me, but I hope it will at least leave my fans with a better understanding of copyright and the importance of artistic control.
So where does this leave Midnight Sun? 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.
Meyer goes on to say the draft is incomplete, “the writing is messy and flawed and full of mistakes”. Strangely, I thought that was her M.O. What gives?
Either way, you can head on over and read all 264 pages of her unfinished, un-edited, messy and mistake-ridden draft right here [PDF].
The film adaptation of book one in the series will be seen when Twilight hits theaters in November starring Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson. Meyer caught a bit of a drumming over her final installment in the book series upon the release of “Breaking Dawn”, but I am sure that won’t stop the die-hards from continuing the lovefest.
