SMeyers

[rivendellrose]

If any other author on the face of the earth had the first 12 chapters of her next book posted online, I would feel terrible for them. I really would, because that sucks, and it really does annoy the flipping hell out of me that we can't have anything, nowadays, without it getting leaked on the internet months in advance (and yes, I know it's possible to just avoid the spoilers, but... still, you have to admit the phenomenon does have the effect of ruining a lot of the fun of anticipation). With Stephenie Meyer, however... after reading her reaction-post via Fandom_Wank, it's all I can muster up to say "This kind of thing shouldn't happen, it's bad," and then wander off trying not to giggle too much about how immature and twittish the author is acting.

Seriously. I mean... this is "a huge violation of my rights as an author, not to mention me as a human being." ...Human rights, people. Geneva should get involved. Where are the UN Peace-keepers who should be preventing her draft from leaking onto the internet? Where? Won't Nikolas Sarkozy please step in and prevent this? Will Carla Bruni write a sad sad ballad about how we all need to sympathize with this immature twit terribly wounded human being whose basic human right to make lots of money off a stupid novel have been wounded...

Okay, I'm done. ...Mostly.

In all honesty, though. It's not like the internet could have snuck into her bedroom and stolen the twelve chapters from under her pillow - she must have given them to someone who wasn't trustworthy (or, y'know, left them on a train... but as she's American, I doubt that happened). And now she's flouncing and doing the "omg, I don't know if I want to finish anymore!" thing. I think we all know, now, why the relationships in her books are so creepy and immature... A book can't be any more mature than its writer.

Fair disclaimer: I haven't read the books. I've read a lot about them, but I don't think I can put up with that kind of twisted-relationship sexist crap for any amount of lulz. If your boyfriend is acting like Edward does in those books, he is not the "perfect guy" (whatever that is), he is a controlling bastard who's headed the direction of domestic abuse, and you should get your family and friends to help you get out of that relationship ASAP, and any writer who's playing that kind of relationship as a good thing to a pre-adolescent audience is being irresponsible in the extreme. To her credit, I genuinely don't think SMeyers is aware of that, but... for fuck's sake, that's really not an excuse.

Comments

[vega-ofthe-lyre.livejournal.com]

My pet theory is that Robert Pattinson, who plays Edward, leaked the book, since she gave him a copy so he could really get into character. I mean, I doubt it's true, but I'd like to think he could be so deliciously malicious.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

He probably had to sign a contract that he wouldn't leak it... but I bet the contract didn't say anything about leaving it where his little sister could find it or something. XD

(I've heard he said that he hates Edward, and that he plays him as a character who hates himself? If this is true, I love him.)

[vega-ofthe-lyre.livejournal.com]

Yep, basically :D I love the fact that he's so incredibly aware of how crappy the series is, but hell, he'll take the paycheck!

[cassildra.livejournal.com]

I adore RPattz. Seriously. "Well, this bloke here is pretty goddamn broken, but if I portray him how he really is, maybe the fangirls will FINALLY GET IT."

Poor RPattz...

[maho-kiwi.livejournal.com]

his quote was amazing. Like, how Edward is so perfectly perfect and that [Pattinson] couldn't STAND him, so that's how he played him: as a self-hating mopey twat.

[cassildra.livejournal.com]

I'm eagerly awaiting cleolinda's summary. She writes amazing Twihard summaries.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Me too!!! I love those things. XD

[cassildra.livejournal.com]

Cleo manages to make it all seem right in the world, even with creepy imprinting issues and omgwtf abusive boyfriends.

[websandwhiskers.livejournal.com]

I liked the Twilight series, even if the relationships were a little fucked up - that said, I do think she's being a twit. I realize it's not quite the same, but I gave a copy of my (not-yet-sold) novel to a friend to read . . who told me a few weeks later that she'd passed it on to her daughter, her husband, several of her friends, and she can't wait to share it with her painters' group when she goes to Canada for the summer. Um . . that wasn't really what I'd intended? I suspect I looked very deer-in-the-headlights at this completely glib pronouncement . . she really had no idea that she was doing something I might not be comfortable with . . but once I started breathing again, I plastered a smile on my face and told her I was glad she liked it so much. She did, at that point, probably owing to how much I looked like I'd been hit in the back of the head, ask if this was okay . . to which I said sure. 'Cause, I mean, what're you going to do?

At the end of the day I don't think art and absolute control are ever compatible concepts; if you think you have absolute right to perpetual control of anything you create, then a.) um, never have children, and b.) invest in lots of ulcer medication, 'cause it's just not gonna turn out that way. While yeah, I want to get paid . . that's not the bottom line. The best of artists - and hopefully all artists strive towards this - are more oracles than architects. Any story worth telling is as alive as its author, IMO.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Honestly, I have no problem with adults reading the books and liking them - god knows I read and like a lot of weird stuff, including some serious junk-fiction. ;) From a feminist perspective it wigs me to think of girls in their early teens reading this thing, though... I remember well enough the kind of bizarre relationship norms that get thrown around at that age, and these books strike me as feeding into all that in a really icky way.

I totally know what you mean about the lending-book issue... When I worked in a bookstore we used to get pre-release copies of a lot of stuff as a perk, and I was always really careful not to lend them out too much for fear of exactly that happening. Not like we got the big blockbuster stuff for free, but... still!

Any story worth telling is as alive as its author

Exactly. I can see people getting upset about losing their rights to their own work, but at the same time... sheesh, people. Once you publish, it's not your baby anymore. It's gone out into the world and become a thing of its own. Get over it.

[eponymous-rose.livejournal.com]

Exactly this! When I first heard about the whole thing, I was prepared to feel incredibly sorry for Meyers, because that's just an awful thing on have happen. But, on reading her response, I did snicker. Lots.

I've read a lot about them, but I don't think I can put up with that kind of twisted-relationship sexist crap for any amount of lulz.

I'm the same way; I haven't read the books, nor do I have any intention of doing so. I didn't even realise they were aimed at the YA market, and when I did figure that out (slow on the uptake? me?), I was doubly livid. I'm not sure there's a single group more vulnerable to the depiction of idealised abusive relationships than teenaged girls who already have enough to contend with in terms of maintaining some level of self-esteem. I couldn't care less if, say, the TwiMoms read the books and enjoy them for whatever reason. That's fine; they're adults, and presumably they can distance themselves a bit from the whole thing. But teens figuring it's okay to be abusive as long as you sparkle? Not cool at all.

(Daughter of two librarians here: it takes a lot to get me riled up over a book. This series manages it effortlessly! Bravo!)

/bottled-up rant

(And Robert Pattinson leaking it would be awesome.)

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure there's a single group more vulnerable to the depiction of idealised abusive relationships than teenaged girls who already have enough to contend with in terms of maintaining some level of self-esteem.

Exactly. I hate the "oh, but what about the children?!" response that the conservatives and fundies are always shouting to the rafters, but... man, this tripe strikes me as potentially damaging. I wouldn't want it censored or kept out of school libraries (because censorship = bad, and also, um, kids love things that adults try to keep away from them!), but... god, I feel like if I had a daughter, I'd have to sit her down for a good long chat after she read these books. I hate the idea of young girls reading this crap and absorbing it as okay. So yeah... like you, I find that this book has completely pushed me over the edge in my standard "reading a book is not going to hurt a kid, and they're smarter than we give them credit for" argument re: censorship and banned books.

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

I haven't read the books either, but they strike me as another one of those series that I could have enjoyed only if I'd discovered them when I was a twelve year old girl being conditioned by society as to what True Love really is.
However.
I don't like feeling manipulated, and I've got to say that when she staples her hand to her forehead and proclaims, in proper Regency-romance form, "Oh my stars! I don't know if I can ever write again! If I were to try, in my current delicate condition, why, I might kill off all of those sexy delicious Cullen boys. No, no, it's best if I just hang up this highly lucrative pen and go back to my life as a barrista at Starbucks or a notary public (or whatever she was doing) rather than despoil the art that I have heretofore created...." then I'm feeling my strings getting jerked.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

"Oh my stars! I don't know if I can ever write again! If I were to try, in my current delicate condition, why, I might kill off all of those sexy delicious Cullen boys."

I think this is how I shall picture SMeyers from now on. I shall add a calico frock and a bonnet to the image, to finish it off.

She's totally manipulating people, trying to make them feel sorry for her and pet her gigantic ego. She's also a baby and has probably never heard anything in the way of criticism... her brother (who runs her site) was quoted a while ago as saying that he's not passing on any negative reviews that are sent to him to her.

[kusanivy.livejournal.com]

I haven't read the books either but a similar thought has occurred to me before in regards to Phantom Of The Opera fandom.

I watch the teenager Phan-girls (and myself - I do readily admit it) fawn over the Phantom and then have to step back and say to myself "you know - if Erik were a perfectly normal looking guy, living in a regular basement and he acted like that all these girls would be screaming 'pervert!' and running for the nearest restraining order"

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Oh, god, yes. I was pretty head-over-heels for the whole Phantom phenomenon when I was a teenager/early-twenty-something, and I remember having that same thought. It's... in a weird way, it's sort of like rape fantasies, I suppose. Something that is Not Okay At All in real life can be seen as sexy if it's just a fantasy. Whereas in reality, it's nowhere near anything approaching acceptable.

[gaslightgallows]

I'm jaded enough as a writer to find it incredibly flattering that someone would go to all that trouble to actually post the first 12 chapters of something I wrote because Teh Intarnetz are just going to DIE if they don't find out what happens next right the fuck now.

God, I hope that happens to me when I get published and become ravingly popular. I hope that happens A LOT.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Lol. Exactly! OMG, people cared enough to jack my story and pass it all over the internet! I win!

At this point, I just hope I get published. ...And possibly then that I have the sense not to pay attention to reviews or online stuff at all. XD

[windrose.livejournal.com]

At first I wondered if the TWILIGHT series was some kind of parody poking fun at the whole emo/romantigoth thing. Then I realized, no, it was for real, and underpinning it all was this really squicky sexist, pro-abstinence vibe that just made my head hurt.

And while we're talking about that, why has no one ever really looked at this preference for eternally teenaged vampires who take on actual teenagers for lovers? I mean, what they're really writing is significantly older adults macking on adolescents. Which, when you really think about it, is seriously ew.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

...Why has no one ever really looked at this preference for eternally teenaged vampires who take on actual teenagers for lovers? I mean, what they're really writing is significantly older adults macking on adolescents. Which, when you really think about it, is seriously ew.

That's an interesting point, and you're right that I don't think I've ever seen it covered. Which... given all the pseudo-academic and academic study of Buffy and so on, is really pretty surprising. I suppose in some way we're meant to believe it's okay because all these guys (Angel, Spike, Edward, whatever) are still physically teenagers... but really, is that the big factor here? Now, granted, I'm tempted to forgive Angel on the basis that the big dummy obviously never matured past about 18, either, but... still kind of creepy, when you think about it.

Does it all come down to sugar-coating the fact that a lot of teenage girls secretly want an older guy who can take care of them? I admit, I wrote a (terrifyingly horrible) vampire love-story when I was a teenager, and I would bet that it came out of that impulse...

[lovelies.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I haven't read the books either, but everything I've read about them has had a very creepy vibe.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Creepy beyond measure. To the point where I'm starting to feel like I ought to read them, just because... they sound that insane. I feel like I should know what kind of crap this woman is spreading around.

[caeline.livejournal.com]

This quote by Rpattz is probably the best I've seen:



I mean, seriously. I did read the book (well, most of the first), and it was terrible and I felt insulted that it was a bestseller. You really aren't missing anything.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Awww. Okay, I couldn't have cared less about this guy before, but I like him very much now. ♥ More than just a pretty face, there!

The books scare me. One of my younger cousins (she's 21) tried to convince me to read them, but... I was suspicious given that a) she never reads sci-fi or fantasy, and b) she, like Meyers, is Mormon. I love my cousin, but the impression I got from what I heard of the first few books was purely insipid. Once I started hearing details about the later books... ugh. Now it's just another thing on the list of reasons I had the guts to ask some very serious questions of my cousin re: feminism.

[cordeliadelayne]

I was only talking about Twilight wank to a friend the other day; it really is the gift that keeps on giving.

or, y'know, left them on a train... but as she's American, I doubt that happened

Hee! Indeed :D

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

It is!

I just can't resist a good poke at Britain's recent talent for losing private info. ;)

[cordeliadelayne]

just can't resist a good poke at Britain's recent talent for losing private info

Heh, there was another one the other day. I think we could easily make it an Olympic sport :D