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Stephenie Meyer Getty signing 1.jpg

Watch Out, Stephenie Meyer Says She Has Ideas for Two More 'Twilight' Books

By Kayleigh Donaldson | Miscellaneous | August 13, 2020 |

By Kayleigh Donaldson | Miscellaneous | August 13, 2020 |


Stephenie Meyer Getty signing 1.jpg

This week, Stephenie Meyer finally released Midnight Sun, the 700+ page tome that retold the now-infamous story of Twilight from the point-of-view of sparkler-in-chief, Edward Cullen. Fans waited a very long time for this book, and if skeptics thought readers wouldn’t turn out in droves to pick up this new title then they were proven very wrong. According to the Guardian, 62,460 hardback copies were sold in three days in the UK. The saga — now six books long plus one gender-swapped rewrite — blazed back into the New York Times bestseller list too, where it has been part of the children’s series list for 227 weeks. Sure, the reviews sucked, which everyone expected them to, but Meyer’s selling power reigned supreme.

In an interview with the New York Times, Meyer discussed why she put the project on ice for so long, after an unfinished manuscript was leaked online. She also discussed returning to the world of Forks after claiming in 2013 that she would never write another Twilight book. Since then, she rewrote the first book with the genders of the romantic leads swapped as evidence that the book wasn’t sexist (Ron Howard voice: It was still totally sexist) and she released a Bourne-esque thriller called The Chemist that disappeared without much notice. Mostly, Meyer has focused on producing films and keeping an eye out for E.L. James at all times, just in case. However, she has admitted that she may return to Twilight.

In an online event with Books-A-Million, Meyer said:


‘There are two more books I think in the world that I want to write. I have got them outlined and a chapter written I think of the first one, so I know it’s there. I am not ready to do that right now, I want to do something brand new.’


I wonder what she has planned. The thing about the Twilight series is that there are tons of fascinating directions she could take these characters in. All the backstories to the Cullen/Hale clan are super-interesting, but Meyer herself once admitted that she was too lazy to do all the required historical research. I feel that pain. There are characters I’d be intrigued to see more of, like Leah and the other werewolves, but you know, I’m not sure Meyer is really the writer you want to see taking on indigenous culture. Can we see Rebecca Roanhorse’s werewolf book instead?

Mostly, I’m interested to see Meyer’s career outside of Twilight. Does she want to do more YA, and if so, would she fit in well with current trends? Vampires are coming back in style but right now, there’s a greater focus on socially conscious and politically progressive contemporaries. I’m not sure that’s her bag, so to speak. Will readers stick around for the non-sparkly stuff? They didn’t care much for The Chemist but she’ll always have the clout to publish whatever the hell she wants, and that’s an intriguing position for me as a reader/pop culture hot-takes merchant. I’m more interested to see what she does than, say, oh I don’t know, TERFy Lestrange.

Besides, without Meyer, how will E.L. James plan out her next book?



Header Image Source: Getty Images.