I feel that it is important to finally address the Twilight saga. I resisted reading the books for so long, but caved in last fall and read the first two. I skipped out on going to see the movie. I just finished reading Eclipse in one day and managed to get 250 pages into Breaking Dawn last night before passing out, though I was reluctant to let myself drift into the Land of Nod.
I’m trying to read these novels in three different ways:
1) Just your average reader wanting to be entertained.
2) A hopeless romantic, searching for my own Edward Cullen or Jacob Black
3) As a writer, hoping to glean ways to engage my readers the way Stephenie Meyer has been able to command total attention of her readers, many of whom (myself included) are completely hooked and can’t put the book down after reading just one chapter.
The first two methods of reading this series go hand in hand. Readers cannot help but be enthralled in the developing relationship between Bella and Edward, getting upset with Edward when he leaves and championing Jacob as he steps in the fill the void. It is nothing more than a traditional love triangle, but is it because there is the added element of a vampire being pitted against a werewolf that hooks readers in?
Meyer’s chapters are all similar in length. She balances dialogue with internal thought with actions, creating scenes that span the many pages of her stories. The basic skeleton of plot and her writing style are simple, so what is it that forces us (readers + moi) to stay up until the break of dawn frantically tearing through pages, on the edge of our seats, waiting to see how the drama unfolds?
