TA TALKS BACK: STEPHENIE MEYER, AUTHOR OF THE YEAR

TA member Addicted to Edward talks about the inspiration to write she got from Stephenie Meyer:

When I was in fifth grade, my teacher raved about the stories I wrote. His encouragement carried me through the ninth grade, still writing stories. But then something changed. School became about preparing for college, and what one wants to do for a career, and computers overtook my hobbies. (The internet was just starting to be available for the home computer at this time. Back then you signed on with a service – Prodigy in my case – and you could only communicate with people who had that service too.) Writing creative stories fell to the wayside as I turned to writing functional computer programs and entered college as a Computer Science major.

Now here I am, a 30-something stay-at-home-mom who also happens to be a Twi-hard. No other book or series of books has touched me the way the Twilight series has. While reading the FAQ on Stephenie Meyer’s website, something clicked in my head. I felt that old yearning again: I want to be a writer – a published one at that!

So I did what I always do when I want to learn about something – I hit the library. I checked out almost every book on creative writing my library has – and a few from inter-library loan for good measure. I wanted to learn everything – how to build an effective plot, how to stay organized while tackling a project as large as a novel, how to create life-like characters, how to write realistic dialogue, and on and on. And boy did I learn a lot! I never knew just how much there was to writing a novel. Not just any novel, but a novel that would be good enough to have published. Because if there was one common thread to all the books, it was that publishers and agents get hundreds of submissions a week and you’ve got to be really good to get them to even look past your query letter.

I’ll be honest – it was all very intimidating! I began to feel like giving up. How could I possibly ever writing something that can compete with everyone else? But I am enjoying the process of writing so that’s keeping me going. Maybe I won’t be published, and that’s OK. It’s making me happy for now and that’s what’s important, right?

Then yesterday I read something that gave me hope. Stephenie Meyer was selected as Author of the Year. Wow. It’s been discussed before, and I am in strong agreement that Stephenie Meyer is a wonderful storyteller but her actual writing needs some work. That is not a slam on Stephenie Meyer at all! Twilight was her first novel – nobody’s perfect the first time she does something!

One of the books I’m reading is titled Writing the Breakout Novel. Twilight is, most definitely, a breakout novel. And yet, Stephenie Meyer broke almost every rule in the book! In fact, she broke most of the “rules” in all of the writing books I’ve read. And yet here she is: a published author, a New York Times bestseller, and now, Author of the Year.

Now, I’m not saying all these experienced, published authors who are sharing their expertise and “rules” are wrong. Not at all. But maybe, just maybe, the ability to tell a good story is enough to get you past the rejection bin. Maybe it really doesn’t matter if you overuse a word or two in your novel. Maybe you really don’t need 10 subplots that intertwine and converge in the end. Maybe a good story and deep, likable characters is enough.

Maybe. Or maybe not. Either way, Stephenie Meyer is a testament to the fact that it really is possible for anyone with a good story to be a published – and successful – author. There’s a good chance I’ll never be published. I’m alright with that. But I’ll always be thankful to Stephenie Meyer for not only re-lighting my creative writing fire but also for inspiring me and giving me hope that maybe someday, I’ll walk into a bookstore and see my name on the cover of a book.

If you are an aspiring writer like me, don’t give up and don’t get discouraged! Always remember that Stephenie Meyer is living proof that it can happen. May we all be blessed with the skill to create stories as wonderfully as Stephenie Meyer!

Talk Back to us….what do you think?