The Twilight series shows us one of the latest success stories when it comes to female writers. This vampire romance series was created by American novelist Stephanie Meyer. She has sold hundreds of millions of copies. These stories have been translated into dozens of languages.
Her Success
Meyer was the most successful novelist of the years 2008 and 2009. When the first Twilight book was released it became immensely popular, especially with young adult readers. First printed in the US, the Twilight saga has attained worldwide recognition and popularity.
Meyer’s estimated annual earnings from her novels are more than $50 million. She is often mentioned on Forbes lists of powerful celebrities. This was all achieved thanks to the Twilight saga.
The Series
The story centers around a young woman called Bella who becomes romantically involved with a century old vampire who looks the same age as her. Most of these books focus on the relationship between these two. Occasionally a love rival werewolf also makes appearances. Meyer has developed her own in-world vampire lore where these creatures have unique powers and secret cultures.
Soon after the success of the first book, a highly profitable film adaption was made. Meyer helped to produce it in order for her vision of the story to be kept intact. These movies starred Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson as the two romantic leads. The Twilight film series helped to further publicise the books, allowing sales to increase. Worldwide the films have made more than $3 billion.
Her Influences
Despite each Twilight story involving supernatural monsters, Meyer was not directly influenced by the horror genre. Instead, every Twilight novel takes inspiration from a piece of classic literature. For instance, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin formed the basis for the first novel. New Moon was inspired by Romeo and Juliet. The subsequent stories were based on Wuthering Heights, The Merchant of Venice and A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Music is also an important element of Meyer’s creative process. She will often create playlists to listen to while writing. These tend to be by popular modern bands such as Linkin Park, Coldplay and My Chemical Romance. Meyer practises the Mormon faith and has acknowledged that her religion has had an impact on how she tells her stories.