What The Twilight Books Did Right

Regardless of whether you are a fan of the Twilight book series or not, there is one opinion about the series that I have brought up in discussions that most people tend to agree is quite well done. I'm not sure whether Stephanie is the first author to write in a style of directly including the reader, but she is definitely one of the most well-known authors to introduce a new sub-genre I've dubbed "immersive fantasy."

"Immersive fantasy" is a writing style that takes the reader of the book and fully immerses them in simple wording to create complex imagery, extremely detailed descriptions of characters, creating a lukewarm main protaganist that the reader can easily relate to or put themselves in place of, and create simple references to the real world that doesn't break this immersion.

The first book of Twilight is approximately 500 pages. Even as a casual reader myself, I was able to complete this book in only a few hours. Harry Potter took me nearly a week, and don't even get me started on the Wheel of Time and Lord of the Rings. So, how is it that this book can be completed very quickly? Well, it ties into the ability for the reader to immerse themselves in the writing.

In the nicest way possible, Stephanie Meyer's wording and sentence structures are basic English 101. Her logic in her writing never becomes more complicated than "the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." This simplicity helps her story come to life. Readers aren't distracted by unfamiliar words, strange word dynamics, or other similar complexities that would distract the reader or take the reader out of the story. It the same as when you have been playing a video game for hours, but then you come to a level where you die repeatedly. It completely takes you out of the story and usually turns you completely off from the game.

Bella is a bland character. Meyer seemed to go out of her way to create a character without many physical descriptions, no special abilities, and seemed to be quite a normal teenager being clumsy, insecure about themselves, and overthinking every little thing. The reader can easily step into the story as the protaganist, pretending it is they themselves who is being pursued by vampires and werewolves. Bella is completely relateable because she is no one in particular.

However, to oppose this bland character, we have very detailed descriptions of the other main characters from what they are wearing down to what their breath smells like. This further pushes the reader into the role of protaganist, because you are able to easily imagine what it would be like to have Edward standing in front of you. Other important characters are seen as interesting people with mysterious backstories which implore you to turn another page to discover more about these people.

This is also an explanation as to why the movies were... lacking. Bella was never meant to be embodied by any one person, and you can't truly experience the other characters as they were meant to be with what they feel like, smell like, and the sensation of interacting with a real human being. They had to overplay the other characters while trying to have Bella have some type of personality other than a damsel in distress. I believe the Twilight movies would have actually done a lot better as a first-person experience, like in Hardcore Henry. An experimental movie genre that places the viewer in the hot seat as the main character.

Many people are against the Twilight series, and I fully understand their plight with Stephanie Meyer. I also understand why the Twilight series has quite a large fan base. However, which ever side you are on, we can eventually agree that Stephanie Meyer's writing style is part of what makes the books immersive and leave you sitting in the same chair for five hours as you finish one page after another.