Me and Twilight, a love story

I was a late comer to the Twilight saga. I hadn't heard of these wonderful books until this past summer. I was searching for new books by another vampire novelist, Charlaine Harris. She wrote the great Southern Vampire Series novels starring Sookie Stackhouse. Anyhow, I was online looking up vampire novels and Twilight popped up. I saw an image of Robert Pattinson (RPattz) and Kristen Stewart together for a magazine shoot. I read a small blurb regarding the movie adaptation of Twilight and how insanely popular the saga is. I thought to myself 'What?! A vampire series that I'm not in on?' And then I promptly put it in the back of my mind. But I did note that it was RPattz, the boy from Harry Potter. I thought wow, he's quite striking!

A couple days go by and I'm in the check out line at Wal-Mart and I see the very same image of RPattz and Kristen on the cover of US magazine. I thought it weird that I'd see a reminder of the Twilight series again. I was at the library the next day and I decided to see if I could find at least the 1st book in the saga to read. I went to a kiosk to search for the author or the book title. But don't you know I'd forgotten both the author's name and the name of the book? I was thinking 'Whisper' for some reason. Add to this the fact that the Cambridge Crossroads library's electronic book search is so extremely slow that it's infuriating! After failed search attempts that took me (no kidding) about an hour, I wondered if they had the US magazine so I could check the exact spelling of her name. I was on the hunt. I found that issue of US and emblazoned her name in my memory: Stephenie Meyer. One more quick (ha ha) search of the library and still I found nothing. So I said screw this place and went home and bought Twilight and New Moon online, sight unseen. ...And I never looked back. I tore through both books and like a heroin junkie, I had to have another fix. And fast. I went to Wal-Mart right before I finished New Moon and bought Eclipse and Breaking Dawn.

I was blissfully happy, but (like Forks, WA) there was a rain cloud on the horizon of my happiness. I knew from googling Stephenie Meyer that book 4 was to be the last in the Twilight saga. I didn't think I could make it without more! I was hoping she'd be more like Charlaine Harris who has cranked out 8 Sookie Stackhouse books (and still counting). I guess Charlaine spoiled me. Stephenie is being stingy with her word count. I knew that when I finished Breaking Dawn I was going to be depressed. I could feel it coming. That's how enraptured I am with the world of the Cullens and Forks and clumsy old Bella. I love them all. I love Edward, Bella, Sheriff Swan, Billy Black, Jacob Black (who doesn't? Dreamy wolf-boy!). Heck, I love the freaking table that the Cullen's pretend to eat lunch at every day in the cafeteria of the high school. I love Edward and Bella's biology table. I love the rocking chair in Bella's bedroom... Yeah, I'm a junkie alright. And I was gonna hurt when the saga ended. I had to form a plan, and quick. I was tearing though those pages.

Right around that time, I'd started keeping daily tabs on http://www.stepheniemeyer.com/ and I read that somehow a rough draft of Midnight Sun was leaked onto the Internet. Midnight Sun?! What is this? As if you don't know. It's the Twilight story as told by Edward. Now we're talking! I could never get enough of Edward. And to hear the story from his point of view; heaven! I always wondered what was going on in his mind behind all those tortured and moody looks. Wondered what parts of the truth he was filtering out for Bella's benefit. I wanted to read this bad.

So, my plan was this:
1. I would immediately start re-reading the Twilight saga as soon as I finished Breaking Dawn and
2. I'd not allow myself to blaze through Midnight Sun like a mad women. I'd savor it. I'd dole out little doses of Edward's story a couple pages at a time.

So far it's worked. I still haven't finished Midnight Sun and I'm reading the Twilight saga for the 3rd time now. I know, I'm a freak. But hey, I'll handle my obsession how I see fit! Besides, you know that if you are setting here reading a blog about Twilight by some crazed lover of the saga, then you yourself have issues every bit as convoluted as mine, and they need addressing! But you'll never see me passing judgement, friend. I feel your pain.

I've managed to stave off the heart ache of being done with Twilight for good. Besides, I still have the movie to look forward to. I think I am going to have to play the interventionist to my Twilight saga junkie. I will allow myself to keep on rereading Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, Breaking Dawn and Midnight Sun until the movie opens. And then in true glutton form, I'll go watch the Twilight movie 5 or 6 (thousand) times, talk obsessively about it to friends, neighbors and family until they want me dead, and then let it go. Go cold turkey. Yeah, we'll see how that plays out - I'll let you know.

Now we know we can't live with out Twilight, but why? I try to put my finger on just what is so darned intoxicating about this story. People all over the world are stuck in Forks, WA, literarily speaking. Yeah, I've got some thoughts. Sometimes writers write things called back stories before they even begin to write the actual story. The back story is basically a history of a character. By writing out every detail about a character, you make them more 3 dimensional, more fleshed out. It helps when you are writing the story because the character seems so real that you can get inside their head and see how they'd react to any given situation. I don't know if Stephenie did this, but it sure feels like it. It would help in explaining why (at least for me) I sometimes forget that Edward (or Bella or Jacob) aren't really existing somewhere on this earth.

Another theory of mine: Not only is Edward (and Jacob too, for that matter) a purely mythical creature but, the love that is portrayed between him and Bella is a mythical creature as well. It’s every bit an illusion. I think anyone who reads it wishes and yearns for such a love to exist. That makes the whole idea of the books addictive. Plus, the fact that their love, throughout the saga, can’t be consummated builds the reader into a frenzy. Truly, Stephenie Meyer is a genius. This love is always patient. And unconditional. Edward is content to set in the rocking chair in Bella's bedroom for 8 or 9 hours while she sleeps (I passed a rocking chair outside a Cracker Barrel this morning and my heart ached; *psycho*), or to lay beside her and hold her. He never tires of this, never has anything that he thinks is better to do than be with her. I find it also very appealing that he can be that protector that every girl secretly yearns for. In Edward's case, his over protectiveness is sweet and endearing because it comes from a pure place. There is never any machismo attached, as there would be with a real human man. Never any boasting superiority complex about ownership of the girl or the need to be protective because the female is weaker and therefore inferior. No, in Edward's case he's bossy because he simply wants Bella to live to be with him. Who could fault that?

And one final reason I fell in love with Twilight and all the characters within, is because of rainy old Forks itself. I have always been drawn to the rainy, darker side of life. What can I say? I'm Irish. Stephenie so convincingly describes a place dreary with daily precipitation. That alone is a draw for me. The weather and woods and beaches of Forks, Washington are so well described, they are memorable and important Twilight characters in and of themselves.

Others must feel the same way to. It would explain the flood of fans to Forks and La Push Washington lately. I bet Forks, WA is loving Stephenie Meyer right about now.