by Dave
I found a story posted on Yahoo! News this morning from Reuters. Apparently, large segments of the final Twilight novel were leaked online, prompting this response from the author, Stephenie Meyer:
“I feel too sad about what has happened to continue working on ‘Midnight Sun,’ and so it is on hold indefinitely.”
Of course, there is nothing here indicating that the final book will never be published. But, my first thought upon reading this was, “How would Potter fans have reacted to such a statement from Rowling?” Meyer’s frustration is certainly understandable.
But, do you think working as an author in this digital age demands a different thought process on their part? The Internet often tiptoes a very fine line between democratic participation and total anarchy. And nearly every piece of information in our culture is embedded at some point in that network. HP, Rowling, and her various publishing/production partners seem to have exploited the Net very well.
It does seem that some of our readership here are also Twilight fans. What do you think of this situation?
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{ 19 comments… read them below or add one }
I read the article. It says that Meyers posted the entire draft on her website in response
so that fans choosing not to read the illegally reproduced version do not “feel they have to make a sacrifice to stay honest
I think that’s a generous response on her part, responding to malice and discourtesy with kindness and compassion.
It’s a crime. Not quite theft, more like mischief or vandalism: getting a momentary thrill from sabotaging someone else’s work or process. Like revealing the surprise ending of a movie to those who haven’t seen it. Reminds me of our conversation here about how we were going to shield ourselves from those who would reveal the end of DH before we had a chance to read the book.
Actually, it is a bit like attempted theft: depriving Meyer from the full proceeds of her work. I wonder if that was one of the reasons why she chose to post the draft on the net: so that the unknown perp wouldn’t also have committed that particular sin and crime.
As for what we would have done had some half-wit posted a rough draft of DH on the net: words fail me. But those of you who were on this site at the time of the release of DH will remember the false-spoilers which were posted immediately before, and our collective reaction to them.
While it’s certainly sad & upsetting for Meyer, it looks like this isn’t the fault of the Internet nor a failure of copyright laws but of someone she trusted betraying her personal confidence to them. She apparently has a good idea of who did this & it doesn’t seem to be a profit driven motivation on that person’s part.
Not that that makes it right. Don’t get me wrong on that. But such a thing could’ve been forseen by Meyer. After all, when you’re dealing with human beings, there’s every possibility that they’re going to hurt you or let you down.
So, I’m not sure punishing all her fans because of the bad & insensitive actions of one of her confidants is the right way for Meyer to go. Certainly she’s right to be angry & upset. But hopefully after she cools down a bit she’ll think of her other fans. Not that I’m a fan but certainly there’s plenty of others who enjoy her works.
On a side note, I wonder how this news from her will affect the box office for Twilight in November?
The manuscript that was leaked was not another sequel in the series. It was the re-telling of the first book from the perspective of a different character. The original book was the first person perspective of Bella, the human teenager. The leaked one was the first person perspective of Edward, the vampire she is in love with. So it does not really mean the story will not be completed. The story ended with book 4 which came out last month. This book would have been a “bonus”, but really is not necessary from the perspective of story line. It is just a different slant on the story.
Ow… I had wondered last week whether to bring the subject up on the Twilight thread already in existence here at The Hog’s Head, but had thought better of it at the time. Am glad you did though, Dave !
Most of you will know by now, that I am a fervent Twilight reader and I did go through an alarming range of emotions last week when hearing about this. But what I will now say about the matter is just this; Meyer has lost a lot of fans through this…
My initial response was one of compassionate sympathy. I felt so incredibly sorry for her that it was near unaddressable (okay, maybe not, I wrote two posts about it on my own little book blog in the dark corner of the internet). But most fan responses have been of public outrage. Most fans feel belittled by Meyer and punished for things they had nothing to do with.
Although I can see their last point, my personal feelings are mostly stunned grief for the loss of a book that will have been my favourite of them all…
Marian –
you’re very right of course. This Yahoo article I think is a draft from the NYTimes article that came out earlier. Naturally we can tell that it’s just a bunch of uninformed journalists going with the hype and mayhem. Oh well….
But I do however know that, although Midnight Sun was strictly speaking a companion piece to the saga, it actually would have been a very crucial member of the family.
First off, there are still many moments that Bella and Edward are not together in Twilight, the first book, so there would have been heaps of new material in Midnight Sun. And secondly, we get numerable new insights into much unappreciated characters just because of the gifts Edward has. So in essence, Midnight Sun would not have given us just Edward perspective, but the perspective of the entire Olympic peninsula !
Anyway, I do have the 12 chapters in question on my mac, but I refuse to read then and have them only so that when Meyer clearly, directly and without question confirms that Midnight Sun will never be written to completion and published, I will not be without.
I do sincerely hope she will be able to continue though, because to me (and every person in the Twilight fandom that actually has read the draft has openly agreed with me that) Midnight Sun will be the crown on the series.
Well, not being a Twilight fan, I hadn’t heard any of this. I think it does speak directly to the disrespect that many have for the creative property of authors. Some people see nothing wrong with posting something that is someone else’s work without their permission. And I just don’t understand that at all.
We’ve now had this issue brought up to us with all that surrounds Rowling (the leak of DH and the Lexicon suit), and this with Twilight. This one is almost worse, as it’s putting out there a rough draft, something that wasn’t finished or polished to the author’s satisfaction, and that isn’t fair to the author or to the fans of the series.
What does that say about the person who was trusted enough to receive the draft, and what does it say about how hard it can be to know who can be trusted? Very sad.
I do hope, though–even though the books don’t interest me–that Meyer will eventually reconsider and finish the book for the fans who are loyal and excited about more of the story. It almost seems unfair that they won’t get the end result.
Pat
I neither understand nor sympathize with the anger that is directed at Meyer.
First, fans are not entitled to a book, no matter how much they want it or how incomplete they feel without it. If the author doesn’t want to write a book, if the author changes his or her mind about writing a book, or if the author writes something the fans don’t like, is entirely the author’s choice. Feeling that the author is punishing them by not writing the book blurs the boundaries between needs and rights.
Second, the author posted her draft on line so they could read it it they wished. Is that not enough? Are they demanding a more complete or finished version? What degree of polishing will satisfy them? How much control do fans actually think they should have over the creative process?
Does this remind anyone here of Paul Sheldon, Misery Chastain, and Misery’s biggest fan, Annie Wilkes?
My sympathies lie entirely with Meyer. In her own words:
I think it is important for everybody to understand that what happened was a huge violation of my rights as an author, not to mention me as a human being
This is the link to her complete post:
http://www.stepheniemeyer.com/midnightsun.html
Perhaps she isn’t punishing her fans, although quite a few people seem to have taken it that way. You are right, though, that she is free to do whatever she wants.
It’s just that if she eventually wants to continue to write, she might do well not to tick off, or even give the perception of ticking off, the people she’s trying to get to buy her material. In the world of business, sometimes right & wrong don’t matter but only perception. Not saying I agree with it but that’s what it is.
Also, it’s not as if someone broke into her home & stole her files or hacked her computer to get this material. She willingly gave it to someone she trusted who then betrayed her. She’s right to be angry & upset about this. But again the perception she gives is that she’s taking it out on her fans rather than on the creep who betrayed her.
So, it’s nice of her to put her manuscript up on the web for all to read but I’m sure people don’t really want that. They would like a complete work because they’ve come to love her writing & her story. At least that’s the feeling I seem to get from Victoria. Perhaps I’m wrong.
Perhaps they want to feel the paper beneath their fingers and smell the ink in their nostrils?
Who would have thought that 21st century youth would have such a taste for early 20th century technology?
I don’t think Meyer’s future sales would be impacted by her not completing this book any more than attendance at HBP will be impacted by its 8 or 9 month delay. Devotees will still flock to get their next fix.
I quite agree with you. People do tend to have short term memories & most Meyer fans will forget about this after awhile. Some few won’t but that’s the way it is.
Well, I guess it’s a mixed batch of opinions. I’ll give an overview, since I followed it closely.
A group regards this situation completely of Meyer’s own making, because she was naive enough to pass along multiple copies of the manuscript (what I think to be) many months ago. The longer the wait, the larger the anticipation, the bigger the temptation. So a section of fandom says; ‘You were naive and now we don’t get the book ?’
On this subject I of course I agree completely with Red Rocker. No fan is entitled a book. Especially because Meyer had not signed a book deal for this companion piece. Her deal with Hachette was for the four editions that are currently out. She was writing it, because she wanted to write it. Not out of contract reasons. But some say; ‘Stop your hissy fit and do what you promised to do.’
I know that there is also a large section (the section, as far as I can tell, that coincides with the section that hated the last installment Breaking Dawn) that says that Meyer is just doing this because she wants to get back at the fans for being such Breaking Dawn haters and are even spouting conspiracy theories that she leaked it herself to get the attention away from how bad Breaking Dawn was.
Well, I’ll just respond that saying that although Breaking Dawn was an unusual book, it was certainly not the trash some make it out to be. But then again, the majority of the fandom are pre-teen girls, so I think they’re prone to the type of back-stabbing thoughts that they’ve come out with and I personally find the opinion unfounded.
And then there are the ones that have been irked by this sentence in Meyer’s statement most of all;
This has been a very upsetting experience for me, but I hope it will at least leave my fans with a better understanding of copyright and the importance of artistic control.
Many were offended by this remark. I also found this statement to be a questionable one. I has a high ‘Some of you spread and read the draft and now you’re not getting the book’-level. But I guess she didn’t mean it as vengeful as it comes across even to me.
Now what I do think is a valid question is the one that was posed by Dave too. What would JK have done ? Would JK have also thrown the hissy fit and temper tantrum that Stephenie has displayed ? Would it have been a better choice of Stephenie just to have kept her noise level down, have Hachette – or even a private lawyer, because she of course technically doesn’t have a publisher’s backing the project now due to the lack of a deal on it – take down the torrent, and post a message saying ‘I’m sorry, there was a leak, I need to take a break, regroup and get back to the writing when I can’ ? If she can be discounted anything, she might have been able to handle the situation differently, if not better.
And naturally I agree with Red Rocker and revgeorge, people do have short-term memory when it comes to things like this. And how large a section of the fanbase will actually be mortally upset about Meyer’s actions. ? 10%, 5%, 2% ? I would say maybe 1%. And how many books less would that sell ?
I didn’t think it matters to sales. But then of course it was never about that !
That’s a good point Victoria: a majority of fans are pre-teens who do tend to be more subjective in their view of the world and others. So it’s more understandable that they might think they were personally being punished by Meyer for something which they are not to blame.
Like I said earlier, I haven’t read the series. Why did a certain section of fandom hate Breaking Dawn? I’m interested because my reading of the reviews suggests that the books resonated with issues which are vital to teen-age girls (love, being loved, the perfect lover, whether to have sex, when to have sex) and I was wondering which need Meyer failed to meet.
One last comment: why call Meyer’s decision to stop working on the book a hissy fit and a temper tantrum? Those words imply that she’s not being very mature or considering all the consequences or acting in an ultimately destructive manner. We are agreed, after all, that it’s her choice whether she writes a book (since she’s not contractually bound to it). I would say rather that she considered the personal consequences to her of continuing to work on a book which was compromised, and decided it was in her best interests – emotionally and artistically – to stop. The only point at which I would regard her as naive is if she believes her actions would have any effect on the next attention-seeking hacker who wants to make a name for himself(herself) by posting stolen material on the internet.
To take your last question first;
It was not that I wanted to call her halting her work a hissy fit. I completely understand that and even encourage it (although I would be intensely sad if the indefinite halt ever turned into a permanent one). But you have touched on my intention in the question indeed, because I do think her action after she discovered the leak of Midnight Sun, was maybe not immature, but at least poorly thought-through and ultimately destructive towards herself.
I think taking matters in her own hands by posting the Midnight Sun draft on her own website and writing such an emotional post about the events was a poor choice. Even though she has every right to of course, I think it was to a certain extent unprofessional for an author and certainly career wise – if she’d ever want to sell the book – not the best choice . But that’s just me. I do sincerely feel for her in general.
To return to Breaking Dawn, I think the book did everything that was anticipated for it with regard to the topics that you mentioned. However I think there were two other major problems that people had with the book in general.
Firstly, what I noticed – and I think a lot of other people picked up on but may not have noticed consciously – was that the book was very poorly set-up. We, as Harry Potter readers, know how important it is for an author not to pull a storyline or unforeseen event out of the black holes of the universe. Luckily Rowling was a master of set-up and she even had set-ups aplenty that nicely functioned as red herrings. Meyer however had a major unforeseen plot-U-bend to start of Breaking Dawn, one which she not only hadn’t set-up previously in the series but also consciously avoided and negated at previous Q-and-A sessions at signings.
Granted, she thought that she was protecting future plot line at the time, but because of the lack of foreboding, what she ended up doing was pulling a plot line at the start of the book that she hurriedly tried to set-up in the first chapter, making what was to come very obvious and what she ultimately ended up by that was losing part of the suspension of disbelief. Something you don’t want to do in a mythical fantasy fiction.
Secondly, and it’s hard for me to word this one right, was that at the end of Breaking Dawn, at the end of the saga, she basically reversed that set-up table on herself. Basically at the end she didn’t deliver on the huge end-of-the-series climactic battle that she was setting-up the entire second part of the book.
The whole point of the second half of Breaking Dawn was gearing the characters towards the fight that never came. Instead the battle is about to commence and the characters end up in a verbal diplomatic faux-pas drama, make a right turn and en-mass leave center stage. The one piece of foreshadowing that Meyer in interview indicated as foreshadowing for that happening was the fact that a character used the title page of the Merchant of Venice as a notepad, that while the entire series was plastered full of books by the Bronte sisters, Austen and Shakespeare. I don’t know, but to me – and a section of the fandom agrees with me apparently – the last book was very ill-structured.
But to even out all this criticism, I did enjoy the book ! It is far from the monster that some make it out to be. Although I thought the two plot decisions in the book that I just discussed were serious flaws, the book was written in her usual beautiful descriptive style and she did deliver on a whole bunch of necessary tie-ups. Overall it’s not my favourite in the series, but I am still very pleased. (If only Midnight Sun would be there to complement
)
‘I think taking matters in her own hands by posting the Midnight Sun draft on her own website and writing such an emotional post about the events was a poor choice’
That is exactly the problem. She had me feeling for her until she did that. Most fans ignored the leak (I, and many others, didn’t even know about it until SM told us about it!). When she posted the draft then, it was like she was saying ‘Fine. Here it is! I hope you so don’t enjoy it’ –she preceded her posting of the work by saying it was not her best work. Can you imagine Rowling pumping up the fans (SM just did an extended interview with Mugglecast that got me, for the first time really excited about Midnight Sun), and then, say, after Order of the Phoenix, there was a leak of a Deathly Hallows draft, and her response being, ‘I won’t finish the books now. Here are the drafts of HPB and DH, and now that the books are ruined, I hope you people will respect copywrite?’
That’s what happened and it made me lose some respect for her. This makes me less inclined to be interested in her future works. If one random act will have her take away the fun from millions of people, why invest in the fandom? I can find other playgrounds. Many fans are taking that route.
It is her stuff to be emotional about.
If someone stole my gear and posted it on the internet I’d try to regain some control over my creation by releasing it ALL when I wanted to.
Professor L, I could imagine Rowling doing as you have suggested in the same situation if she had not been contractually obliged to publish the books. I disagree that it is “one random act”. It is one deliberate act followed by deliberate choices by the people who read it. That’d give me the poops to.
Well, not to bring up the WB/RDR lawsuit, but I will, Jo did say something similar in her testimony, that this attempt by RDR & SVA to “steal” her work has left her unable to concentrate on writing anything else.
Oh yes, and I can certainly see that and as I said before, I do sincerely sympathise with Stephenie, but I just think that JK would have handled it differently and perhaps better. I would see JK just getting a lawyer out, having it pulled from the web and make a brief statement about that action.
I just think that Stephenie is pulling way more attention to this than it needs. Make your statement, take your break and either go at it or move away. I think she’s done herself a professional and career disservice by the way she’s handled it.
But again, me thinking this, doesn’t take away my sadness for the (potential but anticipated) loss of this book. I am still upset that this should have happened and that Midnight Sun might not be completed. It does trouble me a great deal.
‘I disagree that it is “one random act”. It is one deliberate act followed by deliberate choices by the people who read it. ‘
I see your point. Insert ‘one deliberate act and deliberate choices by the people who read it’ to my post. It still does not justify imho killing a fandom of millions.
Can she make that choice? Absolutely. It all belongs to her. I never questioned that. I just think she really should not have done that and her decision has made Twilight less fun. Fans are human and reserve the right to feel a little deflated.
(Question, since this is not the 1st time I’ve heard the JKR lawsuit comparison–has she cancelled the Scottish Book because of the lawsuit?)
I’m not certain why Meyer’s judgement or personality comes into question here. Not only is she the victim, she has no responsibility to anyone (except to her friends, family and – since she is deeply religious – to her God) to turn the other cheek, to shrug it all off with a philosophical smile, or otherwise handle this “well”. I understand that some of her fans – being pre-teens and teen-agers for the most part – take her decision personally, and feel personally betrayed and punished and generally badly treated by her. That is their problem, and will in most cases be resolved by growing up. But is there an argument to be made that an author owes a certain standard of conduct to her readership? I’d be interested in hearing more about what that idea is based on. I’d also be interested in hearing about a standard of conduct which could possibly be in place for an unprecedented event such as this. I think Korg (above) said it very well: if someone steals my stuff and posts it up, I’d try to get back control over it. If it means posting it all up, so be it.
I try very hard not to go back to those days, but this so reminds me of Howard Roark and his response to modifications on his architectural plans.