What Romance Writers Can Learn from the Twilight Hoopla

[image error] Entertainment Weekly reports that on opening night alone, Twilight Breaking Dawn pt 1 grossed 72 million dollars. I contributed my $7.50 to that total on Friday morning when I went to the 10:30 a.m. matinee and found it packed--not with tween girls, but with their moms.

Rarely do tween or teen girls like anything their moms like, so I've been fascinated by the Twilight phenomenon for the last several years, through the release of the last of the books (I didn't start reading until  the last book was released) and through the first four movies. Obviously these books and movies have struck a nerve in two diverse demographics, myself included.

The books have flaws, there is no doubt about that. The writing is OK but not spectacular. The plots drag in places. Sometimes Edward's self-loathing and Bella's totally devoted love-sick teenager schtick deserves an eye-roll or two. And in New Moon, two hours of suicidal, sad-sack Bella is almost too much to take.  He may be a vampire, but Edward is still just a guy. A girl who reacts to a break-up as Bella did in New Moon would have certainly been diagnosed with emotional problems long before Edward entered the picture.

But even with all the series' flaws, I could not put down those books. As a writer who would love to sell a fraction of the number of copies of books Stephanie Meyer has, it's worth examining WHY this fascination is so enduring (and lucrative).

After much thought, I've come to the conclusion that for tweens, it's the love story. Edward (and Jacob) are the bad boys we girls love to love. Then there's the whole forbidden love thing--humans and vampires are not meant to be together, since humans are basically just a tasty after-dinner treat. And then there's the sense of being "chosen" by the ultra-hot guy every girl at school desires but none has been able to reel in. Edward and Bella's love is the ultra teen-girl fantasy romance.

Ok, so why do women who have been there and done that and found that a lot of that stuff is hooey still flock to the movies? I think it's because Meyer has written Bella in a way that makes us remember what it was like to be that young and that naive and to fall in love for the first time. I haven't been a teenager for a long, long, time. But reading those books, it was easy to slip back into Bella's skin--the teenage me--who is having all these new feelings for a strange, unobtainable guy. It's our fantasy played out, too, without the burden of having to remember everything that comes after the fantasy ends and real life begins...babies that require 2 a.m. feedings, unpleasant in-laws, mortgages, sucky minimum-wage jobs, broken washers, dirty diapers, etc, etc.

So, as a writer, I have to say Twilight's appeal at its most basic level is about eliciting emotion in the reader and creating a heroine that readers can easily identify with. Twilight works in that regard for the tween fans and for those of us slightly more mature.

That, in effect, is the problem with Breaking Dawn. I could not help but think when watching it that surely tween girls were not going to "get" Bella in this installment. She has moved past their realm of experience with her marriage and subsequent pregnancy. First, I don't think tween girls can grasp the depth of love and commitment it takes to be a life-long partner  to someone. There's infatuation and there's soul deep love and I don't think you can tell the difference until you're well past puberty and have experienced both--until you've loved and lost and loved again. Now, Bella did lose Edward in the second book, so she might arguably have an inkling. But the audience of 13-year-olds has not had that same experience.

[image error] Secondly, the love Bella has for her baby right from the moment she knows she's pregnant is way, way beyond the scope of experience for most teens. In fact, I don't think you could explain it adequately to anyone who has not had the experience of being pregnant and giving birth herself, no matter her age.  I found myself wondering if all the tween girls in the audience at the theater would get why there was no way Bella was letting Edward or Carlisle or anyone else talk her into aborting her baby, even though giving birth meant almost certain death for Bella. A mother's love is fierce and boundless and eternal. That was all written into Bella's character and played out in the movie.

So now I'm curious as to whether reactions to Breaking Dawn will differ according to demographics. Will tweens lose interest before the second part of Breaking Dawn comes out next year since Bella is no longer a relatable character for most of them? Or will they see it anyway and love it as much as the others for some other reason? I rarely read commentary about Breaking Dawn being anyone's favorite book of the series. Is that why? Did Meyer lose part of her audience by allowing Bella to grow up past the scope of experience of her younger audience or did she hook them securely enough with the early books in the series that they're along for the ride anyway?

No matter what the ultimate box office nets are for this and the final installment of the Twilight movie saga, there is one thing that moms and their daughter will still agree on---the total hotness of Jacob's rock hard muscle-bound naked torso.

Oh, Yeah. That alone was worth my $7.50.