Publishing According to Stephenie

Hang around the young adult section of any library or bookstore and it’s almost guaranteed that you’ll soon hear the names Stephenie Meyer, Edward and Bella, Twilight, New Moon, or Eclipse being mentioned. One of young adult literature’s fastest rising stars, Meyer is a BYU graduate and mother of three who says, “I love to write and can’t do without it.” And her fans are ecstatic.

Her rise to fame has come quickly. Meyer only started creative writing a few short years ago, and has already found herself on the New York Times Bestseller lists. Her words: “One day I was not a writer. The next day, I was.” As much as she relishes the joy of being at the top of the heap when it comes to children’s authors, she sort of misses the days where just the writing itself was the joy, that time before deadlines, editors revision letters, and speaking in front of large crowds of people.

Her advice for beginning writers includes, “A ‘no’ from an editor does not mean they are right. The books that break the rules are the ones people love. Learn to find the balance between listening to your editor and listening to yourself, then stand up for your characters.”

“When you have the idea, you must write it down, right then,” Meyer says. She gets most of her writing done at night and claims to be “seriously sleep-deprived.” But that doesn’t seem to hurt the quality or quantity of her writing. She considers the writing of her novels “a reward to myself.” And thanks her readers for reading them.

Meyer believes that part of her purpose is to teach her young fans how the writing, editing, and publishing processes work, and she is not afraid to share her writing at those various stages.

More information on Stephenie Meyer and her books can be found at her website www.stepheniemeyer.com where she often posts updates including exciting information for her fans about future books in the series (Breaking Dawn) and Midnight Sun, Edward’s version of Twilight, and other books that will soon be coming (The Host).

Facing Your Audience

Sometime in junior high, I decided to be a writer. I wrote poetry and short stories, but I looked forward to the day when I would grow up and write novels. It took me several years to get there. Only eleven years ago I completed my first, the story of my mother’s childhood. My second novel was born three years later from a random idea. It was followed two years ago by a book based on my own teenage years, then last year I completed a historical set in the time of the Aztecs that I had been working on for nearly twelve years.

So, four complete novels reside on my computer hard drive. All have been through my critique group, revised, and prepared for publication. And that’s where the problem lies. Despite the fact that I’ve queried several editors and agents, I’ve not yet sold one of these manuscripts. Like many want-to-be authors, I could just give up and set my dreams aside, but after all these years and the amount of work I’ve already put into them, I don’t want to.

I decided to face my audience. All four of my books are meant to be read by teenagers, and every day I see over one-hundred teens in my Honors English classrooms. Copies in hand, I approached several of my best editors. “Would you be willing to read and critique this for me?” The response has been overwhelmingly positive. At last, the chance for the student to tell the teacher what they need to fix.

With delicious glee, the students were off, taking their task seriously. I’ll admit, I was nervous. Sending my babies off to faceless readers was one thing, but knowing I would see my new editors face-to-face every day for the rest of the school year was frightening. “What if they don’t like it? What if they think I’m a terrible writer? Will I be able to fix anything they don’t understand?”

As manuscripts started to come back to me, I discovered that sending them home with kids was the best thing I could do. The responses have been positive; the comments specific and helpful. As I’ve started revision based on my target reader’s input, I feel my manuscripts will be better than I ever thought they could be.

Writers need feedback to improve their work, and no response is as constructive as that from a real audience. Sure, agents and editors will hone my work to make it the best it can be, but the kids—they are the ones who will really matter when the books finally get published.

In the meantime, I continue to revise, getting each book ready for another round of submissions, and I continue to write on the next novel currently in the middle of chapter five. And maybe someday, I’ll be telling my audiences in the newspaper market I have a brand new novel coming out that they can read.