Stephenie Meyer’s ‘Midnight Sun’ Leaked On the Internet
By Debra Lau Whelan -- School Library Journal, 9/2/2008 11:24:00 AM
Bestselling author Stephenie Meyer is scrapping plans to finish the final book in her Twilight series after a partial draft was leaked on the Internet.
In a recent posting on her Web site, Meyer told fans that she didn’t want them to read Midnight Sun before it was completed, edited, and published.
“My partial draft of Midnight Sun was illegally posted on the Internet and has since been virally distributed without my knowledge or permission or the knowledge or permission of my publisher,” she wrote on August 28. “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, As the author of the Twilight Saga, I control the copyright and it is up to the owner of the copyright to decide when the books should be made public.”
The news came just weeks after the August 2 release of Breaking Dawn (Little, Brown), the fourth book in the internationally bestselling series of books about vampires, aimed at teenage girls.
Meyer says she has an idea who leaked the draft since there were very few copies of Midnight Sun that were distributed. “Due to little changes I made to the manuscript at different times, I can tell when each left my possession and to whom it was given,” she wrote. “The manuscript that was illegally distributed on the Internet was given to trusted individuals for a good purpose. I have no comment beyond that as I believe that there was no malicious intent with the initial distribution.”
Although Meyer prefers that fans didn’t read this version of Midnight Sun, she’s decided to make it public. But plans to finish to book have been indefinitely shelved. “It was only an incomplete draft; the writing is messy and flawed and full of mistakes,” Meyer said. “But how do I comment on this violation without driving more people to look for the illegal posting?”
“So where does this leave Midnight Sun? My first feeling was that there was no way to continue,” she explains. “Writing isn't like math; in math, two plus two always equals four no matter what your mood is like. With writing, the way you feel changes everything. If I tried to write Midnight Sun now, in my current frame of mind, James would probably win and all the Cullens would die, which wouldn't dovetail too well with the original story. In any case, I feel too sad about what has happened to continue working on Midnight Sun, and so it is on hold indefinitely.”
The much anticipated film of the first book, Twilight (Little, Brown, 2005), will be released on November 21.
