20 years ago, Twilight hit the shelves. Love it? Hate it? However you feel about it, I’m bringing you the story dissection no one asked me for, but everyone can learn from!

Highlights (full article below):

✨ Bella is NOT the protagonist! EDWARD is the protagonist in every definition of the word! Bella is the viewpoint character. Once you understand this, it will reframe the entire book. (1st book specifically)

✨ Edward has the dominating character arc—he desperately wants to be good, despite his “monstrous” nature, but Bella’s arrival knocks his whole world upside down, tempting him to his very limits.

At the climax, Edward faces a crisis: Allow the love of his life to become a monster like him? Or try to save her and risk killing her himself? This is the ultimate test—he must find the required self-control to save the humanity of Bella Swan.

✨ Main message: Love for others leads to self-control, which overpowers self-indulgence. The story thematically explores the struggles of self-control vs. self-indulgence, whether or not love is worth the risk, and what it means to be human (vs. a monster).

✨ A breakdown of the plot structure, which functions differently because the primary plotline is about a relationship.

✨ My editorial feedback—what didn’t work the greatest, and how specifically Meyer could have improved these weak spots.

✨ And of course, no Twilight dissection would be complete without addressing some of its controversies 😉

But wait! There is more 🙃

Come to the dark side, writing community, here there are sparkles—come, and read my (likely controversial) Twilight dissection. ✨🧛‍♂️ There is much to learn from this imperfect yet highly successful novel.

. . . But . . . because I know not everyone wants a Twilight dissection filling up their inbox (and because I usually don't do this sort of thing anyway), I decided to send this one as a link. (And don't worry, next time I'll be back with my typical email.) Read it here.

What People Have Said About It:

"If you are interested in writing or just love the nuts and bolts that make for good storytelling, you should read the full blog post. It's a really thoughtful discussion of the story." - anxiety-thyme (tumblr)

"A very interesting dissection. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!" - sikidi (tumblr)

"This makes so much sense." - multiple people on Facebook 😉

Table of Contents:

Is Twilight “Good”? Or is it “Bad”?

Edward is the Protagonist; Bella is the Viewpoint Character

Character Arcs and Themes (Edward and Bella)

The Relationship Plotline as the Primary Plotline

The Structural “Skeleton” of Twilight

• Act I: Moving from Classmates to Friends

• Act II, Part I: Moving from Friends to Couple

• Act II, Part II: Moving from Couple to (Physically) Separated

• Act III: Moving from Separated to Reunited (Rescued and Rescuer)

Editorial Feedback (Improving Twilight)

• Plot Points

• External Plotline

• Bella Swan

• Thoughts on Controversial Cosmetics

[20 Years Later: Dissecting Twilight]