I Want Edward Cullen

Posted by Laura L. Johnson Jul 14, 2008

Stephanie Meyer is currently the envy of all writers – period. Trust me. I’m a writer. I know. It’s not that I envy her success and it is certainly not that I’ve always had a great yearning to write the great vampire novel of this century – actually, I’m quite sure that nothing even close has ever crossed my mind. So why do we all envy her so? Edward Cullen.

WAIT. Don’t close this blog yet. This is NOT another ode to Edward which are quickly taking over our world. I envy Stephanie Meyer because it is the dream of every writer to create a character who spawns a life of his own.

I certainly can’t speak for other writers, but for me, it’s not the possible marketing craze this character could cause, it’s that I want my characters to be as real to my readers as they are to me. When I create a character, he all but eats the leftovers in my fridge – he really takes on a life of his own – he has to! If not, I’m simply a person putting a decent combination of words together to form a plot – and this, I’m sure most of you would agree, Edward Cullen is not. Edward Cullen does what he wants, goes where he wants and says what he wants, and Stephanie Meyer is but a set of two healthy hands to communicate that.

Don’t worry - I don’t actually think my characters live, or that there is some alternate universe where all storybook characters live and interact (because if there was, I would SO be living there!). But I do think Stephanie Meyer got it right with Edward Cullen – and, by the way, to set the record straight, I am NOT in love with Edward Cullen(GASP).