Quote:
Originally Posted by gmw
Twilight (just the first book) has (according to Wikipedia) sold more than 17 million copies to date. Its huge success (even before the movies) is, as far as I know, largely due to the fact that it became popular even outside its target "young adult" audience. I know for a certainty that it has been enjoyed by many who are not teenage girls - such an assertion severely underrates and understates the books popularity. (That is essentially the same as claiming the Harry Potter series only did so well because kids loved it.)
You say there is no connection between good writing and popularity ... but how can this be so? Isn't popularity a reasonable measure of how accessible readers find the book?
|
Personally, I think the market for
Twilight is exemplified but not limited to teenage girls. I think it's a wish-fulfillment fantasy that resonates best with readers who can identify with an awkward teenage girl who turns out to be possibly the single most important person in the world - even if she doesn't know it. It fulfills that need to be "special," and "important."
Also, I do think it's important to explain what I mean by poorly written. I'm not talking about grammatical errors; you're not likely to see many of those in anything from a major commercial publisher. I'm talking about things like overuse of the passive voice and indirect discourse, clunky sentences and too many modifiers. I'd list head-hopping there too, but I haven't been able to read enough of the books to know if it's there or not. (I tried to read them but gave up.)