In Which I Read Twilight for Self-Improvement

It's said that one of the best ways to improve your writing is to read. It helps expose you to new ideas and styles and can inspire you. It's also said that it's easier to define why something is bad than why something is good. Declaring something to be bad usually has very concrete reasoning behind it, while declaring something to be good can be a lot more nebulous.

So, in light of that, I'm going to read Twilight. Yes, all the books. If they're good, I get a (very, very) guilty pleasure. If they're bad (which I think is more likely), I get to understand exactly why they're bad and know how to avoid it in my own writing. And maybe I'll say, "I can write better than this!" and motivate myself to finish some of the stories I've got sitting around, like the heist story or the sci-fi one with the Jamaican seapony starship technician.

Every few chapters, I'll be posting my thoughts on the book so far -- on plot, characters, structure, that sort of thing. Maybe you can learn something, too. Or maybe you just want watch me suffer. That's fine, too.

Wish me luck.

---

Twilight

• Chapter 1 -- First Blood
• Chapter 2 -- Open Book
• Chapter 3 -- Phenomenon
• Chapter 4 -- Invitations
• Chapter 5 -- Blood Type
• Chapter 6 -- Scary Stories
• Chapter 7 -- Nightmare
• Chapter 8 -- Port Angeles
• Chapter 9 -- Theory
• Chapter 10 -- Interrogations
• Chapter 11 -- Complications
• Chapter 12 -- Balancing
• Chapter 13 -- Confessions
• Chapter 14 -- Mind Over Matter
• Chapter 15 -- The Cullens
• Chapter 16 -- Carlisle
• Chapter 17 -- The Game
• Chapter 18 -- The Hunt
• Chapter 19 -- Goodbyes
• Chapter 20 -- Impatience
• Chapter 21 -- Phone Call
• Chapter 22 -- Hide-and-Seek
• Chapter 23 -- The Angel
• Chapter 24 -- An Impasse
• Epilogue -- An Occasion

New Moon

• Chapter 1 -- Party
• Chapter 2 -- Stitches
• Chapter 3 -- The End
• Chapter 4 -- Waking Up
• Chapter 5 -- Cheater
• Chapter 6 -- Friends
• Chapter 7 -- Repetition
• Chapter 8 -- Adrenaline
• Chapter 9 -- Third Wheel
• Chapter 10 -- The Meadow
• Chapter 11 -- Cult
• Chapter 12 -- Intruder
• Chapter 13 -- Killer
• Chapter 14 -- Family
• Chapter 15 -- Pressure
• Chapter 16 -- Paris
• Chapter 17 -- Visitor
• Chapter 18 -- The Funeral
• Chapter 19 -- Race
• Chapter 20 -- Volterra
• Chapter 21 -- Verdict
• Chapter 22 -- Flight
• Chapter 23 -- The Truth
• Chapter 24 -- Vote
• Epilogue -- Treaty

Eclispe

• Chapter 1 -- Ultimatum
• Chapter 2 -- Evasion
• Chapter 3 -- Motives
• Chapter 4 -- Nature
• Chapter 5 -- Imprint
• Chapter 6 -- Switzerland
• Chapter 7 -- Unhappy Ending
• Chapter 8 -- Temper
• Chapter 9 -- Target
• Chapter 10 -- Scent
• Chapter 11 -- Legends
• Chapter 12 -- Time
• Chapter 13 -- Newborn
• Chapter 14 -- Declaration
• Chapter 15 -- Wager
• Chapter 16 -- Epoch
• Chapter 17 -- Alliance
• Chapter 18 -- Instruction
• Chapter 19 -- Selfish
• Chapter 20 -- Compromise
• Chapter 21 -- Trails
• Chapter 22 -- Fire and Ice
• Chapter 23 -- Monster
• Chapter 24 -- Snap Decision
• Chapter 25 -- Mirror
• Chapter 26 -- Ethics
• Chapter 27 -- Needs
• Epilogue -- Choice

Breaking Dawn

• Chapter 1 -- Engaged
• Chapter 2 -- Long Night
• Chapter 3 -- Big Day
• Chapter 4 -- Gesture
• Chapter 5 -- Isle Esme
• Chapter 6 -- Distractions
• Chapter 7 -- Unexpected
• Chapter 8 -- Waiting for the Damn Fight to Start Already
• Chapter 9 -- Sure as Hell Didn't See That One Coming
• Chapter 10 -- Why Didn't I Just Walk Away? Oh Right, Because I'm an Idiot
• Chapter 11 -- The Two Things at the Very Top of my Things-I-Never-Want-to-Do List
• Chapter 12 -- Some People Just Don't Grasp the Concept of "Unwelcome"
• Chapter 13 -- Good Thing I've Got a Strong Stomach
• Chapter 14 -- You Know Things are Bad When You Feel Guilty for Being Rude to Vampires
• Chapter 15 -- Tick Tock Tick Tock Tick Tock
• Chapter 16 -- Too-Much-Information Alert
• Chapter 17 -- What Do I Look Like? The Wizard of Oz? You Need a Brain? You Need a Heart? Go Ahead. Take Mine. Take Everything I Have.
• Chapter 18 -- There Are No Words for This
• Chapter 19 -- Burning
• Chapter 20 -- New
• Chapter 21 -- First Hunt
• Chapter 22 -- Promised
• Chapter 23 -- Memories
• Chapter 24 -- Surprise
• Chapter 25 -- Favor
• Chapter 26 -- Shiny
• Chapter 27 -- Travel Plans
• Chapter 28 -- The Future
• Chapter 29 -- Defection
• Chapter 30 -- Irresistible
• Chapter 31 -- Talented
• Chapter 32 -- Company
• Chapter 33 -- Forgery
• Chapter 34 -- Declared
• Chapter 35 -- Deadline
• Chapter 36 -- Bloodlust
• Chapter 37 -- Contrivances
• Chapter 38 -- Power
• Chapter 39 -- The Happily Ever After

Gloaming

Comments

[Captain_Hairball]

I have no words on me, thanks! But I have a lot of books you can borrow!

[Anar Isil]

Don't do it! You have so much to live for!

[Julian the Dreamer]

Good luck.

I don't get why so many people hate them, though. They are average and cliche, but so are many things today.

[QueenMoriarty]

Oooh, I gotta get me some popcorn.

[Sneaky_Commenter]

That is the reason I love readthrough sporkings of shitty fiction so much.

Reading it on your own, you can easily skip or miss things.

I can recommend Das Sporking, they have completed in-depth sporkings of all the books and most of the spin offs.

[Bugsydor]

Time to let my morbid curiosity get the better of me and check out these blogposts!

[Trevor12300]

4744446
I think because it glamourizes vampires.

[Julian the Dreamer]

4886947
Perhaps.