The Mormon Media Conflict...(in it's literary form)

So, I don't think anyone reads this blog at all, because I really haven't told any one about it. Hmmm...maybe I will.

Anyway, I was reading up on the Stephanie Meyer website today as one writer to another, and I came across a bunch of articles on her website about her Vampire Dynasty. Now my fellow Mormon's may be able to sympathise with me on this, but I wonder what it's like to be Stephanie Meyer. She's written this amazingly successful series that has girls/moms/grandmas going gaga, and is a millionaire several times over. But what does she do when it comes to all of the worldly misinterpretations of her brain-child. Seriously, if Hollywood got a hold of something I'd put my sweat, blood and tears into--something that would be completely innocent, mind you, I would cringe at the thought of them putting their own "edgy" twist to things. From the articles I read today, it sounds like she's already had some trouble with it.

At the same time, I want to take my hat off to her for standing her ground when a fan site started calling themselves "twihards". Naive as I am, I'm still not 100% sure I understand the innuendos in that phrase, but from the reaction it seemed to provoke in Stephanie, I can't imagine it was, shall we say in Austen's words; "respectable".

This is taken from an article on Entertainment Weekly called "Stephenie Meyer: Inside the Twilight Saga"

"Meyer's publicist then recounts the time some fans started calling themselves Twihards instead of the long-accepted moniker Twilighters and the blogosphere erupted. When a marketing executive at Little, Brown announced plans for a Twihard button, the publicist begged him to abort, insisting he'd be fanning the flames of war." www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20211938,00.html

Go Stephenie is all I have to say. She definitely has a bit of power to do some good in the literary world.

Anyway, this is really just some random babbling. But when you're writing something to send out to readers and hold the standards an LDS member does, there must be a lot of conflict and total lack of appreciation for it's innocence on the world's part. I'm a firm believer, however; that if we as in "upstanding citizens" Mormon or not, don't start infusing the literary world with "mainstream" value driven literature, than what will be out there for our children to read? I can honestly and whole-heartedly say that that is my sole motivation behind my writing. I want my son and whatever other children may come along to have the kind of books being published in their time, that I enjoyed in my childhood.

Whew! Ranting aside, I thought I'd update you all...whoever you may be, that the book is coming along pretty well just now. I've had a few rocky weeks with the holidays and a few family events cutting back my writing time, but at the same time, I've also had some major plot and character breakthroughs with the extra mulling I've been able to take advantage of.

My goal for this first book, is to have it finished and ready to send off to agents by September. That's what I'm aiming for, and so I'm sure you'll hear about it when it's finished--if not through my miraculous fame and fortune, then from my blog.

Cheers!