Internet vs. writers? Two tales from the dark side: A leaked Stephenie Meyer draft, plus the Net as a time sink

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By David Rothman

Let’s get it straight. I’m been on the Internet since 1993 and can’t stop praising the Net as a bridge between readers and writers—not to mention its value as a research tool, distribution mechanism and life-enhancer in general. But here are two Not So Good Things:

1. Writer Stephenie Meyer is complaining that "my partial draft of Midnight Sun was illegally posted on the Internet and has since been virally distributed without my knowledge or permission or the knowledge or permission of my publisher." Bottom line: "I feel too sad about what has happened to continue working on Midnight Sun, and so it is on hold indefinitely." It was to be her final book in the Twilight series. She’d rather fans not read the draft with typos and all that. But so they could see the material without reading an illegal copy, she’s posted the draft—scroll down to the appropriate link. I know some have said that the biggest threat to the typical writers is obscurity, not piracy. True. But Stephenie Meyer already has The Fame Thing worked out.

That said, I wonder if Meyer will miraculously return to Midnight Sun to take advantage of the fuss. Oh, how evilly cynical the Net has made me.

2. PW editor-reviewer Rose Fox correctly depicts the Net as a major time sink, a distraction from the actual process of novel writing. "I can’t even imagine how many literal millions of words I’ve written online since I started posting to Usenet in 1996. I know my personal blog averages around 380,000 words a year. That’s four novels, right there, and it doesn’t include emails and Genreville posts and comments and IMs and text messages and all the other reasons I have classic keyboarder’s RSI." She marvels that Harry Turtledove—author or coauthor of 84 books in the past three decades—can resist the temptations of interactivity.

Correction: Yep, I royally mangled her name earlier. Fixed.

(Meyer item reported by Michael Cader of PublishersLunch. See his publishing blog, which may or may not be reachable to nonsubscribers. Subscribe here.)

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