Matt Darst's Blog - Posts Tagged "stephanie-meyer"
Naming the Book: Romero, Milton, and Meyer
Adolescent girls across the U.S. are celebrating the release of the new "Twilight" movie today. And while that might draw a collective yawn from some, it means something else entirely to me...
The original working title of "Dead Things" was "Twilight of the Dead," a reference to the movies of George Romero (Night, Dawn, and Day of the Living Dead). "Dead Things" is really an homage to the Romero zombies, explaining the science behind the rise of the dead and the transmission of the responsible pathogen.
I shortened the title to "Twilight" in 2004 based on a stanza from "Paradise Lost" by John Milton:
"The sun…
In dim eclipse, disastrous twilight sheds
On half the nations, and with fear of change
Perplexes monarchs."
An aside: as far as apocalyptic references go, can you get any better than Milton?
Well, in 2005, Stephanie Meyer beat me to the "Twilight" punch. Her book and subsequent movie got all the tweens in a tizzy. Alas, "Twilight" would forever be connected to sparkly vampires, and my working title was no more.
That, though, proved a fortuitous coincidence. Because, in all honesty, I like "Dead Things" as a title much better. It contains multiple allusions to the book's themes. "Dead Things" not only describes a world of zombies, it references the spirits of those forced to "live" in that world. Because, let's face it, "surviving" after the apocalypse is not the same as "living."
I also selected "Dead Things" because there is a quirkiness about it. There is an undercurrent of humor running through the novel (at least there's meant to be!), and the title works well in that sense.
Stephanie Meyer takes a lot of flack for ruining vampires. But did she really do anything worse to the genre than Bram Stoker? Stoker's "Dracula" reimagined vampires as blood-sucking monarchs. I'm sure the residents of Transylvania were less than amused. Imagine if someone did that to Princess Di today? And at least Meyer got kids off their phones and computers and into a book.
So, while I may not like "Twilight", I do owe Meyer a debt of gratitude. Because of her, I found a more representative and meaningful title for my book.
The original working title of "Dead Things" was "Twilight of the Dead," a reference to the movies of George Romero (Night, Dawn, and Day of the Living Dead). "Dead Things" is really an homage to the Romero zombies, explaining the science behind the rise of the dead and the transmission of the responsible pathogen.
I shortened the title to "Twilight" in 2004 based on a stanza from "Paradise Lost" by John Milton:
"The sun…
In dim eclipse, disastrous twilight sheds
On half the nations, and with fear of change
Perplexes monarchs."
An aside: as far as apocalyptic references go, can you get any better than Milton?
Well, in 2005, Stephanie Meyer beat me to the "Twilight" punch. Her book and subsequent movie got all the tweens in a tizzy. Alas, "Twilight" would forever be connected to sparkly vampires, and my working title was no more.
That, though, proved a fortuitous coincidence. Because, in all honesty, I like "Dead Things" as a title much better. It contains multiple allusions to the book's themes. "Dead Things" not only describes a world of zombies, it references the spirits of those forced to "live" in that world. Because, let's face it, "surviving" after the apocalypse is not the same as "living."
I also selected "Dead Things" because there is a quirkiness about it. There is an undercurrent of humor running through the novel (at least there's meant to be!), and the title works well in that sense.
Stephanie Meyer takes a lot of flack for ruining vampires. But did she really do anything worse to the genre than Bram Stoker? Stoker's "Dracula" reimagined vampires as blood-sucking monarchs. I'm sure the residents of Transylvania were less than amused. Imagine if someone did that to Princess Di today? And at least Meyer got kids off their phones and computers and into a book.
So, while I may not like "Twilight", I do owe Meyer a debt of gratitude. Because of her, I found a more representative and meaningful title for my book.
