Twilight for Life E-Book

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Are you a fan of Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight Saga?

You may enjoy this new, illustrated, 270-page ebook, “Twilight for Life: Finding Meaning in Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight — and in Life.”

This (unofficial) ebook, produced by the staff at TwilightNewsSite.com, is available in pdf format. It has been recently updated to version 1.1.

Below is the first chapter. Enjoy!

1. Welcome to Forks

“Tell me what you’re thinking,” he whispered. I looked to see his eyes watching me, suddenly intent. “It’s still so strange for me, not knowing.”

“You know, the rest of us feel that way all the time.”

“It’s a hard life.” Did I imagine the hint of regret in his tone? “But you didn’t tell me.”

“I was wishing I could know what you were thinking…” I hesitated.

“And?”

“I was wishing that I could believe that you were real. And I was wishing that I wasn’t afraid.”

These lines are from the Meadow scene of Stephenie Meyer’s first book, Twilight.

They came to her in a dream, before dawn, on the morning of June 2, 2003.

In her dream, Edward Cullen has led Bella Swan to a heavenly Meadow. They sit and talk. They express their feelings for one another. And they talk about their challenges — past, present, and future.

This passage is in the middle of Twilight. It is not only the center of the book, but it is also central to the book. It spells out the dramatic journey Bella and Edward face.

The two of them are halfway done, yet still have halfway to go. From this midpoint, Edward rehearses the past — how they met, how he responded, and why. And then, Bella begins to lay out their future, outlining the issues they still face.

Edward wants to know how Bella feels. He can read the minds of anyone else, which is good enough to get by. But when people love each other, like they do, they need to talk things through — which is more than just knowing what the other thinks. And since he can’t read her mind anyway, that works out quite nicely.

Bella points out that “the rest of us” often feel “strange” about life, because like Edward, we go around “not knowing” what we need to know. Edward agrees and says that, as a result, “it’s a hard life.”

Indeed, “not knowing” is the main problem of life. It’s what makes life so hard. It causes nearly every problem people face.

In the center of this heavenly meadow here on Earth, an Eden where the lion lays down with the lamb, Bella makes three wishes to her angelic Edward:
First, she wishes she knew more — in this case, what Edward was thinking.

Second, she wishes she could believe what she already knew to be true. Here, she is talking about truly believing that Edward is a vampire, and believing that he truly loves her.

And third, she wishes that she didn’t have so many fears, because then they would feel free to change their relationship — become closer, and finally commit to each other.

Their conversation continues, and since it is so central to Twilight, it’s worth a close look:

“I don’t want you to be afraid.” His voice was just a soft murmur. I heard what he couldn’t truthfully say, that I didn’t need to be afraid, that there was nothing to fear.

“Well, that’s not exactly the fear I meant, though that’s certainly something to think about.”

So quickly that I missed his movement, he was half sitting, propped up on his right arm, his left palm still in my hands. His angel’s face was only a few inches from mine. I might have — should have — flinched away from his unexpected closeness, but I was unable to move. His golden eyes mesmerized me.

“What are you afraid of, then?” he whispered intently.

But I couldn’t answer. As I had just that once before, I smelled his cool breath in my face. Sweet, delicious, the scent made my mouth water. It was unlike anything else. Instinctively, unthinkingly, I leaned closer, inhaling.

And he was gone, his hand ripped from mine. In the time it took my eyes to focus, he was twenty feet away, standing at the edge of the small meadow, in the deep shade of a huge fir tree. He stared at me, his eyes dark in the shadows, his expression unreadable.

I could feel the hurt and shock on my face. My empty hands stung.

“I’m… sorry… Edward,” I whispered.

Unfortunately, what happened next confirmed Bella’s fears.

How can she get closer to Edward, and move forward in their romance, and their lives… together? If they do become closer, will he run away again — due to his own fears of harming her? So, her fears are pretty much the same things that she doesn’t know; again, the problem is “not knowing.”

The big question for Bella is: How can she learn what she needs to know, so she can become the hero of her story? It is a question that everyone faces, including those reading her story.

Bella and Edward look at stories to see what can be learned from them, including Romeo and Juliet, Wuthering Heights, and the tale of the Third Wife.

Then, they apply what they learned from those characters to their own lives. Readers can do the same with Twilight.

At the start of their story, Bella and Edward are not sure what to do with their lives. Many people feel the same way.

Some worry that their lives will end up being meaningless.

Because if something seems meaningless, then it might be… worthless. And no one wants to be worthless.

So Bella shows people a way to find meaning in their lives — in the story, and out. She shows them how to make their lives worthwhile.

Every story has meaning. If it didn’t, it wouldn’t be a story. If people can find that meaning in the stories they read, view, or hear, then they can probably find the meaning in their own lives.

Here’s how:

Every story has a hero. Readers may identify with that hero. They usually do. Because if they figure out how the hero succeeds, maybe they can do the same thing. Like Bella, they can become the hero of their own life’s story.

Just as Bella and Edward each find different meanings in the same stories, readers can too. And that’s great. The best stories offer lots of different meanings for lots of different people.

So, how can people learn what they need to know to become the hero of their own life’s story?

Giving a clear answer to that, and other questions about life and its meaning, are one of the reasons the Twilight Saga is so deeply moving, and beloved by its millions of fans.

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