‘Midnight Sun’ Almost Didn’t Get Finished; The ‘Twilight’ Companion Novel Was Leaked in 2008

Stephenie Meyers’ Twilight series was everywhere in the late 2000s and only got bigger as time went on. Even though the initial books were a success, she did plan to expand on it with a retelling of the first book from Edward Cullen’s point of view. And even though Midnight Sun is coming out in August, it almost didn’t happen. 

Stephenie Meyer’s ‘Midnight Sun’ was leaked all the way back in 2008

Midnight Sun is a look at how Edward handled first meeting Bella and everything that followed in 2005’s Twilight. From the ravioli date to lying in a field in Forks together, instead of Edward reading everyone else’s minds, readers were going to get a look inside of his. But the tortured ramblings of Edward’s head were put on hold when Midnight Sun was leaked in 2008.

“I have a good idea of how the leak happened as there were very few copies of Midnight Sun that left my possession and each was unique,” Meyer wrote in a blog post on Aug. 28, 2008. “Due to little changes I made to the manuscript at different times, I can tell when each left my possession and to whom it was given.”

She shared that a copy was “illegally distributed on the Internet” and she believed “there was no malicious intent with the initial distribution.” However, it did spread like wildfire, which prompted her to say something in the first place. 

“I did not want my readers to experience Midnight Sun before it was completed, edited and published,” she wrote. “I think it is important for everybody to understand that what happened was a huge violation of my rights as an author, not to mention me as a human being.”

She was so angry she wrote that she would change the ending, with James winning

As one would imagine, Meyer was very upset. She went on to explain why it was such a violation. Meyer also revealed that she had no immediate plans to release it after that. She even shared that she’d probably end up drastically changing the ending in her anger. 

“My first feeling was that there was no way to continue,” she wrote. “If I tried to write Midnight Sun now, in my current frame of mind, James would probably win and all the Cullens would die, which wouldn’t dovetail too well with the original story.”

Meyer explained that writing is linked to an author’s mood, and even though it’s a retelling of Twilight, it adds a lot of context and scenes that aren’t in that first book. She said that she was far “too sad” to continue. In 2008, Meyer said she was “indefinitely” holding the book. After more than a decade, it didn’t seem like she’d ever release it.

She’s finally releasing ‘Midnight Sun’ in 2020

For older Twilight fans, this was sad news to hear. At that time, she did release half of the book on her blog. It was just as promised: Edward’s point of view through it all. Fans got up until right before the ravioli date in Port Angeles. It shared Edward’s mad dash for Bella as she was pursued by those creeps in the town, and ended as they pulled up to the restaurant. Basically right when Bella really started to get answers from Edward, it stopped. 

While it’s been a rough almost-12 years for fans since her initial blog post, she revealed in another post in May that Midnight Sun would finally be released on Aug. 4, 2020. It comes at a time when people are stuck at home, and finding things to do is a new hobby all on its own. 

Fans can finally see what Edward, Emmett, and Carlisle were doing while Bella was in Arizona and what Edward was thinking about at prom. Oh, and how he dealt with dating a girl he wanted to kill every second they were together. August can’t come soon enough.