Thursday, July 8, 2010

Flashback Friday: When Krista Met Twilight....

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Welcome to Week Twelve of our fabulous segment Flashback Fridays where the old and new collide on everything from books to movies to first loves to favorite vacations.

With Eclipse's record breaking box office opening last week, I felt some Flashback Friday homage needed to be paid to the Twilight series and how I became a fan.




























My experience with reading the Twilight Saga goes something like this. Let's Flashback to October of 2009. As I was making my way through a mound of papers—book reports to be exact—I noticed a pattern. The vast majority were talking about this book or series of books to be exact. Yep, you guessed it: Twilight. Sure, this was shortly before the movie’s November release, so there was a lot of film generated buzz going on. Yeah, I figured that out later since I had no idea there was even going to be a movie until I read it on Stephenie's website. So, once I finished all the grading, I decided I should check out what all this Twilight” hoopla was about.

And that my friends was shortly before I became infected by what I like to call “Twiacoccus Infection”. You may even have suffered from it before yourself. It’s that inexplicable feeling that nothing in the world matters besides Edward and Bella. Your Job? Sleep? Family and Friends? Psht, nope, nothing outside of Forks is as important but devouring the Twilight series like Emmett and that Grizzly.

It goes without saying I had an unusual Twilight reading experience. I actually read part of Breaking Dawn first. Hey, it was left in my classroom. Okay, so maybe I skimmed parts to see where the “good stuff” was. Sadly, I learned it was only fade to black “good stuff”. Damn. Then while I was waiting for Twilight, New Moon, and Eclipse to come from Amazon, I started reading Midnight Sun online. This is an interesting piece in my reading saga. Perhaps it’s why(along with aforementioned Twiaccous) that I was able to tolerate Edward’s behavior.


After reading the books, I stayed highly feverish with Twiaccous until the movie’s release. My female students counted down the days until it opened....my male students rolled their eyes. For Twilight, I didn’t go to the Midnight Premiere. I went with two good friends the day it opened. However, when New Moon and Eclipse came out, you better believe I was going serious with the Midnight Premiere.

But before I release some Twilight hilarity on you, I should say this. I owe SERIOUS props to Stephenie Meyer. Here’s why. Up until November 2009, I had never written YA except for when I did the Institute of Children’s Literature(and that’s a whole other post for another time!). The summer and fall of 09’ I wrote a Southern Literary Fiction. But when I read Twilight, something happened to me that I had never experienced before. I began to dream about a story just like Stephenie did. For the first time, I had full-blown character schizophrenia where I couldn’t sleep at night for thinking about my characters. What came from reading Twilight was the idea for The Guardians, my YA UF about angels sent to earth to guide and protect lost souls. The Guardians sent me on a long quest to find an agent….on an epic journey of revisions….and a pit-stop along the way where I wrote Don’t Hate the Player—the book that landed me an agent.
So, yes, I may bash Twilight….I may poke fun at Bella or other characters, but in truth, I do so love the story and characters. From time to time, that Twiaccous Infection seeps back into my system. And I’m good with that. And for your viewing pleasure....
































































































































































And of course, I must recommend some Twi-inspired reading, right? Of course, there is SOOO much Twilight related funny stuff out there that it's hard to narrow it down. But here's two.



Even though it wasn't quite as hilarious as I thought it would be, Nightlight was pretty hysterical with it's Belle Goose and Edwart Mullen. I'd recommend giving it at least a peek when you're at the bookstore.

And then a blog that seriously had me ROFLing so loud that my dogs kept looking at me like I was an idiot would be Cleolinda's. You seriously have to check this out. Her breakdown of Breaking Dawn had me in tears from laughing so hard.

10 comments:

Leah said...

Oh my God, those picture are so freakin' GREAT!
"Nice wig, Jacob. What's it made out of."
"Your mom's chest hair."
*dies*
*is revived*
*dies again*

Unknown said...

I totally agree with every. single. word. of this post. I'm a closeted Twilight fan and while I pretend to hate Stephenie Meyer, I actually feel a little grateful that she cracked the YA market.

Plus, I have a soft spot for Mike Newton. I know, I know, I'm weird for liking humans.

Ps. Love the pictures! :D

Stina said...

I just snarfed my milk reading the captions. Thanks for making my day! :D

erica_henry said...

Every word you said was me!!!!

I was preggo and on bedrest when I started reading the Twilight series. Another friend was in the same situation.

Stephenie gave us an escape from the boring, sore, exhausted lives that we were in and we became obsessed. Read all the books in a matter of weeks. Some books in 2 or 3 days lol.

I too dreamed about the books and started thinking what my perfect book would be.

I started writing when I became a STAHM again with my DS and haven't stopped since.

I owe Stephenie so much for how she has changed me. Not that I could never make it without her but she gave me the courage and push I needed to let my creativity take over and start writing (something that I had wanted to do for years).

Becca said...

I love the pictures. But I have to say, I think Harry Potter has another comeback for Edward. Even though more people want to see Edward without his shirt on, at least Harry's aren't airbrushed.

Tahereh said...

"Nice wig, Jacob. What's it made out of."
"Your mom's chest hair."

I ABOUT DIED.

Katie Ashley said...

You guys are all welcome for the snortfest!! I had one myself, and I'll have to admit I had some serious fun writing this post...maybe more fun researching the twilight funnies. It was a take on a line from Raising Arizona "So many pictures...so little space!"

Gah, next time I'm having a dark day, I'll know exactly what to do!!

Lisa Gail Green said...

Funny and true. You know I had a similar experience in that I really went for it (so to speak) after I finished the Twilight books. LOVE the pics, especially the HP one.

Jamie Blair said...

I was introduced to Twilight through a HS English teacher friend- you guys know all the good books to read!

Annie McElfresh said...

HAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA *BREATHE* HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHA

You friggin' Rawk Krista!!