‘Twilight Reimagined’ Sees A Female Vampire Fall In Love With A Male Mortal

Stephenie Meyer has created a new story as part of the bonus material for the 10th anniversary edition of Twilight. The 41-year-old author has swapped the genders of her main protagonists. In her original books, Edward is a vampire who falls in love with a female teenage mortal, Bella. In her new story, Meyer has made the female character (Edythe) the vampire and her love interest a teenage male (Beau).

Stephenie Meyer at the L.A. premiere of Austenland in August 2013.

Meyer announced her new twist of the romantic story whilst appearing on Good Morning America on Tuesday (6th October). Her appearance was made on the same day her latest novel, Life and Death: Twilight Reimagined, was released.

Meyer explained how her decision to swap the characters’ genders had been partly encouraged by her readers’ feedback and also her desire to do something “fun” for the 10th anniversary.

The readers were critical of Bella’s inability to defend herself and her appearance as a “damsel in distress”. Meyer explained how she simply gave superhero powers to the female character without changing the plot.

There is a recent trend with certain authors in deciding not to create original storylines but in simply recycling their original ones. For instance, E.L. James’ latest instalment in the Fifty Shades series, Grey, is exactly the same plot as the original series but from the perspective of the male rather than female protagonist. Interestingly, as James’ work began as Twilight fan fiction, it’s certainly a role reversal in Meyers following James’ suit.

Meyers had a similar idea for writing a novel from Edward’s perspective but, although she wrote a novel, the project was leaked online and it was quickly shelved.

Speaking during her GMA appearance, Meyers even admitted the concept had remained very much the same although there were slight differences in the character’s personalities.

"The further you get in the more it changes because the personalities get different," Meyer said (via USA Today). "It’s just a love story, it doesn’t matter who’s the boy and who’s the girl."

"It’s really very much the same thing,” she added. “My hope is that maybe the younger readers may be introduced.”