Weâve all talked at length about the changes weâd make to twilight to make it more inclusive, less racist, less homophobic, less transphobic, less misogynistic etc. But if you wrote the series, what other things would you change?Â
For me, Iâd do a few things:
Twilight:
Carlisle would be the one to suck the venom out of Bellaâs arm, not Edward. He would do it at Edwardâs behest, but Edward himself wouldnât be able to enter the ballet studio. Heâd catch the faintest whiff of Bellaâs blood outside and have to run off before the bloodlust got to him. Jasper, Emmett and Alice would still subdue James. Edward would come to Bella at the hospital later and apologize for not being able to save her. This would be a good set up for book two in which....
New Moon:
...Jasper isnât the one to attack Bella. Itâs Edward. He has to be hauled away by his family. And thatâs why he feels so strongly that he has to leave. He doesnât think itâs safe for her to be with him. This continues to be an issue between the pair in the next book. And Bella struggles with fears of abandonment. Her trauma isnât just swept under the rug.Â
Eclipse:
Stephenie Meyer has this problem where whenever she needs something to happen, she invents more characters rather than using the ones she already has. Iâve come to love a lot of them, but if I had written the books, Iâd probably scrap Riley Biers, Bree and most of the other newborns in favor of using characters we already knew. Can you imagine how awful it would be for Bella to look at the piles of charred bodies when the Cullens were done killing the newborn army, and recognize some of those faces from her high school? I think itâd be a lot more impactful that way. Â
Oh and imprinting would still exist. But no one is imprinting on children. And several people choose to resist their imprints. Free will trumps destiny.Â
Breaking Dawn:
Iâve talked about this at length. You can check out my âbreaking dawn is a messâ tag for most of it. But Breaking dawn would be a totally different book. Bella and Edward would still get married and have their honeymoon. But the drama wouldnât come from Renesmee (she wouldnât exist). Instead, Bellaâs clumsiness would make her suffer another minor accident, and it would be her eighteenth birthday party all over again. Only this time, the Cullens wouldnât be around to stop Edward. He would bite Bella, and she would nearly die. Heâd pull away just in time. Bella would wake up, immortal, confused and scared. Edward would be beating himself up. Bella would have a lot harder time adjusting to being a vampire. Sheâd question whether it was worth it. Sheâd make plans to go to Italy, to get the Volturi off their backs. Itâd be weird visiting them not as a criminal. Theyâd offer her a place with them. Sheâd consider it. But refuse. The main conflict would come from another source--the Romanians. They, and various groups of other people who felt wronged by the Volturi would be moving against the coven. Alice would see the absolute disaster that would ensue if the Romanians usurped the Volturi, and theyâd form an unlikely alliance to stop it. The wolf pack wouldnât be happy about the Cullens cooperating with bloodsuckers who drink human blood, but would be forced to recognize this was in their best interests too. If the Romanians exposed the supernatural world, the wolves would also be under threat. After saving the day, Bella and Edward would make up and make plans to go to college together. The end.Â
