#Nightfall: twilight reimagined

[big-idiot-wolf-boys]

New NTRE chapter!

For the first time since October, we have a new chapter everyone! Read it here although I've made it for AO3 members only since I've heard some rumblings about AI being fed works and I'm not cool with that, sorry to non-archive readers!

[jacobsbadwig]

I have this long standing analysis of YA media dropping the ball on themes and consequences for its main characters giving them huge plot armor. What I realize the frustrating part about them is that often they are fantasy or fantasy adjacent, the authors accidentally create these huge worlds and severe problems and implications, but ironically, their main characters are separate from the world they inhabit via tone or their characteristics or mindset not aligning with the world (aka 21 century American mindset in a fantasy that takes place in 18th Russian analog iykyk)

Like Bella’s story being a romance while everyone else in a horror or gothic novel or pseudo vampire thriller or fantasy series is like odd as @panlight often points out mentioning SMeyers unwillingness to really lean into the vampire of it all. Honestly in a non first person story, this could be played for laughs to even be interesting.

(Never mind Smeyers surface understanding of the novels and plays, that she references as Bella’s favorite stories. As a former English teacher, her understanding and Bella’s understanding is in fact of someone who read some classics in high school but didn’t necessarily delve into the commentary and themes of the works focusing on the aesthetics of the romance rather than understanding what said purpose romance actually serves in the narrative as a critic or other wise. Insert ‘Smeyer doesn’t know what star crossed lovers means and refuses to learn rant)

Ironically, Bella having a romance in her world is portrayed as the exception when we look at other characters, even the uncivilized vampires, she is in fact the norm.

What makes Bella special other than her shield she gets at the end? She isn’t even the only one with great control. There are other hybrids. She is special because the text tells us she is. I’m not going to compare her to other female protagonists because my point isn’t about Bella as a character but rather how her narrative allows her to be special without really, really setting her apart from everyone else.

Just about everything the narrative says is specific to Bella’s story can be found in other characters backstories (that honestly don’t matter but do matter as a comparison that Bella is the exception to the rule rather than the example as I stated above.)

I think a lot of people cling to the Twilight saga (and other YA novels) but simultaneously desire more from the narrative because we want to feel special without doing the work, which isn’t wrong especially at a young age when you are finding yourself, but once we reach a level of maturity, we want our gifts and specialness to allow us to love ourselves and move in society as it drives our lives.

It’s why we cling to characters like Carlisle who doesn’t have known powers and has had series of trauma and has to actively rise above it. Or Jacob who is beaten by the narrative and should have been a symbol of how fate is myth and bullshit and circumstances may forge your path but choices and perseverance can alter it or make the path better.

I wanted to discuss @fuckmeyer Come Nightfall along with other Twilight reimaginings and how I feel as though, hers is the best damn thing we have. But while trying to write out my thoughts and why I feel as though I could never accomplish something like that, I ended writing this post after many posts about Star Wars. Honestly, I am reminded about two ideas: we are protagonist in our own stories and we are also side characters in others. Meaning we are chosen ones chosen for something greater but that doesn’t mean no one else is a chosen one.

Maybe that’s why I have out grown YA novels. Adulthood is in fact learning that you are hot shit but not always hot shit but other people also make sure your shit stays hot and you also make sure theirs stays hot too.

At the end of this thought process, I am left asking what was Bella actually chosen for. To be born a vampire? A Cullen vampire? A vampire in general? Edward’s wife and Renegades mother? Did she actually take the Volturi down (no but I’m posing the question) Or did she deny the call to what her purpose was.

If the last thing is true, then someone must rise to take her place.

I think Come Nightfall and other ideas answer this question and make it clearer that Bella chose her path rather than it being forced upon in a way the OG Twilight didn’t convince me. At the same time, fics and musing that pose other answers are just as compelling.

As for me, I believe Bella Swan denied her call arguably the call was declined for her the moment Edward entered the picture or maybe when she went to the Volturi (the Volturi of it all is for a other post but they should have killed her or turned her like WTF? Dumb). But also Bella Cullen’s only purpose in the narrative was to be Edward’s wife and Renesemes’s mother regardless of her earlier apprehensions.

[big-idiot-wolf-boys]

not to plug my own fic again but edward sure does say fuck in N̲i̲g̲h̲t̲f̲a̲l̲l̲

LET EDWARD SAY FUCK

[bella-bi-swan]

I REACHED 400 HITS!!!

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!

(btw, I’ve updated the book and cover so go and check it out)

https://archiveofourown.org/works/20635883

[witchyangela]

Hi - congrats to the milestone 🥳😍 I would love to request a moodboard as a gift to Jay (big-idiot-wolf-boys) of their fanfic “Nightfall: Twilight Reimagined”. They have so many great ideas & love reading them but I feel like it’s a rather underappreciated story ♥️

Ahh thank you sm!! 🥰And I will simply be reading that fic now!!! ❤️

[big-idiot-wolf-boys]

Gonna be rereading NTRE for inspiration on fixing the last chapter because I hate writing Edward and know it can be improved

[big-idiot-wolf-boys]

I’m rewriting the series (At least up to eclipse then we’ll see) But I only have the second and third books plotted right now so I’m not 100% sure how I’m going to handle the pack and things are subject to change. Right now I’m going with

The shapeshifting is still because of the proximity in vampires, and disconnected from the Quileute legends. They never claim they shift because the legends say so, they never act like it’s some kind of tribal magic.

Also the pack won’t be referred to as a cult or gang, ever.

Emotions won’t have a play in the transformation, and speaking of the transformation it won’t be painful and I’m going to deal with the clothes issue in a more reasonable way.

I like the duality of imprinting and vampiric mates, so I’m toying with the idea of keeping it but with key changes. (Maybe imprinting can be romantic, given the correct age groups, sometimes it’ll be like a sibling thing, sometimes the imprinter will take on a parental role, sometimes it’ll be solely platonic. It’s just knowing that person needs to be in your life, for whatever reason. The imprinter will, of course, maintain their free will and an imprint can be broken)

Outside of the wolf aspect of it, I’m planning on making the pack more important characters in the story, incorporating actual Quileute traditions and boosting irl native issues as often as I can on this blog.

Words like exotic, dog, etc, will never be used from the POV character, (Bella) but I feel stopping the Cullen family from doing so would be altering all of their characters a LOT (they’re all racist, lets face it) so they’ll just be called out for that shit.

As of right now, I’ve only posted up to chapter 8 of my rewrite, so the Quileutes have barely come into play so far, but you can find and keep up with the fic here, or read the first three chapters on my tumblr under the Nightfall: Twilight Reimagined tag

some questions for twilight fanfic writers/readers

how do you go about writing the quileute characters?

do you stick to canon? do you change only certain things (e.g. imprinting, emotions triggering the transformation, the hair growth)? mayhaps overhaul the entire werewolf/shapeshifter lore? if you alter them, why? in what ways? do you feel a responsibility to improve it?

if you’re not a writer, put in what you are noticing in fics

please reply in a reblog or put it in the tags if you would like to share and feel free to link your work or any fic(s) you like! :)

as i’m typing the questions, i’m 110% sure someone has asked this before, probably with the exact same questions - if you know who, please tell me, but i hope it’s okay to get this discussion going again regardless

thanks if you participate! unfortunately i haven’t properly ventured into the world of twilight fics & don’t really have the time atm but i have been wondering about it

[big-idiot-wolf-boys]

The best thing about Velma (2023) is that I no longer feel any shame or worry about my writing skills NTRE pulled to publish WHEN?

[big-idiot-wolf-boys]

Feeling very insecure about my characterization of Edward in these last two chapters, if someone wants to co-write him in the future you would be my favorite person on the planet

[big-idiot-wolf-boys]

trying to combine multiple chapters into one is so hard

[big-idiot-wolf-boys]

ok ok ok I sucked it up and edited/posted the new NTRe chapter

Find it here, though I'll willfully admit its kind of just a filler chapter until we get to the Reveal next time

[big-idiot-wolf-boys]

the way i havent updated NTRe at all in 2022

.

[big-idiot-wolf-boys]

                Bella Swan in Nightfall Twilight Reimagined

[big-idiot-wolf-boys]

What’s the vibe on vivid outfit descriptions?

on one hand i feel like it fits the mundane, everyday life of a teen girl vibes that twilight gave off in the first book, which is something i want to maintain in my fic. Plus it’s a good way to flesh out character’s personalities without using dialogue.

On the other hand, it feels very much like beginner writing, often sounding like My Immortal (and honestly maybe smyers mundane everyday writing style of the first book was beginner writing that should have been edited better but I like it so)

[big-idiot-wolf-boys]

It’s been ages but the new Nightfall chapter is out on AO3!

I’m not even gonna go into why its taken me so long to get around to, because there have been a lot of things going on in my life, but it’s finally out, and I’ll be working on the next one as soon as I post this.

Anyway, find the new chapter here!

[big-idiot-wolf-boys]

New chapter of Nightfall: Twilight Reimagined is up!

You can find it here, I like it a lot more since i took some time away from it and reread it, so hopefully yall will like it too!