14 DAY TRIAL // Stephenie Meyer, the author who wrote the four “Twilight” books that Summit Entertainment is now turning into highly successful films, is about to be sued by another, less rich and less famous author, who claims the forth book is actually her own material. As Meyer’s publicist is denying accusations of plagiarism, Jordan Scott, the author of “The Nocturne,” is adamant the matter will go to trial, as her attorney says in a cease and desist letter sent to Meyer’s publishing house.
“The Nocturne” was written in 2003, Scott argues in the aforementioned letter and then, as she worked on it, pages and entire chapters from it were made available online, which means Meyer could have had the chance to look them up and then be “inspired” by them. The fact that the fourth book in the “Twilight” series, “Breaking Dawn,” came out years after “The Nocturne” is a clear indication for Scott that she was ripped off and now someone else is making a lot of money on her story.
“In a cease-and-desist letter Williams [Scott’s attorney] sent to Hachette Book Group, he provided comparisons from the two books of a wedding and a passage where a human-turned-vampire describes the wrenching change,” along with an episode where the two main characters make love on the beach, Reuters says. “As another instance of similarities, Williams pointed out that characters in both books call their wives ‘love.’” the same media outlet adds.
The cease-and-desist letter that should determine the Hachette Book Group to stop selling all copies of Meyer’s “Breaking Dawn” also includes passages that Scott considers were used as the main source of inspiration for passages in the fourth “Twilight” book. Moreover, the letter says, Meyer even lifted off entire passages with dialog from “The Nocturne,” bothering very little to alter them so that the similarity pass unnoticed. Williams points out that Scott will be filing her lawsuit in court sometime this week, but, surprisingly, she will not ask for monetary damages.
In the meantime, the Hachette Book Group is defending Meyer, saying that the “Twilight” saga has now reached such levels of exposure that less known authors are trying to use it as a vehicle for their own shot at fame. “The claim that ‘Breaking Dawn’ by Stephenie Meyer somehow infringes on an alleged book by someone named Jordan Scott is completely without merit. Neither Stephenie Meyer nor her representatives had any knowledge of this writer or her supposed book prior to this claim.” a statement from the publishing house reads.