 Stephenie Meyer says that the idea for Twilight came to her in a dream on June 2 , 2003 . The dream was about a human girl , and a vampire who was in love with her but <unk> for her blood . Based on this dream , Meyer wrote the transcript of what is now chapter 13 of the book . Despite having very little writing experience , in a matter of three months she had transformed that dream into a completed novel . After writing and editing the novel , she signed a three @-@ book deal with Little , Brown and Company for $ 750 @,@ 000 , an unusually high amount for a first time author . Meyer 's literary agent , Jodi Reamer of Writers House , discovered her only because the inexperienced assistant who received Meyer 's original letter did not know that young adult books are supposed to be 40 @,@ 000 to 60 @,@ 000 words in length , not 130 @,@ 000 words . Megan Tingley , the Little , Brown editor who signed Meyer , said that halfway through the reading of the Twilight manuscript , she realized that she had a future bestseller in her hands . The book was released in 2005 . 
