Marissa Meyer (born February 19, 1984) is an American novelist. Her debut novel, '' Cinder,'' was released on January 3, 2012. It is the first in her series ''

The Lunar Chronicles ''The Lunar Chronicles'' is a series of four young adult science fiction fantasy novels, a novella and a short story collection written by American author Marissa Meyer and published by Feiwel & Friends. Each book entails a science fictional tw ...

''.

Early life and education

Meyer was born in

Tacoma, Washington Tacoma ( ) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, Washington, Olympia, and northwest of Mount ...

and attended Pacific Lutheran University, where she received a Bachelors in Creative Writing and Children's Literature. She later attended Pace University and received a Master's in Publishing. Growing up, Meyer admits that she had a strong love for fairy tales and one of her favorite shows was Sailor Moon, both of which later impacted her creation of ''Cinder''. Meyer also says that her love of superheroes helped lead to the creation of ''Renegades''.

Career

Before writing ''Cinder'', Meyer wrote ''

Sailor Moon is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Naoko Takeuchi. It was originally serialized in Kodansha's ''shōjo'' manga magazine ''Nakayoshi'' from 1991 to 1997; the 52 individual chapters were published in 18 volumes. The seri ...

fan fiction Fan fiction or fanfiction (also abbreviated to fan fic, fanfic, fic or FF) is fictional writing written in an amateur capacity by fans, unauthorized by, but based on an existing work of fiction. The author uses copyrighted characters, settin ...

for ten years under the

pen name A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen na ...

of Alicia Blade. She also wrote a novelette titled ''The Phantom of Linkshire Manor'' under her pen name. In an interview with '' The News-Tribune'', she said that doing the fan fiction helped her learn the craft of writing, gave her instant feedback and taught her how to take criticism. After graduating from college and prior to writing ''Cinder'', Meyer worked as a book editor and a freelance typesetter and proofreader. Meyer states that she was initially inspired to write ''Cinder'' after participating in the 2008

National Novel Writing Month National Novel Writing Month (often shortened to NaNoWriMo ) is a U.S.-based nonprofit organization that promotes creative writing around the world. Its flagship program is an annual, international creative writing event in which participants att ...

contest where she wrote a story focusing on a futuristic version of '' Puss in Boots''. The ''Lunar Chronicles'' is a four book series with volumes based on the stories of Cinderella,

Little Red Riding Hood "Little Red Riding Hood" is a European fairy tale about a young girl and a sly wolf. Its origins can be traced back to several pre-17th century European folk tales. The two best known versions were written by Charles Perrault and the Brother ...

, Rapunzel, and Snow White. The first book, ''Cinder'', was a New York Times bestseller. In 2013 Meyer received a two-book deal from Feiwel & Friends for a young adult series featuring the Queen of Hearts from ''

Alice in Wonderland ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (commonly ''Alice in Wonderland'') is an 1865 English novel by Lewis Carroll. It details the story of a young girl named Alice who falls through a rabbit hole into a fantasy world of anthropomorphic creatur ...

''. The first book, ''Heartless'', was set for a Fall 2016 release. It is a stand-alone novel. ''Publishers Weekly'' announced that she would write a superhero series afterwards. The resulting book is called ''Renegades'', which was inspired by the misreading of a sign and impacted by her love of superheroes growing up. ''Renegades'' was released in the Fall of 2017, and became the number 2 book on the New York Times bestsellers in November. In 2020 she released ''Instant Karma'' and in February 2021 it was optioned for television by

HBO Max HBO Max is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in the United States on May 27, 2020, the service is built around the libraries of HBO, Warner Bros., Cartoon Netw ...

. In November 2021 she released ''Gilded'', a novel based on the story of Rumpelstiltskin. Since 2020 she has hosted ''The Happy Writer with Marissa Meyer'', a podcast in which she interviews authors about their work.

Personal life

Meyer is married to Jesse Taylor. In 2015, she and her husband adopted their twin daughters, Sloane and Delaney.

Bibliography

''The Lunar Chronicles''

* '' Cinder'' (2012) * '' Scarlet'' (2013) * '' Cress'' (2014) * ''

Winter Winter is the coldest season of the year in polar and temperate climates. It occurs after autumn and before spring. The tilt of Earth's axis causes seasons; winter occurs when a hemisphere is oriented away from the Sun. Different cultures ...

'' (2015)

Related works

* ''Fairest'' (2015) – prequel * ''Stars Above'' (2016) – anthology * ''Wires and Nerve, Volume 1'' (2017) – graphic novel, illustrated by Douglas Holgate * ''Wires and Nerve, Volume 2: Gone Rogue'' (2018) – graphic novel, illustrated by Stephen Gilpin * ''Cinder’s Adventure: Get Me to the Wedding!'' (2022) - interactive ebook

''Renegades Trilogy''

* '' Renegades'' (2017) * ''Archenemies'' (2018) * ''Supernova'' (2019)

Standalone novels

* ''Heartless'' (2016) * ''Instant Karma'' (2020)

Gilded Series

* ''Gilded'' (2021) * ''Cursed'' (2022)

Short Stories

* "Gold in the Roots of the Grass" in ''A Tyranny of Petticoats'', edited by Jessica Spotswood (2016) * "The Sea Witch" in ''Because You Love to Hate Me: 13 Tales of Villainy'', edited by Amerie (2017) * The Phantom of Linkshire Manor (2021)

References

External links

* * *
Marissa Meyer's Official Wattpad Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Meyer, Marissa 1984 births Living people American young adult novelists American science fiction writers Writers from Tacoma, Washington Women writers of young adult literature Women science fiction and fantasy writers Writers of young adult science fiction 21st-century American novelists 21st-century American women writers Pacific Lutheran University alumni Novelists from Washington (state)