Marissa Meyer

Meyer was born in Tacoma, Washington 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.[4] 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.[5] Meyer also says that her love of superheroes helped lead to the creation of Renegades.[6] In an interview with Los Angeles Times, she said she attempted her first novel when she was sixteen.[7]

Meyer at the 2022 Phoenix Fan Fusion

Before writing Cinder, Meyer wrote Sailor Moon fan fiction for ten years under the pen name of Alicia Blade.[8][9] She also wrote a novelette titled The Phantom of Linkshire Manor under her pen name.[8] In an interview with The News-Tribune, she said that writing fan fiction helped her learn the craft of writing, gave her instant feedback and taught her how to take criticism.[10] After graduating from college and prior to writing Cinder, Meyer worked as a book editor and a freelance typesetter and proofreader.[8]

Meyer states that she was initially inspired to write Cinder after participating in the 2008 National Novel Writing Month contest where she wrote a story focusing on a futuristic version of Puss in Boots.[11] The idea came from a dream where Cinderella was a cyborg and her foot came off, instead of her shoe, at the ball.[12] Meyer signed with agent Jill Grinberg,[7] who is still her agent today.[13] The Lunar Chronicles is a four book series with volumes based on the stories of Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, and Snow White.[11][14] The first book, Cinder, was a New York Times bestseller.[15] As of 2015, the series had sold over 651,000 copies.[16] The rights to the series was optioned by Locksmith Animation for film in 2022.[17]

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. However, it later ended up being a standalone book called Heartless, which was released in Fall 2016. Utah students adapted the novel into a musical which Meyer attended in 2021.[18]

Publishers Weekly announced that she would write a superhero series afterwards.[19] The resulting trilogy of books is called Renegades, as is the first book in the series. It was inspired by the misreading of a sign and impacted by her love of superheroes growing up.[20][21] Renegades was released in the November 2017, and became the number 2 book on the New York Times bestsellers in November.[22]

In 2020, she released a standalone rom com called Instant Karma, which was optioned for television by HBO Max in February 2021.[23] With a Little Luck, an upcoming release, will be set in the same world as Instant Karma.[13]

In November 2021 she released Gilded, a novel based on the story of Rumpelstiltskin, the first in a duology.[24] It sold 9,000 copies in its first week, and was the top YA title when released.[25] The second book in the series, Cursed, was released in November 2022.

Since 2020 she has hosted The Happy Writer with Marissa Meyer, a podcast in which she interviews authors about their work.[26]

Meyer is married to Jesse Taylor.[2] In 2015, she and her husband adopted their twin daughters, Sloane and Delaney.[27] Together, they live in Tacoma, Washington, the place where Meyer grew up.[13] Taylor is a skilled carpenter and built Meyer a fairytale-esque writing studio in their backyard, complete with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves.[28]

• Official website
• Marissa Meyer at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
• Marissa Meyer at Library of Congress, with 5 library catalog records
• Marissa Meyer's Official Wattpad Profile