Ireth
Myth Weaver
'Bella is a blank slate' is second dumbest - it just means that she found an extremely effective way for every female reader of that book to relate with her main character.
Not to derail the thread too much, but it's exactly that blank-slate character, that ease of slipping into her shoes, which makes the series so unhealthy and despised in many people's eyes. If girls slip into Bella's shoes, they insert themselves into a relationship of emotional manipulation and abuse masquerading as a romance. Many of those girls are grounded firmly enough in reality to not take that sort of thing to heart, but how many other teens and preteens wish they had a boyfriend "just like Edward"?
*steps off of her soapbox*