Stephenie Says

Brief Update

Fri, 02 Jan 2009 22:56:23 GMT

Hello there, all two of you who check this out. It has been a looong time since I've added anything because who knew graduate school could keep me so busy (but I got great grades, so we're calling it good)! Very cool news, I am in the process of doing my first thorough check of my SS email since my classes began in September, and I found an email from TeenVogue. Holy crap, someone reads this! But, late though it is, I wanted to pass along the link that I was so graciously sent: an interview with Stephenie about the video with Jack's Mannequin. It has been a while since the video came out now, but it is wonderful, and I hope you enjoy their extensive chat session! :)

Thought this was unneccesary...

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 02:16:45 GMT

But I guess I was wrong. So I just wanted to let you know that I'm NOT posting spoilers on here that Stephenie hasn't given in public. That includes in your comments. I do appreciate that you are commenting, but if it's not DIRECTLY related to the topic I posted or it's something that happens in the book, I'm not unscreening it, just deleting. Sorry guys, but I have some great friends who have not finished the book yet, and some others who won't even GET the book until tomorrow because they live in the UK. And not to sound rude, but I kind of am, so I should tell you that this site is a reference, not a forum. I WANT you to have those discussions. However, this isn't the place for it.
Hope you're enjoying/ have enjoyed your read of Breaking Dawn. Stephenie was just lovely when I met her for 1.3 seconds at the Nokia.

Breaking Dawn Cover

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 03:37:24 GMT

To take a little bitty break from the transcriptions I've been slowly but surely putting up while your backs were turned, I decided to consult my third-favorite book I own (probably my favorite to read... I'm such a nerd!) about what it says about the BD cover... Stephenie said on the tour for The Host that she not only supports this cover, but DESIGNED it herself. So, I think it must be pretty darn important.
And, because I'm a know-it-all, I'm pretty sure what it means, at least partly. That's not what I'm writing, though. Here's what my beautiful symbol dictionary says about the pertinent subjects. (highlights, because it's 1176 pages long and fairly verbose)

Chess

It is clearly linked as a symbol of war and applied to warrior - strategy.
"What takes place is a battle between white pieces and black pieces, light and darkness... and the stakes in the game, as always, were mastery of the world."
The name in some cultures literally means "intelligence of the wood."
It always has to do with intelligence, but not always with a moral world.

White

It can stand for either end of the spectrum - all-encompassing, or all-void.
Therefore, it is sometimes symbolic of a beginning and sometimes of an end of day or a lifetime.
It is the color of candidacy because prospective politicians in Rome wore white. (This sounds stupid unless you've ever joined a sorority or something like that - pledges often wear white in ceremonies)
It represents passage.
Because it is for extremes, that includes east and west... the white of the west, the end of day, "absorbs the individual and inducts him or her into the cold, female lunar world." The white of the east welcomes a new dawn, "rich with the potential manifestation from which microcosm and macrocosm (mlwl: literally, small and large worlds, your own life and the world as a whole) have been recharged as electric batteries." When connected with dawn it is not with the colors, but with that first light, that void between the two "gods" of the sky; sun and moon.
"A nothingness filled with childish happiness."
"The silence is not something lifeless, but replete with life-potential."
"Glaring white is the opposite of red... The white is the colour of vampires which thirst for the blood upon which the daytime world depends and which they lack. This white is the colour of shrouds, of apparitions and spectres and the colour of Oberon, the Elf-King."
And purity, of course.

Red

"The colour of fire and blood."
"Basic symbol of the life-principal"
It's "diurnal (day-time-ish), male... casting its glow upon all things, with vast and irresistible strength."
"a spur to action."
"It is the image of ardour and beauty, of all that is impulsive and generous, of youth and health and wealth and love, free and victorious"
In Irish tradition it is the colour of a warrior, in many traditions teenagers paint themselves red as a symbol of their vitality and strength.
"Red is also called the Absolute; 'it is pure because it consists of concentrated rays of sunlight.'"

Curious what I do have to say? Highlight: Bella is the white queen, of course. She has chosen her life with her "king", blah blah sacred marriage, blah blah union, blah blah completion. See also: celestial marriage, which relates to Stephenie's LDS beliefs. Obviously, her human death is quite literally a rebirth into this chosen life.
So who is the red pawn? Jacob. His fur as a wolf is red (of course, some chess board have white and black - this one is red... probably not just because of the color themes...) and we know he is going to have to be an important part of this story because he is important to Bella. While their romantic relationship has been resolved and is a no-go, his friendship and the current hole it is leaving, as well as his romantic status, is absolutely not resolved. I don't think Meyer would punish her characters by making them hate each other for eternity, or at least not speaking. So, it's showing that he'll be important... and that's "playing the same game" as Bella. I don't think it means that they'll fight against each other - just that he's got blood and she doesn't. And looking all this up confirmed it for me, but it's always possible I'm WAY off.

What do you all think? Do those cultural symbols directly relate to Meyer's choice? Or is it a looser meaning?

Barnes and Noble Studio

Sun, 04 May 2008 19:31:20 GMT

Meyer, Stephenie. Barnes and Noble Studio. May 2008. http://media.barnesandnoble.com/.

Hi, Barnes and Noble customers. This is Stephenie Meyer and I'm excited to tell you about my new novel, The Host.
With The Host my fans can expect a similar experience, I think, to the Twilight Saga. It's still a story that's based on the characters, that's about the love story, that's about what it means to be human, rather than really being a science fiction novel that's about ray guns and
space ships. I'm hoping that people will feel the same draw to the characters and the same concern for their well-being that they do with the Twilight characters.

When I first was describing The Host to friends and family, I called it the first love triangle with only two bodies involved. I still haven't been called on that one yet, so I'm not sure if something else exists, but the reason that I call it that is because it is a Invasion of the Body Snatchers style experience and two of the characters are existing inside the same body, and the two of them fall in love with the same person, which gets incredibly complicated.

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The most challenging thing about switching over to another story while working on another series was having to adjust to having new voices in my head. It takes a few days to switch from one set to the other and that was something I had to learn as I started writing The Host. It was a really rewarding experience, though, because I was working through the tough part of writing, which is the editing, where it's not about the creativity and the story anymore. And so to have something new to work on and a new world to create and to inhabit, that was a really restful place for me. And writing The Host for me was just really about me having fun, which is always my favorite way to write.

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I don't really have a typical writing day. Generally I try to write at night. It's easier for me when I know there are not going to be any interruptions. During the day while the kids re at school I work on editing, self-editing quite a bit. I like to read through the stories again and again. That helps me to find the little flaws or maybe new directions that I want to go. Of course every day is different when you're writing because every day the story goes a different direction or every day something new will occur to you and the hours sort of shape themselves around that.

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My fans are really, really cool. All of them that I've had a chance to meet generally I get along with really well. I think there's enough of myself in the books that the people who respond to them strongly enough to come out to an event or to try and get in touch with me, we have a lot in common. Being able to have a presence on the Internet, being able to know people through MySpace and having my own site and the other fan sites that I frequent really gives me a sense of who these people are and to know and to like them quite a bit.

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I've been reading a lot of YA fiction, kind of keeping up with the genre, and some of my favorites right now that I'm into are Shannon Hale and Cassandra Clare and Polly Shulman. I really enjoy stories where the characters are the principal focus, even when you have some really great, fantastical elements, it all comes back to who the people are. I'm always reading Orson Scott Card, Shakespeare, Jane Austen. These are writers who really get me because the stories of course are brilliantly written, but really it's about who the people are, and the characters behave the only way they can. They're so human that how they act is exactly how you would act in that situation. And that brings such a level of reality to it. I love writers that can make me forget that I'm a writer, and I'm just a reader again, and those are some that do that for me.

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I hope that the readers of my books ultimately come away with a really fun reading experience. I mean, I would hope that they care about the characters when they're done, that they would want to know what would happen for them next, or feel satisfied that they behaved in a way that was true to who they were. But mostly, I just want them to have fun. I hope they have a really great reading experience. I hope that they and come away thinking, "that was a day well spent."

Stephenie Meyer

Breaking Dawn

Sun, 09 Mar 2008 13:32:48 GMT

Love_Bites over on TwilightMoms has compiled a seriously fantastic list of what will, won't, and might happen in Breaking Dawn. I am ecstatic to include her list of expectations!

So here is my list of things we KNOW will happen in BD...with sources!
NM= New Moon EC= Eclipse PC=Personal Correspondence on Lex

A wedding will be involved...whether it goes through or not is another question (EC-Epilogue)
We know that Charlie has already knows about and has reacted to the wedding since the invitations went out. (although we don't know what his reaction was) (EC-Epilogue)
Alice will get to experience some degree of fun planning/executing the wedding (EC-Epilogue)
Bella's story will be finished with "a big bow" (Amazon video)
Bella will narrate for the most part. (San Fran Q2)
Jake will be in the book (Q&A Chicago Q9)
It will be at least loosely based on "A MidSummer Night's Dream" (Q&A Pasadena Q30) and another tale.
Volturi will be in it to some degree (we will at least hear why their skin is so brittle...unlike the Cullens skin) (PC10)
Forks will be a very interesting place (SM Website NM Story-last sentence)

Possibilities for BD that have been alluded to by Stephenie Meyer:

We may find out Eleazar's history and power (Denali clan) (Lex PC1)
Charlie will have a love interest but may not win out over his rival. (Stephenie said we may find out more about Charlie's family...which makes sense if the wedding does take place). (Q&A MySpace) [Mel's note - I can't find anything on this anywhere, but love_bites included it originally so I'm leaving it for now]
Sam and Emily get married? Leah is a bridesmaid. (EC5)
We will find out Alec's Power (Volturi) (Q&A Chicago Q3) -said we will find out but didn't say when
Bella may turn into a vampire (if she doesn't the Volturi will be angry) (NM/EC) and on the craptastic covers on SM's website there is a girl with long brown hair & red eyes on Forever Dawn (SM Website) and SM may have alluded to how her power would be special (Q&A Pasadena Q3)
Bella and Edward will end up together (she said "like Alice and Jasper, they would be characters in books 5 and 6) (Q&A Chicago Q4 & Q9)
Someone could grow a donkey head for the MSND tie in…ha ha (Stephenie post on Lex)

And I am thinking we should make a list of things that we know SM has alluded to not happening....
So, here are things that will NOT happen in BD:

Alice, Jasper, Bella, Edward will die (Q&A Chicago Q4)
Bella and Edward will break up (Q&A Chicago Q4 & Q9)
Bella will change her mind and decide to be with Jacob instead (Q&A Seattle Video 3)

Breaking Dawn Inspiration

Sat, 08 Mar 2008 15:52:55 GMT

In Berlin, Stephenie recently noted that two works inspired Breaking Dawn, rather than just A Midsummer's Night's Dream, as we had expected previously.
Do you think that this work is likely another romance? Or is it something fantasy? Do you think that it will give us clues about the wedding and Bella's change, the werewolves, renegotiating the treaty, the Volturi... or something else entirely?
The following are favorite authors, past and present, that Stephenie has mentioned in interviews. Are any of them or their particular works likely in your mind?
Comment and let me know what you think!

View Poll: Breaking Dawn Possibilities

And yes, I do realize that this is just inspiration, not plot for plot. However, I think it's easy to see Pride & Prejudice's influence on Twilight as well. :)