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Our Exclusive Interview with Stephenie Meyer
Back in August of 2008, the cast of Imprint interviewed the beloved author of our favorite series on our other podcast, MuggleCast.
Below is a transcript of said interview - we learned a lot about the characters, the author, and the series as a
whole straight from the source!
Andrew: It’s time now for our interview with the one and only, the fantastic, the charming, the bubbly – as Laura and Elysa described her after the show - interview with Stephenie Meyer! And now for those of you who have read Breaking Dawn or are planning on reading it, we do get into the plot of the book, but I inserted a little spoiler warning before Breaking Dawn content so you’ll know when to stop it so nothing gets spoiled for you. So, we’ll take it away to our interview with Stephenie Meyer.
Andrew: Joining us now is Stephenie Meyer, the author of the highly successful Twilight saga which was just completed Friday when Breaking Dawn was released. Hello Stephenie!
Stephenie Meyer: Hi, Andrew!
Andrew: How are you today?
Stephenie Meyer: Um, pretty good. I’m starting to get a little nervous because of the show tonight – that always happens.
Andrew: Yeah, you’re in the middle of this tour right now – um, what is this, your second or third?
Stephenie Meyer: Um, this is my fourth tour?
Andrew: Oh, okay.
Stephenie Meyer: So, both books, and then one tour for the Host and then, you know, various international tours.
Andrew: Right, right. And you are in Chicago tonight, right?
Stephenie Meyer: Right.
Andrew: Awesome. So we’re gonna ask you, uh, some questions about the Twilight fandom and how it compares to the Potter fandom, since we are a Harry Potter fansite, and then we’ll get into stuff about Breaking Dawn. Does that sound good?
Stephenie Meyer: That sounds cool.
Andrew: Alright, cool.
Elysa: With the release of Breaking Dawn the press is really all over this huge phenomenon that you’ve created with these books, and a lot of them are comparing you to JK Rowling because of the similarities in the fandom. Why do you think so many Potter fans also enjoy Twilight and vice versa?
Stephenie Meyer: Phew, yeah, I think everyone says that, actually, not most of them.
Elysa: Yeah, yeah.
Stephenie Meyer: I get that all the time now. And I, I don’t really know. I mean there- when it comes down to it, there isn’t that much that’s similar about the, the books except for the fans of the books are very similar. And of course all my fans are Harry Potter fans because everyone is a Harry Potter fan, so that just goes without saying, right?
Elysa: Right, I agree with you. Yeah.
Andrew: Yeah.
Stephenie Meyer: Yeah, so I mean, I think that, I mean they’re fantasy, and they’re fun reads but they do appeal to people who like a little bit longer books, so there’s that too I guess.
Elysa: Right.
Matt: Okay, uh, Stephenie, in your opinion what is it about this whole genre that appeals to so many readers?
Stephenie Meyer: Uh, the vampire genre?
Matt: Yeah.
Stephenie Meyer: You know I don’t know, because I’m not- I don’t read vampire books, so – you know, before. Now I’ll be able to. I’ve never really been into horror, so I’m not sure what the appeal is. I think it’s because, I mean, a lot of people like horror, people who aren’t me, and I guess people like to be scared. And vampires, of all the monsters that we can scare ourselves with are definitely the sexiest, I mean-
Matt: Yeah, right.
Elysa: Totally.
Andrew: Now one major difference between the fandoms is that – between Harry Potter and Twilight – is that JKR has had ten years to develop her fandom, whereas yours has only had three years. So if your fandom only had – not only, if your fandom had ten years to develop, do you think it would grow into this huge thing?
Stephenie Meyer: Well you know, I don’t know. Everything has been so much more than I expected.
Andrew: Yeah.
Stephenie Meyer: So it’s hard to say. I kind of keep waiting for everything to crash and burn. That’s sort of my personality though.
Andrew: It just seems like, you know, I would have to wonder what would happen if there was just more time. Um, it would be fun to watch, and just seeing this whole fandom grow has been a lot of fun to watch – the Twilight-
Stephenie Meyer: Yeah, it’s been really fast, I mean, obviously cool and fun for me, so- I don’t know, I kind of like the idea of starting over with new characters, though. Uh, it could be-
Andrew: Yeah…
Stephenie Meyer: I image, JK Rowling deals with is the idea that people feel like the characters belong to them, and after a while they have very definite idea of what they want to see happen. You don’t really have to deal with that much when you’re starting over with fresh characters.
Andrew: Is that a hint of things to come?
Stephenie Meyer: Well, I- well, obviously I’ve got to go do Midnight Sun so people don’t come after me, right? So I’m still in the Twilight world for now. But then I’ve got a lot of other, you know, non-vampire- ghosts, time-travel, mermaids, I’ve got a ton of stuff to work with.
Andrew: Oh, wow!
Matt: Oh, awesome!
Laura: Awesome!
Andrew: That’s a little spectrum there, yeah.
Stephenie Meyer: Yeah.
Laura: So, considering you said that the two stories don’t have a whole lot in common, what do you think Harry Potter fans would like about Twilight, especially people who haven’t read the books yet?
Stephenie Meyer: Huh, you know- I don’t know, it’s not- to me it’s so, not comparable, but I do think that people who are readers - I was always a reader when I was growing up, and I just liked really big stories because I never wanted them to end. And my stories are long so they have that going for them, and I think that they’re kind of fun, fast reads, you know, for as long as they are. My priority is always entertainment, and so I think that that’s the more with Harry Potter. Rowling just has such a whimsical, magical escapism that’s really cool. And with Twilight, I think that’s it’s a little bit closer to home because it’s set more in the world that we know, but I still think it has that escape that people might be looking for.
Matt: Mmhmm.
Laura: Right.
Andrew: And I gotta say, that’s what I’ve always liked about your books, is it is set in today’s world, and in America too. I mean, I always appreciated your reference to Rotten Tomatoes, I think that was in Twilight or New Moon. Just thought it was good.
Stephenie Meyer: Well, you know, Rotten Tomatoes is a good tool.
Andrew: Yes, it is.
Matt: Okay, well, Stephenie, you’ve read the Harry Potter books, correct?
Stephenie Meyer: Yes.
Matt: Okay. What would you say is your favorite of the series?
Stephenie Meyer: Probably number three? I’m just a huge Sirius Black fan.
Elysa: Right on! I’m with you there.
Stephenie Meyer: I had a really hard time when he died. It was not easy for me.
Laura: Aw, well I think we all felt the same way.
Stephenie Meyer: Yeah.
Laura: But if you had to pick something specific, or maybe not so specific, what do you admire most about JKR’s work?
Stephenie Meyer: Oh, gosh, her imagination. I mean, she… I- When I work, I work within the world that I’m in, because I like having that foundation of realism, and also it’s a little bit easier. People are used to being in this world. To create a whole other world and get the walls up as solidly as she does takes a ton of imagination and just a real gift. I’m constantly amazed by that with her.
Elysa: Ok, so if Harry and Edward had to duel against each other using their own abilities, who do you think would win?
Stephenie Meyer: Oh, gosh, don’t get mad at me, but, I mean- okay. I don’t know what a wizard fight looks like in her head – I know what it looks like in the movie, and so I kind of have to go on what it looks like in the movie. But here’s the thing, if it’s possible for a human to duck a wand being shot at them, a vampire’s not going to have a problem. I mean, the fight would be over in point zero one seconds because Edward would be across the room, snap his neck and be done.
Andrew: Oh, hell yeah!
Stephenie Meyer: I mean he wouldn’t even have time to say the spellwords, so, I’m sorry, Edward would win that one.
Elysa: Yeah.
Andrew: Alright, let’s move on to…
Matt: I kind of agree with her.
Laura: Yeah, me too.
Andrew: Alright, well let’s move on to Breaking Dawn now.
And, if you, the listener, have not read Breaking Dawn yet and you plan on it and don’t want to be spoiled, now’s the time to fast forward about thirty minutes ahead to get the rest of MuggleCast.
Andrew: Because we all finished reading it, I think it’s safe to say we all loved it.
Matt: Yes.
Laura: Yeah, it was amazing.
Stephenie Meyer: Thank you. You know, I haven’t gotten all the reaction yet, but I hear murmurings that some people are upset with me, so I’m glad to hear you guys liked it.
Matt: It’s over, that’s probably why a lot of people are so upset.
Andrew: Yeah, that’s definitely part of it I think.
Stephenie Meyer: Well, you know it kind of goes back. Actually, I was reading something that Stephen Spielburg was saying with the new Indiana Jones and how people all had written their own stories, and I think that when you leave that space for people to do that it’s hard to make them happy.
Matt: Exactly.
Andrew: Yeah. So, did you always have a four book saga planned out in your head?
Stephenie Meyer: No. When I wrote Twilight, that was, you know, I didn’t know I was writing the book.
Andrew: Right.
Stephenie Meyer: I wasn’t thinking about that, right? So when I wrote that it was its own thing, and then when I continued on, I wrote, you know, the other sequel, Forever Dawn, which was basically a rough draft of Breaking Dawn.
Andrew: Oh, okay.
Stephenie Meyer: So then that was the end. There was two books then. So then my editor came and said “you know, you skipped right over the end of high school. We really wanna see more of high school Bella. Let’s go back and develop that.” And so that’s what I did, so I knew the ending, and when I started New Moon I knew that it would be a four book story arc.
Matt: So how did you come up with the ti-oh.
Stephenie Meyer: Yeah, I’m a little disorganized, as you can tell.
Andrew: I think it turned out great, though.
Matt: So, Stephenie, how did you come up with the title for Breaking Dawn?
Stephenie Meyer: Well, you know, the first book was originally called Forks, because I just really liked that. Be like, I would pick up a book called Forks, be like, “how can you write a book this long about Forks?” But my editor didn’t think that was a very good idea, so we kicked around a ton of titles. And when we finally did come up with Twilight, then the other titles became really easier. New Moonwas really obvious to me; Eclipse worked really well. And then Breaking Dawn- Forever Dawn sounded so cheesy, I didn’t really want to go back to that. I wanted more of a sense of impending doom while at the same time, a breaking day, you know. And actually, uh, Pel on the Lexicon was the one who originally suggested that. I kind was kicking that around, “what do you guys think” and she said Breaking Dawn and I’m like “Ooh, I like that,” and so that’s what I ended up using.
Andrew: Oh, wow. Fun little fact there.
Elysa: Awesome. Okay so this has been discussed endlessly: the cover of Breaking Dawn. What does that mean to you?
Stephenie Meyer: Ooh, you guys are – I figured I’d answer that tonight for the very first time tonight, but you guys are ruthless. The cover has kind of two, two things. The main thing for me is that this is a metaphor for the whole story arc because you have Bella going from being the most helpless player on the board to being the most powerful player on the board.
Matt: Yes! Yes!
Laura: Aw, Matt had it right.
Andrew: Good job Matt!
Elysa: Matt guessed that.
Stephenie Meyer: Pawn to queen. And then the other I kind of wanted to foreshadow: the final scene in the book is not a battle scene, for me it is kind of more of a court room drama. And so I wanted to give it that sense of people very methodically plotting their moves and so I liked the chess metaphor.
Andew: Oh, oh wow that’s great. You know, what I really loved about this cover is that there are so many ways you could interpret it.
Stephenie Meyer: Right, well all the covers are that way to an extent and so I thought it really stood well with the whole series.
Laura: You know I will say we spent hours sitting around discussing what this cover could have possibly meant. We had everything you could possibly think of; it was ridiculous.
Stephenie Meyer: Well that’s exactly how it’s supposed to work, so awesome!
Laura: So this might be a difficult question to answer but what was your favorite scene to write from Breaking Dawn?
Stephenie Meyer: Um, I said at Comic Con that like my favorite Bella and Edward scene was in Breaking Dawn, and it’s the very last scene in the book, the last two pages.
Matt: Awww.
Stephenie Meyer:That was one of my favorite things, and then writing the Jacob Black section was the most fun I’ve ever had. I was just laughing the whole way through. It was fantastic.
Andrew: That’s awesome.
Laura: I have to say that I am so appreciative that you did that because Jacob, I know I am not the only one here who says that Jacob is their favorite character and reading from his perspective was just awesomeness, that’s the only way I can describe it. It was fantastic.
Stephenie Meyer: Writing from his perspective was just hugely fun. And he’s always been one of my favorites, you know I’ve been hearing his little snarky inside comments the whole time I’ve been writing. You know, I know what he’s thinking, I’m hearing those little comments that he doesn’t say and it was great to finally be able to have those.
Andrew: I’m so glad you brought up those snarky comments because I was actually laughing when he was saying some of those things especially the Rose Jacob interaction; it was just so funny. I love it.
Stephenie Meyer: Yes, I very much enjoyed Jacob and Rosalie.
Matt:Yes. I love ‘em. I love those blonde jokes. Well, I just love how when Bella was sick and we headfrom Jacob’s point of view how he was kind of taking over Bella’s sarcasm little bit. And he kind of mentioned that a little bit in the book.
Stephenie Meyer: Yes, well one of the things in Forever Dawn, the original series, it does not have that section. The whole thing was narrated from Bella’s perspective because Jacob had not developed into the character that he was by the time I started Breaking Dawn. You know in Twilight he has a very small role. Part of the problem with the original draft was that it gets a little grim for a while. I wanted to be outside of this life and death struggle for a little bit and you know have it there, but at the same time be away from it. And I wanted to show where the action was, you know Bella’s sitting in the house for a week doing nothing, and there’s a lot going on that she can’t see so I needed a smart set of eyes.
Laura: So um, kind of moving along a little bit: Renesmee. Was she always going to happen from the beginning, or was she a surprise to you the way she was to Bella and Edward?
Stephenie Meyer: From the time I started Forever Dawn she was a big part of the story. And that would be a hairy situation.
Matt: Mmm.
Stephenie Meyer: They wanted me to end the story at three books, and I couldn’t do that and get Nessie at the same time, so it was really for her I was fighting that whole time because I wanted her.
Laura: Oh wow, so kind of the way that Bella was fighting for her. That’s, that’s really-
Stephenie Meyer: It’s similar. It was very similar actually.
Elysa: Going back to Jacob a little bit because, like Laura, he really is one of my favorite characters. I really love him a lot. I’ve always sort of felt like fans judged him a little too harshly for some of his behavior in Eclipse, and I’m wondering do you think that now after Breaking Dawn, after we’ve seen all these sacrifices that he’s made that fans will ease up? Do you think that he’s redeemed himself?
Stephenie Meyer: You know, I- no. Because… I thought that people would get him in Eclipse. I thought that they would understand how much of his gruffness and his attitude is about his heart being broken and how much he was already giving even in Eclipse to make alliances with his enemies for her.
Elysa: Yeah…
Stephenie Meyer: I mean so much of his self-sacrifice and the willingness he was to hurt himself for her kind of broke my heart. And then for people not to get that I was very surprised. So I will never predict that people will find Jacob Black redeemed no matter what I write because I don’t know if some of them can be convinced in any direction other than just hating him.
Matt: Yeah.
Elysa: Right, that’s true and I was disappointed with that too because from the very get-go I loved Jake, you know, so. But…
Stephenie Meyer: Well I’ve always been inside his head so I’ve never gotten that sense that he was up to know good, that was this bad person so that’s always surprised me.
Elysa: Right. Well what about imprinting, there was a bit of that- well, obviously, a lot of that, in Breaking Dawn, but Jake says at some point, I think it’s when he’s talking to Leah that he wasn’t too thrilled with the idea of having him imprint. I think he said something along the lines of he wanted to keep a mind of his own or at least he had a mind of his own or something. So what are your thoughts of imprinting? Do you think that it sort of relinquishes free will or is it just sort of the werewolves, or the shape-shifters, excuse me, the shape-shifters’ version of soul mates?
Stephenie Meyer: I’m torn between the line with that, you know on the one had it doesn’t leave you a choice and it can mess up your life like it did with Sam and someone else’s life in the bargain. On the other hand it gives you a lifelong lover that you’re never going to tire of and that is always going to fresh and new. So there’s a gift and a curse wrapped up in there.
Andrew: One thing that I had been wondering about- towards the end, there is the resolution with the Voltui. Volturi sorry. Why did you have the Volturi understand Renesmee’s situation instead of having some sort of climactic battle or something? Cause um, it was a surprise, I did enjoy it; but I was surprise that the Volturi sort of, you know-
Matt: Cowered away.
Andrew: Understood. Well not so much cowered, it’s that they-
Stephenie Meyer: Were cowed.
Andrew: What’s that?
Stephenie Meyer: They were cowed. They were cowed. And there wasn’t a big battle where everybody got slaughtered and a lot of that was that I wasn’t ready to slaughter everybody. And it would have happened that way. I had this discussion with my editor. There were a couple different people giving me feedback on this and I always wanted it to be a game. I knew who I was going to kill and I didn’t want to go there.
Laura: Speaking of…
Stephenie Meyer: It was always this way for me. You know I thought about doing it and I just couldn’t do it.
Andew: Oh, okay. And uh, go ahead Laura.
Laura: Well, just speaking of the Volturi, we were curious to learn more about some of the other vampires. Like for instance, what did Jane have as a human that translated to her special ability as a vampire and were there any other tidbits you could give us about any of the Volturi or the Denali that we don’t already know?
Stephenie Meyer: Wow, that’s an open ended question. I could go on for hours. There is some stuff on the Lexicon, actually, about Jane and Alice and how they were sort of shaped as they became vampires because they were in England and considered witches at the time. Like Alice…
Undistinguishable
Stephenie Meyer: When the Volturi caught up to them they were actually being burned at the stake which shaped how their powers manifested, just the pain of that.
Laura: Oh, okay.
Stephenie Meyer: So that was one, but you know all the characters have backstories in my head and I’m kind of waiting for some questions that I’m expecting about the index I provided at the end. I’m pretty sure those are coming.
Andrew: I thought that was pretty cool how you had that in there.
Matt: Yeah, I liked it too. I liked it as a reference to keep going back and forth.
Andrew: Yeah.
Elysa: So why was Bella able to essentially skip her newborn stage? Was it due to the attitude and preparation that they had suggested?
Stephenie Meyer: Yes. It was because her personality is a very controlled personality in some way, and it translated very well. She was sort of uniquely fitted towards it.
Andrew: Oh, okay.
Matt: And she just sort of embraced the vampire stage too, I mean she didn’t really, it wasn’t like… her whole existence wasn’t against it.
Stephenie Meyer: No, everyone else is kind of stunned by it in the Cullen family and then those that were born into different families, like you know the Volturi, would never have been taught that they had to do anything differently. So she just had a lot more prep time than anybody else.
Elysa: Right, right, that makes sense.
Laura: Now it seems like this is sort of disputed between some of the vampires, particularly Edward and Carlisle, at least for a little while. Is there an afterlife for the vampires?
Stephenie Meyer: You know, I’m not good at answering questions about that haven’t been answered in the novels or in the movie. Because there’s that chance that I might go there. I think that at this point in the story it’s still up in the air because none of them know because they haven’t seen.
Laura: Okay.
Matt: That makes sense.
Elysa: I think you touched on this a little bit already, but our next question was: was there ever a point where you considered killing off one or more of the main characters?
Stephenie Meyer: I know who would have to die if I went ahead with the series. And that is kind of one of the reasons why I don’t want to. I would have to kill a lot of people if it ever really came down to a fight, a pitched battle. People would die, and that’s no fun. So I do know who I would kill but I don’t know if I would ever go there.
Matt: So, Stephenie, we saw that the issues between Jacob and his old pack were resolved in Breaking Dawn, but does he ever go back to join them with Sam and his pack or does he stay as an alpha and lead his own?
Stephenie Meyer: The alpha thing isn’t something you can really turn off, so he realizes he’s in. That’s why he sort of pulls some of his friends over, and he’s got his own pack now, there’s no going back.
Laura: Speaking of that, did you always know that Jacob and the rest of the pack were shape-shifters, or was it just kind of something that came about maybe in the middle of the series?
Stephenie Meyer: I still think of them as werewolves, because really, what’s the definition of a werewolf? A man who turns into a wolf and that’s still- technically, yeah. But I knew their back story in a very- I hadn’t defined it entirely, but I knew where it came from and I knew it had been a different story than they had been bitten in traditionally werewolf. And I kind of had to make the decision early in, do traditional werewolves exist? Where are they at? What’s with the moon and the silver bullet? And I kind of decided that they must have and they would be close to extinct at this point. And so, I’ve known that.
Andrew: Now, Edward mentioned at the end of the book that the Volturi would eventually try to pick each of their family off individually. Does this mean we will see more books about the future of the Cullens? Is that what you may be leaning more towards, or are you ready to move on to something else?
Stephenie Meyer: I mean, that’s definitely left open for that purpose.
Andrew: Yeah.
Stephenie Meyer: Clearly, you know, there would be a possibility for a lot more stories there, but I have not yet decided. You know, I have to admit, it’s been a really long year.
Andrew: Yeah.
Stephenie Meyer: And I don’t know that I’m ready to dive back into that. I think that I’m going to go take forward some of the rest of this for a while.
Andrew: Yeah. If you had to chose a character’s point of view to go from, other than Edward’s, who would be your third favorite to write from, I guess it would be.
Stephenie Meyer: You from this point out?
Andrew: Yeah, just from anybody else’s point of views, like Jasper or…
Matt: Alice.
Andrew: Carlisle, or yeah, Alice, of course.
Stephenie Meyer: Do you mean to go back and redo-
Andrew: Maybe, or-
Stephenie Meyer: Or from this point on?
Andrew: Either.
Matt:Or maybe kind of like their story or something.
Andrew: Yeah, maybe.
Matt: Even.
Stephenie Meyer: Um, well, because I’m writing from Edward’s perspective from Midnight Sun, I actually get to get a lot of people’s perspectives because he’s reading everybody’s thoughts, so-
Andrew: Oh yeah, that’s true.
Stephenie Meyer: You really get a lot of Alice and a real sense of Rosalie as well. And Emmett. You really get their perspective too, when Edward’s telling the story. I don’t really have the urge to go back with any of those characters, and if I were to go forward, I don’t think that those would be the ones I would choose.
Matt: Mmhm.
Andrew: Mmm. Okay.
Elysa: So, we got to see a lot of really cool new characters in Breaking Dawn, and just as a personal aside, I have to tell you how much I adored Garrett.
Laura: Yes, I loved him instantly.
Stephenie Meyer: I’m a big Garrett fan, I love the guy.
Elysa: Yeah, and his little monologue at the end, the revolutionary sort of monologue, that just thrilled me. He just won me over completely. But, I mean, who’s your favorite of the new characters, both personality wise and in terms of who you like to write.
Stephenie Meyer:I enjoy Chevone quite a bit. She actually had, and Meggie, in the original draft it was a little bit longer towards the end. It was too long, which it why it got cut down quite a bit. It’s still long, but I cut out some interaction between Chevone. I also really enjoy the Romanians. They’re new to this version of the story, and I loved having them come in with their totally different attitude and their uh- I just got a huge kick out of them.
Matt: That was funny. I love the Romanians.
Andrew: DIdn’t Aro give him a look, too? That was like, “oh, jeez.”
Stephenie Meyer: Oh, yeah!
Andrew: That was great!
Stephenie Meyer: It was like the last two and they’re still kind of the thorn in the side. Never quite eradicated the whole clan.
Andrew: Yeah.
Matt: So Stephenie, this question I’ve been dying to ask ever since Breaking Dawn finished. What is your opinion- not what is your opinion, gosh. What is the overall message to the series?
Stephenie Meyer: You know, my editor said that to me. When I gave her the outline, she said “what’s the moral of the story?” I said “they’re no moral of the story. The point is to have a good time!” The message is “did you enjoy the ride?” I mean, hopefully. Because that’s what it was about. It was about entertainment.
Matt: Okay.
Stephenie Meyer: And nothing beyond that was intentional.
Andrew: Oh, okay. Interesting.
Elysa: Right, yeah... Okay, so, I have a question for you about Jasper, because our mutual friend Kim is just in love with him, and she’s wondering does Jasper actually feel other people’s emotions, or does he just feel the emotion coming off of them?
Stephenie Meyer: Oh, he feels their emotions. Which to me, there’s not really a distinction there. You know, for him, people are putting out this emotional aura all the time. When someone’s very sad, then he’s going to feel that too. He can separate from himself a little bit, you know, and he knows that he’s not sad, but he’s still feeling the effects of it.
Elysa: Right, right. Well when he’s trying to influence someone else’s emotions, does he have to feel that himself? Like if he’s trying to calm someone down, does he have to feel calm or is he able to do that outside of his emotions?
Stephenie Meyer: He has to be calm to calm someone down.
Elysa: Wow. Poor Jasper.
Laura: You feel so bad for him.
Stephenie Meyer: He’s had a lot of practice, he’s good at it.
Elysa: Yeah, guess that’s true.
Andrew: Yeah.
Matt: Mmhm.
Laura: So, I know we kind of, we kind of talked about the encyclopedia, or the Official Guide to the Twilight Saga that was advertised at the end of Breaking Dawn. What if anything can you tell us about what to expect?
Stephenie Meyer: You know, I am only tangentially involved in that. I think that a lot of that will be old information to someone who has read everything on the Lexicon, and everything on my website, and everything that’s out there. They’ll be like, “Oh, yeah, I know a lot of this.” But to someone who hasn’t put in that effort, it will be a good reference guide for them. I’m hoping to add in some new material. Don’t know if it’s gonna happen. We’ll see if we get on tour and what their production schedule is like. If what I’m working on doesn’t make it in time, I’ll just put it on my website.
Andrew: Okay, cool.
Laura: Awesome!
Andrew: Now um- oh, Elysa, you have a question?
Elysa: Oh! Okay, sure. Well, I know that you’re a big fan of the band Muse and so am I. So I was wondering, was there any particular songs that really stood out to you while you were writing Breaking Dawn? Any one or two in particular that inspired you the most?
Stephenie Meyer: Um, on my playlist at the end, it’s specific to the battle scene, I hear the song Take A Bow to the Volturi coming into the meadow. I can just see them almost moving to that. The way it moves and kind of expands. I mean, it’s an amazing song. And then um, Assasin is their speech, which you guys voiced.
Elysa:Right, perfect. Those are good ones.
Andrew: Awesome. Now, a couple questions about the movie. At Comic Con, you were doing an interview with Catherine Hardwicke, the director of course, and she said that you’d be seeing what they put together the following Tuesday! So do you want to say anything about the film? Like, have you seen it? Like a rough cut of it?
Stephenie Meyer: I did see a very, very rough cut. There were a lot of transitions, and a lot of that because it’s still in the very early stages.
Andrew: Yeah.
Stephenie Meyer: But I’m kind of amazed at how the emotion came through and how pretty Rob is and how Bella-y Kristen is and how them together virtually caught that chemistry and it’s very mind-blowing.
Andrew: Wow, awesome. That’s really exciting to hear.
Stephenie Meyer: I think , you know, you guys knew Rob before as Cedric, and I think that to kind of see him in action is going to blow you away. You’re not going to believe when you see how, what his skill range is. He’s amazing.
Andrew: Right. ‘Cause, Matt and I were at Comic Con and we saw the scene that they played at the panel, at the now historic panel with you guys.
Matt: Yeah.
Andrew: And that scene, it seemed like it was pretty much complete, it was definitely a lot different than when they played it at the MTV movie awards. And that scene was just awesome. It was so cool.
Matt: It was. I was so excited. That last scene, when Bella was, when she got bit, and then-
Stephenie Meyer: Yeah.
Matt: And then they stopped.
Andrew: That was crazy. So is it true to the books? Do you think the fans are going to be very happy with it because that’s always been a big thing with Harry Potter, about it being true to the books. And frankly they really haven’t, and it’s a thing the fans have come to accept. So what do you think the Twilight fans should expect?
Stephenie Meyer: It totally depends on the attitude they go in with. Like I’ve had people email me about trailers they’ve seen and say, you know, this line is different than it is in the book, I’m concerned. And it’s like, okay, you need to be. Because if you’re expecting them to come out and sound lines out of the whole book and have everything happen in the same order, that’s just not possible unless we were doing like a twelve-hour mini-series.
Matt: Exactly, yeah.
Stephenie Meyer: But was I was looking for, and hoping for, was that it would feel like Twilight. And that the little things that are different are almost like little extras. You know that totally could happen because it’s actually in character. And when they’re talking to each other, it sounds like Bella and Edward. And there are extras for me, you know there are scenes in there that I wish I had actually put into the book. They’re that much in line. So if you’re expecting to see the book exactly as it is, you’re not gonna see that. If you’re expecting to see the soul of Twilight, then that’s what counts to me.
Andrew: Okay, awesome!
Matt: Awesome.
Laura: Awesome.
Stephenie Meyer: Okay well Elizabeth just walked in, so that’s my cue. I have to run over to the theater.
Andrew: Okay, well Stephenie, thank you so much. This was a lot of fun.
Laura: Yeah, we really appreciate it.
Stephenie Meyer: Oh, it was fun for me too.
Matt: Awww…
Andrew: Awesome, well, good luck on your show today, I’m sure you’ll be fine.
Matt: Good luck Stephenie!
Stephenie Meyer: Aww, thank you!
Matt: We’ll see you Thursday.
Andrew: Yeah, Matt and I are gonna be at your L.A. stop, so…
Stephenie Meyer: Okay, cool, cool! I’ll see you on Thursday, then.
Andrew: Yeah, definitely. Alright thanks a lot!
Matt: Thanks!
Elysa: Thank you!
Laura: Thanks!
Andrew: Bye!
Stephenie Meyer: Bye!
Matt: Bye!
Elysa: Bye!
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Episode
33
