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Interview - Stephenie Meyer - Part 2
Photo credit: David Stone
Stephenie Meyer, the highly-acclaimed American author of the New York Times best-selling series Twilight, never imagined she would be an author; she always thought motherhood was her calling. But as life would have it, Stephenie would soon be taken in another path. After waking up from a dream, Stephenie felt inspired to write her first novel Twilight. It was an instant success, which she followed up with New Moon and Eclipse.
Stephenie knew that as successful as the Twilight series was, she had more stories to tell. While driving from Arizona to Utah, Stephenie toyed with ideas for new novels, and the one that stuck was the idea of having two people in the same body while in love with the same man. From that idea, The Host was born. The novel is Stephenie's first adventure into adult fiction, and was released on May 6, 2008.
Recently Stephenie began touring the United States for a book tour for The Host. LLH was able to attend several of Stephenie's tour destinations and sit in amongst her fans and other media to listen to this author discuss her books and allow those who joined her a chance to get to know this amazing author better. There are spoilers in the answers, so be advised.
Stephenie Meyer began the event with a couple of her frequently asked questions:
"The number one question I get asked is about the Twilight movie. I of course have not seen it, since the entire movie is not put together yet. But from everything I have seen, the actors are amazingly talented, and they all fit the parts really well. The director is kind of a genius and so dedicated to this project, and all of the footage I have seen looks amazing. So I am really excited about December 12th; I think it is going to be worth the wait. I think we are all going to like it a lot."
I can't, of course, say anything about Breaking Dawn — not for the lack of being asked. But a lot of people do want to know if it is the last book in the Twilight saga. And my answer is sort of undecided. It is the last book in the Twilight saga as I feel that the Twilight saga is Bella's story arch. And it will be the last one that she narrates. I may go back to that universe and write from a few other perspectives. I am not sure if I will ever be able to abandon it."
Would you ever post an outtake of Melanie and Jared being reunited on your website?
That's a very interesting question because that is the one outtake that I probably would write. That's the one that I have seen in my head, and I know what happens, so it might happen. But here's the one thing: while I am on tour, I am not writing, and I am on tour a lot. We'll see when I get around to that.
You write intense falling-in-love experiences. Where or who did you get your inspiration from? Do you believe that people can experience the love that you describe in your stories, or is it fantasy to you?
I don't think you are going to like the answer to this question, but I could not have written these stories before I had my children. They were the first experience I had with this type of love, that absolutely I would give my life for. You know, I had different boys that I fell in love with off and on, but I always had a really firm grip on reality. But with my kids, I didn't anymore, and that was really my experience with — not that kind of romantic love; I mean, that is a very different thing. But to understand that kind of intensity, and the way that you would do things that are just insane and dangerous for somebody. That (speaking of her having children) is when I learned what it feels to be able to do something like that.
At what point did Doc start to see Wanderer as a person, and how did that change his outlook?
I can't say an exact part in the book when that happens, but I think all of the humans living in the caves get used to her after a while, as you get used anything. And once you stop looking at something as an enemy, and you start noticing the really good things they do, especially since Wanda does lots of really good things, it's hard to not look at her as a person. Also, Doc is just a very compassionate person, and it doesn't bring him joy to hurt anyone, and so he always thinks of her very kindly. He would never be the one to do anything nasty to her, even though she was afraid of that. So Doc is really one of the easier cases.
Why did you make Jared so mean? I was bothered that he hit her over and over again.
Really, he only hit her one time.
Why are Sharon and Maggie so bitter towards Wanda?
Because I wrote this story from the alien's perspective, everyone is thinking Wanderer is no harm. She is this wonderful, kind person that would never hurt them. How can they be this way? I think what you need to do as you are trying to understand them is think of the scariest movie you have ever seen, a really scary monster that kept you up at night. And then imagine that the whole world was full of that monster, and you are all by yourself with all of the rest of them out there, and that you live in horror and fear every single day. And that is a really hard thing to think about. It is one thing to say the words, but to really imagine that is something else. Then imagine that that monster is in your power, and that you finally have a group of people on your side, and that one of them (the aliens) comes to you. How would you feel [about] this person [who] has taken everything from you? This is your worst enemy in the world. I am surprised so many people can understand Wanderer because it doesn't make sense from a human perspective to think kindly towards her at all. And Jared in particular: think of the person you love most in the whole world and imagine that someone took them away from you, and then came back with their face. How would you feel towards that person? [The] fact that he is ever able to look over who she is, is an amazing thing to me. It was interesting to write his character because, originally, I had only planned on him being the only love interest in the story. But he was very inflexible. And it made sense for his character. The one thing I can't do is make my characters say something or do something that isn't part of who they are. And so I couldn't make him into something he wasn't.
Ian, on the other hand, yea, I enjoyed Ian a lot too. He wasn't supposed to have a part; he barley had a name. But from the first time he opened his mouth to ask Jeb, "What are you thinking? Why are you doing this?" That sense of him wanting to know more and being willing to listen to the answers sort of leapt into his character, and by the time he had his first conversation with Jared, it was over. I was already sold! He really came in and changed the story, made it an ending that I enjoyed a lot more.
Why are the Souls able to live in a perfect society when humans failed? Aren't the Souls dealing with all of the human emotions?
Yes, and if you think about it, all of us have human emotions, and some of us try really hard to be good people. We don't always succeed, but we try. We would never dream of stealing from someone or hurting anyone or doing anything bad. Then there are other human beings who have the same emotions as us, and they don't mind strapping a bomb to themselves and blowing up a crowded square. Humans are capable of an amazing range. The Souls aren't the same, they don't have at range. They really can't be anything but kind. So they have the emotions, but like those of us who try to be good people, they are quite well-able to handle them, and that is why their society works so much better than ours.
On page 218, please say it is not a coincidence that Jeb says, "There are a lot of Jim's and Pam's." Please say it is because you love The Office.
Yes! That was absolutely an Office reference, and I am really glad people got it. Yeah, that is what I was doing last night, by the way, watching The Office season finale.
How was Ian able to completely look past Melanie's body and fall in love with the worm in the back of her head?
That was kind of the magic of the story for me. I knew that people were going to accept her after a while, but when Ian started falling in love with her, it made the experience. That is why I finished the book, I think. Because I was so intrigued with this character who could do that, who could care more about what somebody said and did than what they looked like or who they were. He was amazing to me, so he was able to do that because that is who he is as a person. He takes people for what they really are, and there aren't many people who can do that. I love him.
Will there be a sequel to The Host?
This is one of those "probably" questions. It's funny, because I have been working so much on my other stories, and I have been editing forever and just thinking in the Forks world. That's where I have been mentally. And so in this last couple weeks of answering Host questions and going through the book again and again, I am starting to get excited again about the sequels, which is kind of cool. I have outlines and the prologue written for the second one, and the epilogue written to the third. So I have got the frame. And I imagine I will get to that. It might take me a while, so I don't want to make any guarantees. As soon as I get done with the summer, what I want to do is just take a year and write again. No publicity, none of that for a whole year. Which sounds like an incredibly luxury in its self, so we will see which books come out of that time.
Due to the success of your career, what is the biggest sacrifice you have had to make, and was it worth it?
There are kind of two things. One of them that I think is the daily sacrifice is, I used to read three or four books a week. Reading is a huge part of who I was, and I can't do that as much now. It's crazy. I feel like — how many books did I read this year? 10 so far. For me, that is really weird, and I miss reading. But it's worth the sacrifice there because writing is just way better then reading. It's amazing; it is my favorite thing.
The other big sacrifice is time, and there are thing that aren't exactly worth it. I am missing some graduations this week, and that is kinda hard. Being away from my kids is a really big sacrifice for me. I don’t think they mind as much. You know, when I get home and they are like, "Oh, Mom, were you gone?" So you know — boys. We are going to have a big party when I get home. My husband is DVDing everything for me, and we are going to eat popcorn and watch kindergarten graduation all night. I'll just do all that good stuff when I get back.
What was it like to be in Time magazine, to be one of the 100 most influential people?
I don't really have an answer to that. I don't know. It's too weird. It's surreal. I don’t believe it entirely. Um, I had a couple copies of the magazine, and that's my picture there, right next to Oprah, and I still don't believe it. I mean, it is so cool, and it is amazing. And I am so glad this year that Time decided to put everybody on the cover so I could say, "Yeah, I was on the cover of Time magazine." That's probably my favorite part. But you can see the dedication to my fans because, last week, I was in Kansas City doing an event, because it had sold out quite awhile ago, and I could have been in New York in the same room with George Clooney and Robert Downey Jr. You know, I was okay with it when I only knew about Clooney. I was like, "That stinks". But the morning of, I was watching The View in my hotel room, and Robert Downey Jr. was on, and he was talking about going to the party that night. And I went, "No! No!" I rang up my agent and said, "How do I get to New York?" So Robert Downey Jr., I really missed that.
How do you juggle being a mom and a writer?
It's a constant balance because things change. When I first started writing, I had babies on my lap, and so I was literally juggling. Now my kids are in school all day, and it's a different thing. So I have to readjust my time, but the way I manage is, I always keep my office, with the houses and different moves we have done, in the middle of the living room, pretty much. Because I have found that as long as I can hear my kids, I am fine. If I can't hear them, then I start to think what are they up to. So I can't have a closed door. And then I am lucky because I have these kids that are really, really just well-balanced and centered. And they are fun and easy-going, and so that makes my job so much easier. And I have a husband who is now willing to be a stay-at-home dad and take care of my kids. Which is so cool for them to have their dad around all the time. They are camping with him tonight, and that is amazing. Yay for good husbands! You have to have a lot of help, a lot of family to help. My mom lives down the street, and that is the best thing ever. You can't do it alone, absolutely not.
Is that your face on the cover of the book? If not, whose is it?
I have no idea. Some gorgeous model who gets paid to be in pictures. That's not my job. I get that along with the other covers too. The way publishing works is: they do a cover and show it to you and say, "Here is you cover, what do you think?" And if you say, "Wow, I hate it," they are like, "Ah, too bad." Actually, that is not so much the case for me anymore, and with The Host experience, they sent me the picture and said, "What do you think of this?" and I said, "I love it." And they said, "So do we; yes, we have got it done." That's not always the case.
Just to wrap things up, I get a lot of questions about how to become a writer. Just write. Don't worry about any of that other stuff because it doesn't really matter. If you are not writing for the experience of writing, the rest of it is not going to be worth it. Cause I know some people actually think it is kind of glamorous and everything, it's really not. In fact, we were in Texas, and some girls got in trouble with the police because they were hanging out of their car. They saw this white limo and thought I was in it. And actually, I don’t roll in limos, sorry. There is a lot of hard work involved in being a writer, and there is a lot of sacrifice, and that's not the good part. The good part is the writing, so if it's not enough for you to be able to sit down and just write the story for yourself, then maybe that's not the right way to go. If it is, and you love it, and if you love those characters and want to share them with other people, wait until you are done. Finish the book. Write it for yourself and never second-guess and never think what will someone else think about this. Or is this appropriate for this audience? Or should I write for a different audience? Don't think about any audience but you. Finish the book, and then when you are all done, get online, because there are a million resources out there. Do the research and follow the rules, because agents hate it when you get cutesy with your letters. Just send them what they want. There is a really great website called writersmarketonline.com, and that will give you all kinds of information. But my main advice is: wait until you have it done, and enjoy the writin,g cause I would still do this if nobody here had read my books and no one was ever going to, because for me, writing the story is such sheer joy that it doesn't really matter if no one else enjoys it. But I am really glad you are here, and that you have read my books, and it really does make everything kind of magic, knowing my characters don't just live in here (pointing to her head), but that they live in everyone else's head too. That makes them so real for me, it's really cool!
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