TM:
I have heard that you were bugged a bit over at the lexicon to write them something special ( I think it was the scene in Vegas ) if you should ever bestow upon us your most awesomest of gifts...
I was thinking maybe we could see what a love letter from Edward to Bella while they are passing time in class or something would be like...
Or even - did they pass notes in class? Like the time they were writing back and forth and got to talking about how he would save her from the plane crash....

Steph:
The stuff I gave the Lex was all pre-written. That piece about the red eyes was from an old Twilight epilogue. As I've gotten more paranoid, I tend to keep everything in my computer now. I've seen how people can read the wrong things into my extras, and then I'm just explaining myself again and again. But then there are some things I can't resist. For example, right now, I'm thinking about doing an Eclipse extra for my site. I want to write Bree's story (the newborn who Felix crunches up in the clearing). There's a lot that went on behind the scenes there with Victoria and her minions.


TM:
One of the many things I wonder (the one that comes to mind right now) is how did Alice know her name was Alice? It was Mary Alice something, right? Was it in a vision or was that one of the few precious memories she had of being human?

Steph:
It was the fragment of a memory from the very end of her human life (post the last shock treatment). The vampire who changed her always called her Alice.

TM:
I'm wondering why Edward didn't talk to Bella on the plane ride home from Volterra. There were thousands of questions hanging in the air. We know why she didn't ask him stuff but I want to know what he was thinking. Was he insecure too? He was just realizing what an insane mess he left Bella to deal with. He must have been crushed.

Steph:
Edward was pretty much speechless with happiness. He also wanted her to sleep--partially because he could tell she was exhausted, partially because he hoped to get a few clues as to her state of mind from the sleep talking.


TM:
When Bella and Alice are on their way to Volterra Alice calls Jasper from the plan and tells him what's going down. Pg. 425 NM
"I'll do everything that can be done, but prepare Carlisle; the odds aren't good." She laughed then, and there was a catch in her voice. "I've thought of that....Yes, I promise."

What do you think Jasper told her that made her laugh and say,"I've thought of that"? Probably nothing, but I couldn't help but wonder.

Steph:
Jasper said something to the effect of, "If you find Edward after the Volturi do, they'll consider you guilty by association of anything he's done."

TM:
When Bella goes into the woods, after the night at the beach and the story and surfing the net about vamps, is Edward there? Is he watching her at this point and follows her into the woods?

Steph:
Edward is not in Bella's room or in the woods at this point in time. He's hunting with Emmett. He has no idea in Port Angeles that Bella already knows his darkest secret.


TM:
I remember Bella feeling that someone was there or heard something as her father pulled up. I always wondered if he was sitting right beside her while she was sleeping on the blanket.

Steph:
When she was reading outside Monday afternoon, Edward was there. And he did sneak down for a minute to sit by her. But it didn't make him happy. Guess I need to get back to work on MS, eh?


TM:
Twilight p316
Edward acts weird when Bella asks if Alice foresaw her (Bella). ...should I wait for MS on that one?

Steph:
I haven't even gotten to that point in MS. The reason Edward gets weird here is because Alice has already seen Bella as a vampire, and he is NOT happy with that idea. He knows Bella is just asking if Alice has seen her coming to visit, but it still reminds him of the other vision.


TM:
So do the 14-18 year olds your teach at church love you as a teacher. Have they all read your books? Do you get lots of visitors to your class?

Steph:
I think I'm kind of a boring teacher. Mostly I just stick to the scriptures, so a lot of them sneak over to the 12-13 year old class, where the teacher is a nice looking newly returned missionary who brings homemade cinnamon rolls and plays hangman all hour. I've gotten a few visitors, who are also no doubt bored. Some of the girls have read my books, but none of the boys.


TM:
So Stephenie, for the record, what color is Edward's hair?

Steph:
I take it from the that this is a joke? Or does the "Edward is a blond" argument rear its ugly head around here somewhere? Just in case you want a serious answer, his hair is dark with reddish highlights that give it the look of bronze.


Steph wrote:
Bella has no werewolf/vampire/angel/unicorn in her ancestry. She is 100% human.


Steph:
Actually, I do love me some mermaids. I have an outline for a mermaid book, but I'm not sure how to write it. It's got a few delicate issues, and I can only imagine the things people would think about the inside of my head.

TM:
Is this the book about Cannibal Mermaids?

Steph:
Yes, this is that story. But they are cannibals not out of hunger or taste, but principle. That ought to count for something.



TM:
Im curious now that I read that Stephenie said she could picture Henry Cavill playing a charactor in The Host. Did she have him in mind before writing the character or when did he come to mind for the character? As I believe she found his picture for Edward after Twilight was already written....

Steph:
I didn't actually have any actor in mind when I wrote The Host, mostly because I think it would actually be impossible to film. The actress who played Wanderer/Melanie would have to be like gollum from TLOTR (remember that scene where he's talking to himself? "We kills the master!" "No, we loves the master!"). I just don't see how they could make it work with all the talking that goes on inside those girls' head.

But then I've started getting some nibbles recently, so I've begun the "useless casting in my head" process, just in case.

Unlike Twilight, where I think it's crucial that the actors be nobodies, I think The Host would benefit from some really big time names.

Wanderer/Melanie is easily the hardest. She'd have to be Oscar material, and she'd have to be able to go from rough-tough-and-ruthless to gentle-to-the-point-of-wussiness at the drop of a hat. She'd also somehow have to convey a million conversations inside of her head. I haven't found anyone I love yet, but my preliminary choice is Hillary Swank. I know she can handle the tough part, at least, and she's proven herself as a great actress.

Jared could go so many ways! On the one hand, I would love to see Matt Damon take this on. SWOON. He would completely nail this role. Jared has to be a pretty hardened person, capable of anything. He's lost everything--his family, the entire world, and then, just before the book begins, the love of his life. Yet in Melanie's memories, you get to see the laughing, resourceful Jared who is almost magic he's so good at survival. Joshua Jackson would be another nice choice for that dual nature. He's played both romantic sweethearts and psychopaths. Henry Cavill is just so beautiful that he would be fun to look at no matter how his acting is. Sigh. Somehow, I don't really see Steven in the role--maybe because Jared is kind of golden--gold highlights in his hair, golden tan, gold flecks in his hazel eyes... Ummmm....

Other people you don't know...

Jeb: Robert Redford (why not ask for the moon, right?) But the old RR, with wrinkles and white hair. And he has to grow a beard.

Kyle and Ian O'Shea: Ben and Casey Affleck. Mostly because it would be hilarious to have them playing across from Matt Damon. They don't look anything like the right description though. The brothers are supposed to be black Irish (huge soccer hooligan types, fair, black hair and blue eyes, yummy).

Doc: Lee Pace (Pushing Daisies), though this is another place where I could give Joshua Jackson a job.

Sharon: Bryce Howard

That's all I've got so far. And you're the only ones who know it!


TM:
Are you excited to see what threads and discussions will pop up about the Host?
Obviously we aren't asking for spoilers... but I’m sure you never imagined Bella's vampire baby threads popping up when you first wrote Twilight.
So have you started thinking about what kind of goofy stuff we crazed fans will think up?


I think there will be a lot of fodder in The Host for deep conversations about humanity in general and humanity in specific. I'm looking forward to that. I'm not so much looking forward to the inevitable haters. I know I need to thicken up my skin, but I'm sadly fragile. I figure, if I don't throw rocks, why shouldn't I live in a glass house? But then you write a book, and suddenly that's not good enough, ha ha. I guess it helps to know the rocks are coming. I'm prepared to duck. (Though, before it happens, I can never tell who people are going to get mad at. To me, all the characters are exactly what they should be.)



TM:
I started to try and write my own story, something I've secretly wanted to do for awhile, but nothing comes close to your greatness. Any advice?
The question I have is what sort of voo doo do you put in you words that make every one go crazy?
People are reading at football games, restaraunts, I saw a girl make a costco worker look for over 20 minutes for a hard copy of twilight. lol.
One last thing, how do you find the time to write?

Steph:
I wish I could answer your question in a helpful way. I don't have any conscious or planned or learned system for writing. I just like telling myself stories. And I don't know why people respond to them the way they do. The only theories that I have are:

1) When I write, I live in the story and forget everything real. Like my name and the dishes that are waiting. Not a good system for running a household, but readers seem to like the results.

2) My characters exist for me outside the page. They go with me everywhere. Even though the computer is shut off, I'm still hearing their conversations and listening to music through their perspective and seeing people who look like them, etc. When what they would do doesn't fit into the plot I had planned, they win. I have yet to win an argument with a character.

3) I don't worry about my readers or anybody else when I write. I just please myself. The story is the story, and everything else like fan response and editorial attitude and pressure from the sales dept. and what my mom is going to say does not exist.

4) I have fun. If I'm bored by a story, then there is something wrong with the story. If I'm not excited, I reevaluate. I junked a chick lit I tried to write in 2004 because it just couldn't hold my attention. I think I had 5 chapters done, but I wasn't having fun so I sent it to my outer darkness file.

I also wish that I could see those Twilight responses for myself. I've only seen someone reading Twilight "in the wild" (as I like to call it--that's somewhere other than an event when no one knows I'm watching) one time on a plane. And I was dying to say something to her the whole time but I was too chicken. I wish I'd seen the football game one.



TM:
I don't know if you have answered this yet but are you actually in the room while the actors are auditioning? Are you asked for your opinions on how the actors performed or anything?

Steph:
I don't choose the actors for the movie.
I WISH I got to see auditions! I can't even convince them to send me the tapes (they say the tapes are "too raw" and they will send me something more polished when they have it. I just wanted to hear Rob's American accent for myself!). So they don't ask me about the actor's performance. They have given me the heads up on who was auditioning for the main roles, and let me give feedback on that information (though whether they're humoring me or not I can't tell). The director seems very interested in what I have to say, and I think she really wants me to endorse the end product wholeheartedly.

I wonder if I lived in LA if they would let me in to watch? Maybe, maybe not.

I have made a few saves by strongly recommending they NOT go in a few casting directions that would have been very, very bad. I'm glad they listen to reason.

I think I will get to meet everybody in a few months, see story boards and later watch some of the filming. If I don't have a heart attack out of excitement/fear on the way there.

TM:
Why was James after Alice while she was still human? He mentions that someone--"the old one"--- came and took her out of the asylum before he could attack her. What was his name?

Steph:
I haven't named the vampire that changed Alice. Alice doesn't know his name, so I don't feel like I need to know it either.
Alice smelled really good to James. Not quite Bella-to-Edward good, but better than average. He found her because he was curious about the vampire working in the asylum. James was a curious guy. Why would a superhuman immortal waste his time in such a way? Was there some reward that James was missing? So he did some covert observation. Then James caught wind of Alice, and realized that the other vampire would commit to protecting her. That made it more than a meal--that made it fun!


TM:
Is is true that they are filming a lot of it in the Portland area and in Forks?

Steph:
They are filming mostly near Portland and Forks, which is awesome. They would probably have gone to Vancouver, but the sad state of the U.S. Dollar made international filming too expensive.

Forks is gorgeous. The beach in La Push is simply one of a kind. It's not something you could fake somewhere else.


TM:
Stephenie, if you could hold a live Q&A session with any of your favorite authors, who would it be?? What are your burning questions?

Steph:
I'd love to talk to J.K. Rowling about secrecy and crazy antagonistic fans and her writing process and what her everyday life is like. I'd love to listen to Orson Scott Card talk about anything, but I wouldn't be able to formulate questions, as I have learned from experience. I'd like to ask Jane Austen how much of herself is in her stories.

I've met some authors in real life, and I just adore Shannon Hale. We get along like peanut butter and jelly--unbelievable how much we relate. John Green is a riot in person, Barry Lyga is super sweet, and Ridley Pearson is possibly the nicest person in the world. If it's not him, it's Lauren Myracle. Some authors are not nice, but I will not name names out of self-preservation.


TM:
Has anyone ever said anything really rude about your books to your face? I know people say things on websites but what about someone at church or the grocery store? BTW - just send anyone who says something hurtful our way and we'll take care of them for you.

Steph:
Not very often. Never at church or in the grocery store (people in the grocery store don't know who I am). Well, I guess there was this one woman at church who read my Christmas story in a church magazine and wrote me a card about how I should focus on uplifting writing like that instead of the worldy stuff I was doing.

The worst I can remember happened at my appearance in Toronto. A girl (who must have sat in line all day to get the seat she had) asked during the Q&A how I could write such an antifeminist main character and if I wasn't ashamed of myself for letting young girls read my misogynist works. I don't get that. I mean, I've gotten that question from reporters and seen it online various places, and I think I can defend myself ably. What I don't get is why you would come out to a signing for an author you hated, let alone stand out in the cold all day to get in. People are odd.


TM:
From what the jacket cover read (The Host), I am hooked!!!
There is a song on my playlist by Muse, that ALWAYS makes me think of it.

Steph:
Is it "Futurism"???? That's one of my key playlist songs



TM:
So...when does the costuming phase kick into gear? Because you realize that the Cullens pretty much wear white, off-white, beige, ivory, cream, ecru, light tan, and pastel versions of any non-white related colors, right?

Steph:
People are always trying to dress the Cullens in black leather and lace goth freakishness. I'm really hoping the movie folks are not picturing it that way in their heads. Vampire stereotypes are hard to break. If I were a Twilight vampire, I think I would be offended by the racism-ness of it all.


TM:
Stephenie - I read that you said something "jaw dropping" happens in BD. Jaw dropping good or jaw dropping bad? *bites nails nervously*

Steph:
Did I really say "jaw dropping"? That doesn't sound like me.

I do drop my jaw a lot while I read and write this stuff. My husband teases me because I make Bella's (and others') facial expressions while I'm describing them. I even wink at myself. Pathetic!

It's hard for me to say if BD has a lot of surprises, because I knew what was going to happen before I wrote it, so I wasn't exactly surprised. There are several major plot developments, though, and I really hope you won't see them coming before you're supposed to. I find BD exciting--it makes my palms sweat. And I cried at the weirdest places--maybe because I wasn't getting enough sleep. This one time, I just burst into tears--actual sobs--without any kind of warning. It kind of freaked me out, to be honest.



Steph:
Falling Away With You is my Jacob-Black-at-the-end-of-Eclipse song. Ha ha--I've never thought about it in relation to The Host.

Futurism is a really difficult to come by B-side song that I only have because a cool San Diegoan fan gave me a cd of really rare muse once--it is one of my most treasured possessions. But you can find the lyrics online pretty easily. Also, you could probably hear it on youtube. People make strange anime videos to hard to find Muse songs. While you're there, listen to Eternally Missed just for the guitar/base duet. I can't hear that and not dance, even if I'm in the car.

And finally, yes, The Host is from Wanderer's perspective. So you get to see the aliens from their point of view.




TM:
How come Alphie was a big part of everything else, but she hasn't read breaking dawn?

Steph:
Alphie hasn't read Forever Dawn either, though she got a peak at the first page when I was in D.C.
I wish I could still work with Alphie, because she's a phenomenal line editor and a faster reader than any editor I've ever worked with. Having her read was almost like instantaneous gratification.
However, after the problems with Eclipse leakage, both I and my publisher got pretty paranoid. The simplest answer was to just not let anyone read BD. There are two people in the entire Little Brown conglomerate who get to see it. Outside of that, it's my agent and my mom (and I've got my eye on both of them). The usual people who get manuscripts early--the sales team, the art director, the buyers for the major chain--do not get to see BD. This does not make them happy. It doesn't make me happy either. But I guess that's the price of popularity.

_________________