TM: I am not LDS, but I have some friends who are (here and in real life!) and one of them pointed out to me that the Twilight vampires share some qualities with the LDS concept of the human body in the afterlife (bloodless, perfect, immortal) and with the LDS concept of Satan (beautiful, alluring, enticing, difficult to resist). Was this deliberate, or unintentional, or is the comparison just a bunch of rubbish altogether?!

Steph: Unintentional and rubbish No offense to your friend. It is possible to read TOO deep into a book. They're just vampires

TM: My question is can Edward read people's thoughts when they are asleep and dreaming?

Steph: Yes he can.

TM: Do you know if you will be visiting 'scary' Utah for a signing for either The Host or BD? I promise we 'Twilight Mom's' will be nice. Maybe you don't know yet. And I seem to recall you saying you don't get much say as to where you go, but maybe I made that up in my head. At any rate, it would be the coolest ever if you managed to make it out to Utah.

Steph: I'm not sure, but I believe I will be in Utah for The Host. I probably won't repeat cities from The Host tour for the Breaking Dawn tour.

TM: Hello! My Q is from the hospital scene in Twilight. Bella and Edward were talking about Jacksonville and he said that he would always live North, somewhere he couldn't hurt her anymore. What exactly did that mean? Was he really thinking of leaving her at that time?

Steph: Yes he was. Bella had just come this close --><-- to dying, and in his mind it was 100% his fault. He is positive that he is not good for her. The seeds that led to him leaving in New Moon were sewn in this moment, and even earlier.

TM: Is there any thing at all Bella could have said or done to stop Edward from leaving in New Moon or was his mind set and there was nothing that could change it?

Steph: Nothing could have stopped Edward at that point. And he needed to leave. He never could have felt right about his relationship with Bella until he saw how unhappy she was without him.

TM: Okay, this is totally on the edges of Twilight, but here goes. I'll preface this with the fact that I am a Native American, not Quileute, but Native. I'd ask Stephenie: Has there been any negative recourse for the fictional portrayal of their tribal members as werewolves? I personally take no offense, it's fictional for heaven's sake but I was just wondering if there had ever been any reaction to that portion of the book. Also, do I remember correctly that some of the legends in the book were based on actual legends of the Quileute?

Steph: I was pretty worried about this myself. However, to this point I've had nothing but positive feedback from Native Americans, both Quileute and otherwise. I actually got a letter on MySpace from a girl who is the daughter of one of the council members (she titled her message Quileute Royalty), and she loved the werewolf thing. The common theme in the positive feedback that I've gotten is that the Native Americans I've heard from like that my Quileute characters are fully formed characters whose ethnicity is just one aspect of who they are, rather than their main feature.

The actual Q legend is that a magician turned wolves into men to create the first members of the tribe.

TM: Stephenie, this question is about the killing of vampires. In New Moon, Laurent is killed by the wolves, but no mention is made of them dismembering and burning the parts, as was done to James and to the newborns. They even talk about it in the legends chapter of Eclipse. Is there another way to kill vampires that Edward doesn't know or tell Bella about, or a little foreshadowing of something to come in Breaking Dawn with Laurent???

Steph: Sam carries a lighter for these sorts of occasions. Laurent is gone forever.

TM: You describe the Cullen's as always wearing cream, off-white, tan, and also their house is decorated in whites and off-whites, is there a reason for this?

Steph: Yes. They do this to downplay their own pallor. If they wear dark colors, they look that much paler in comparison.

TM: Have they let you read the script for the movie? Do you know what kind of adaptations they're going to make? If so, are you happy enough with it? I know you don't get to give input, but I was wondering if they share that with you.

Steph: I have read the script. I am very pleased with it. They tried to follow the spirit of the book (because there is no way to do the book exactly as it was written unless the BBC wanted to do a six-hour mini-series) and tried to keep everyone in character. I was able to offer some input on the script. Most of my suggestions were very minor. For example, those of you who have followed all the hoopla on MySpace know that there is a teacher in the script named Mr. Molina. I suggested that they leave the teacher's names consistent with the novels, since there is really no reason to do otherwise. (When I was first reading, I thought maybe they were going to kill Mr. Molina or something, since they agreed not to kill any of my characters besides James. I knew they had the option of inserting characters who would then die. However, Mr. Molina doesn't do anything outside the classroom, let alone croak, so why can't he be Mr. Banner again?) Most of my suggestions felt like common sense to me, but I don't know the story behind the changes.

Of course things had to be much shorter, but I thought Melissa Rosenberg did a great job hitting the key material. The thing that people (particularly hysteria-prone teens) need to remember is that the only thing that really matters is that the feeling of Twilight is there. There is no one line or one event that makes the book what it is. What matters is the magic between Edward and Bella--the innocence and the self-denial. I hope that there is a similar feeling when you finish the movie as when you finish the book.

TM: Are all these script sides that everyone is reading really from the movie script? Do you even know? They are fun to read at any rate...

Steph: I haven't seen any of the sides to know if they are the real thing or not.

TM: I thought of another question as well. Anyone out there have a guess as to how Edward got Bella's truck home the day they did blood typing in Biology class. She was trying to distract herself waiting for him to drop off her truck. She never heard it (which if it were running, would be impossible since it is so loud) and all of the sudden it was there. Do you think he carried it there?

Steph: Alice drove it; Edward and the others followed in the Volvo. The rain was actually about as loud as the truck, and she was more preoccupied than she realized; she might have heard it if she wasn't obsessing so much.

TM: Where did Charlie and Renee come from originally? How did they end up living in Forks?

Steph: Charlie was born and raised in Forks.

TM: I know your vampires aren't like traditional vampires with the holy water, crosses, sun, etc.

But in regards to their sparkly skin - are they really reflecting the sun? Kind of like it would be damaging to them if they didn't have this ability?

I'm guessing it's just because they are pretty and cool like that, but still wondered about your reasoning behind it...

Steph: Their skin hardens into a diamond-like substance (only harder). This material has prism-like qualities. The sun does not damage the skin regardless of the reflecting.

My reasoning was, why should the sun burn them? That seemed like a very mystical kind of thing, and my vampires are more science than magic to me (whereas my werewolves are more magic than science).

TM: I don't know if this has been asked before but what did Edward do with the pictures he said he'd drop them in the mail to Renee in NM? Did he really mail them? Did they go under the floorboards with everything else? Did he keep them?

Steph: Under the floorboards. Renee got the letter with no pictures.

TM: What did Edward say to get Jake to come back to Bella in the Jake/Bella kissing scene (which is just lovely by the way, thank you)

and a Host one, is there any way the souls can be removed (after they are implanted into the humans) allowing them to return to their lives? Or are the humans completely erased (other than Melanie). It's become a question of great debate on our Host site.

Oh and I share your opinion and experiences with Speaker for the Dead.

Steph: The basic gist of it was that Bella was crying for him. Jacob can't stand Bella's tears any more than Edward can.

I can't answer any questions with The Host besides general pre-story set up.

TM: Wouldn't it be good publicity for you to be in Forks for Stephenie Meyer day?????

Steph: September isn't a month for side trips, sadly, and Forks is too remote to draw in national publicity. Or that's what I'm told, anyway.

TM: I was wondering how no one noticed that the dent in Tyler's truck was the shape of a hand....or shoulder (I need to look at my book for reference)...that's just something I've wondered from the beginning? Kind of minor but it stuck with me.

Steph: The give-away dent was actually in the car behind them that Edward braced himself against. The dents in Tyler's van were not recognizable as having been left by hands. The dents in the other car were rather clearly shaped like a head and shoulders. Edward smoothed them out with his foot while people were pulling Bella out, and he heard Emmett's mental promise to get anything he missed.

TM: What was going through Edward's mind the night that Bella broke up with Jacob and cried all night? Was it his own personal hell?

What chapter does Edward change Bella? hahahahahah

Steph:
1. Pretty much, yes.

2. Chapter "As If"

TM: Do Vampires feel hard to each other? Do two hugging vampires feel like they are embracing stone? I know that they make a pretty loud bang when they run into each other.

Steph: Yes, vampires feel hard to each other, but very, very smooth.

TM:1) I think Marcus is the one who sees relationships, which after I thought about it can be a very powerful ability. Was he surprised that Edward and Bella loved each other so deeply?

2)Would Alice really have left Bella's house w/o telling Edward (if the whole drowning thing hadn't happened)? She wouldn't have left Bella with vampires and werewolves would she?

3)How could Edward never check up on her?

4)Did the Cullen’s think it was weird for Edward to watch Bella sleep?

5)Can you tell us one thing that Edward kept of Bella’s that he cherishes?

6)How big of a bribe did Edward have to pay to get Bella accepted at Dartmouth?

Steph:
1) Yes.

2) She was not yet decided as to what she should do before the mess with Edward happened. The werewolves were a conundrum. The one thing she was sure of was that she was going to sort out the Victoria situation before she did anything else. She was about to invite Jasper, Emmett, and Rosalie to come down for a hunting party.

3) He was trying to do the right thing, no matter what it cost him. In his head, Bella's life was messed up because of the vampires in it. The only way to make things right was to remove the vampires.

4) Yes. Particularly Emmett.

5) A bottle cap. (You’ll understand when MS comes out)

6) It was a generous donation, combined with pulling a few strings. Carlisle knows people.

TM: What happens behind the scenes when Bella gets the paper cut, with the Cullen's? Is that when Edward makes his decision to leave Bella or was it just a thought still?

Steph: Rose and Emmett just got out of the way of temptation. Esme followed Jasper, and Edward and Alice joined her later. He was feeling pretty horrible about himself, and also a teensy bit angry with Edward, too, for bringing a human into the Cullen circle where she could get hurt. (He cares about Bella, too, and knows that killing her would feel so much worse than killing a stranger. He doesn't like that he's been put in a position where a human is so important to them all.)

By the time Edward got back to the house, he already knew that he had to leave. If you pay attention to his facial expressions, you can see him wavering. First, he's resolved, then he thinks he won't be able to do it, then he thinks he has to, back and forth. While Bella sleeps that night, he finds enough strength to do the right thing (in his mind). He's never open with her again after that point, as he tries to distance himself from her.

TM: On your Eclipse playlist, you have "Hamburg Song" by Keane. Whose POV is this supposed to be from? I always assumed it was Jacob's, but some thought it was Edward....?

P.S. You rock! Thanks for taking the time to read our questions!!

Steph: 100% Jacob.

Edward would never think of Bella taking anything from him. He couldn't imagine that.

TM: IMDB lists production on the movie to begin in February 2008. Do you know if this is accurate?

Steph: That is the info that I've been given. However, I've heard nothing more on the casting front, and the clock is ticking. Perhaps I'm just out of the loop, but I know Jacob has been a hard character to cast.

I should add (before someone says, "Why is it hard? Steven Strait!") that someone like Steven Strait is never going to take a part this small. People suggest a lot of well known actors for minor roles, and that's just not going to happen. Aside from Bella and Edward, there isn't enough screen time to tempt a star.

TM: But why would Bella want to become a vampire, risk everything, if Edward didn't want her? An ETERNITY of stalking with no return?

We are sooo glad that Edward does want Bella!!!!

Steph: She's kind of hoping that he would see things differently if she were his equal.

TM: When you stayed in Forks, where did you stay and do you remember which cabin exactly? Gypsy wants to bedazzle your name into the wall.

Steph: I'm not telling, because I'll probably want to go back there incognito. But I did stay at the Dew Drop Inn once.

TM: Oh, Oh, was it the bottle cap that he was spinning on the lunch table from Bella's soda?

Steph:

TM: Wouldn't Jacobs character just have to be recast anyways in NM? Would that be something you would want to point out as a major point for NM the movie? As the changes in Jacob are major!

Steph: I think that is the plan. Originally, some people were hopeful that they could take a tall skinny kid and put him on a weight regiment between movies, but they haven't found any good actors that fit the plan. I don't think there is a problem with using two actors--in fact, I think it's much more practical. It wouldn't be out of character at all for Bella to say outright, "Jacob, you've changed so much. You look like an entirely different person." And then the whole theater could have a nice laugh.

TM: Stephenie, would you ever consider doing New Moon from Jacob's pov as an addition to not a re-telling of the story? Would love to know his thoughts especially when he changes for the first time.

Steph: I have not been so moved. For now, the little bit I put on my website feels like enough to me. But who knows what the future might bring.