Stephenie Concluding Germany Tour

Stephenie is now wrapping up her Germany tour. Vienna was at the event in Cologne and was kind enough to file a report for us.

When I arrived at the ship (yes,the whole thing took place on a ship, but it didn’t leave the landing) with a friend of mine, there were only like 10 or 15 people waiting. So this was good. I left my friend there to stand in the line while going back to fetch another friend and when I got back there were like…hundreds of people standing in the line. Luckily my friend was still where I left her, so we got in and ended up in the front row. Awesome.

We then had to wait for about 30 minutes until Stephenie came on stage with the translator and a German actress. Stephenie read a part from Eclipse (Unhappy Endings, the part where Rosalie tells Bella her story > videos at the bottom) and I went crazy for the first time because that’s one of my favourite parts in the whole book. The German actress then read a part from the German one (the one where Jacob shows up at Forks High School to deliver his message).

So when the reading was done we were able to ask questions.
I got hold of the microphone first Very Happy.

My first question was on why Edward was always doubting the existence of his soul while he was being able to love Bella the way he does.
Stephenie’s answer: It comes all down to your definition of soul. She then explained how for example Carlisle and Edward have very different opinions on the matter and that Bella could not believe that someone so wonderful as Edward could possibly not have a soul. (by the way, I don’t have the answers on tape, so don’t kill me if something is not perfectly complete. I will try not to write down anything she didn’t say and I dare say that my memory is pretty good yet ^^)

The second thing I asked was whether she thought Bella and Edward were more like Romeo & Juliet, Heathcliff & Cathy or rather Elizabeth Bennet & Mr. Darcy. Stephenie’s answer: Bella and Edward are a couple of there own. She said that at different times she felt like Jane Eyre or Elizabeth Bennet or Cathy, but then she said that they are probably most like Elizabeth & Mr. Darcy (everybody was like ‘awwwww’ and I said ‘Thank you’ because that was what I had been hoping for Very Happy)

Oh, and I wanted to know whether she had ever read Elizabeth Gaskell’s ‘North and South’. She hasn’t read it yet but said it was on her list of books to read (once she has time to read again Very Happy)

Of course there were other questions. Again, I’ll try to wrote down what she said as best as I can.

Question: Do the covers have any special meaning to you?
Answer: She said that the first cover they wanted to use for Twilight was horrible and she was like "They can’t do that to my book!" and that she even cried and that they actually listened to her and changed it. She was pretty happy with the apple cover, but said that it involved some problems with something so often associated with Adam and Eve.
She then said that she didn’t get any say on the New Moon cover…and that it didn’t mean anything to her. But they didn’t listen to her when she cried this time.
And then she said that she was very happy with the Eclipse Cover and that the rope kind of presents how there are some things Bella just can’t cut away from her life (like her family, friends and I suppose Jacob especially).

Question: Has the cover for Breaking Dawn been chosen already?
Answer: No, but she hopes to have some nice propositions when she gets home from Germany.

Question: How did Bella and Jacob fit into one sleeping bag? (everybody was laughing)
Answer: They had to be really close! (never thought of that lol)

Question: What do you think about the German cover art?
Answer: She said the German covers where her favourites among the international ones! Haha!

Question: Why did you cast Robert Pattinson as Edward.
Answer: (As we all know) She didn’t get any say into who was cast and said she was lucky they even talked to her. (Sounds familiar.) She said that she thought Rob was perfect now that Henry Caville was too old and that she did get the chance to talk to him and was just stunned and thinks he’s the best Edward they could have cast. I know this is old news to most of us but I think we need to spread the Rob love!

Question: Which is your favourite character?
Answer: Jacob, Edward, and she’d love to go shopping with Alice. (Old news?)

Most of the other questions where just about things that are commonly known amongst those people who know how to use the www lol.

Um yeah, so just let me say that it was a hell lot of fun. We laughed soo much and Stephenie was lovely and honest as usual. The atmosphere was great and…you know…the translator was a lot of fun to listen to. She was a very nice woman, I know that, because I talked to her twice and she said I was very welcome to ask two questions instead of one…but she made a lot of mistakes and was clearly overchallenged.

Then there was the book signing. Stephenie had promised to sign one book for everybody present and my friend and me were actually the LAST ones in the line. It had been said before that Stephenie was only going to sign ONE book and no photos or anything else. Still, there were some people who lined up again to get her to sign photos and god knows what. Anyway the Carlsen people were already rushing her away…we cried out and said that our books had not been signed and she came back, which was really really awesome because the Carlsen peoople really had no time left because they needed the location. So she signed our books and apologized for not having time to take a picture. Sadly, she didn’t read my t-shirt which listed Bella & Edward on my list of Epic Love Favourites like Elizabeth & Mr. Darcy, Heathcliff & Cathy, Natasha Rostova & Andrei Bolkonsky (you know, in reference to my second question)…but I’m taking a lot of comfort from the fact that I was the last fan who talked to her that night. Very Happy

To sum it all up, I had a wonderful, wonderful day. Stephenie was awesome and it was really cool to see her and to be able to ask her questions and everything. So yay for Stephenie & thank you so much for coming to Germany!

Videos (of Stephenie reading Rosalies story):
The beginning: http://www.megaupload.com/de/?d=S6HY9H36
The end: http://www.megaupload.com/de/?d=EA1RFUPV