Imogen is in Spain with the folks from Crepusculo-es and has been kind enough to give as a run down of the Q&A session they had with Stephenie.  You can find it listed in our PC section.  From what I understand, the Crepusculo-es folks will have transcript of an audio version of this posted at their site as soon as they can manage.  But for now you can read about it here.  She’s also made a blog entry about her time in Spain so far.  How jealous am I?

Imogen also has taken some pictures of the event Have a look here as well as some of the beautiful sights of the area. 

Huge thanks to everyone at Crepusculo-es for inviting me along, and to Stephenie for such an entertaining interview. The guys at Crepusculo are doing a full on transcript of the interview, but these are the notes I made. Unless it’s in quotes, it’s paraphrased from what Stephenie actually said.

Is Edward based on anyone?
Edward is all himself, and has always been himself. Much as Stephenie’s husband might want to claim it’s based on him, it’s not. The characters come completely formed. Edward is Stephenie’s version of the perfect man.

Is Emmett going to have a more important role in future novels?
Emmett has become a side-character – not intentionally, but because he’s so straightforward. He’s a very open character with no secrets. More will be revealed about both Rosalie and Jasper in ‘Eclipse’.

Will ‘Midnight Sun’ be published?
Stephenie is currently up to writing chapter 12, which isn’t very far into the story of ‘Twilight’. New bits of the story (not in Twilight) will be seen in this version of the story, for example the car chase at the end of the book when Bella is trapped by James. Stephanie mooted the possible publication dates of Spring 08 or 09.

Why does Bella have so many dreams?
Dreams are things that can change your life, and the subconscious can bring things out that aren’t clear in daily living. Bella puts things together through her dreams. Interestingly, Stephenie pointed out that if Bella becomes a vampire then she won’t be dreaming any more as vampires don’t sleep.

Where do werewolves come from?
The backstory to the werewolves is coming in ‘Eclipse’. It’s a longer book than ‘New Moon’ and Stephenie says that the books are getting progressively longer.

Does writing dialogue come naturally?
It stems from the fact that Stephenie is really shy. She said she was shaking during the TV interview in Madrid. As a consequence of being shy, she had a lot of internal dialogues with herself, especially during high school.

Are any of the houses in the books real?
Yes. Bella’s house in Phoenix that Alice sees through the vision is the home that Stephenie grew up in. The ballet studio is also real. Everything else is either made up or Googled on the internet. The whole world was created, but Phoenix is obviously from her own personal experience.

The question was about the blank pages in ‘New Moon’ when Bella stopped living after Edward left.
Stephenie explained that originally they didn’t exist, but the shift in time was just too stark and abrupt. She needed something to give a sense of time passing and just how long it was. The idea of these pages with just the months on them evolved gradually over time.

What’s your favourite phrase from the books?
Stephenie’s least favourite quote is the one that’s on the back of ‘Twilight’: ‘About three things I was absolutely positive…’

From ‘New Moon’, she likes the line: “I was like a lost moon—my planet destroyed in some cataclysmic, disaster-movie scenario of desolation—that continued, nevertheless, to circle in a tight little orbit around the empty space left behind, ignoring the laws of gravity” and also talked about “I bet she’s tougher than that – she runs with vampires.” Stephenie said how she particularly likes the dialogue between the wolves as it reminds her of her brothers when they were younger.

The discussion moved on to “So the lion fell in love with the lamb”. Stephenie said that in some ways this could be a role reversal from the way it appears. Edward could well be the lamb because of his insecurities.

At the end of ‘Twilight’, Alice mentions “other options” when Bella is fleeing from James. What other options?
This is referring to Bella being changed into a vampire. Present and future are all very similar for Alice, and for her it is a simple concept to just skip events forward to how they may be in the future. Alice never thinks about being human or what she’s lost; Edward does. He’s a more complex character in this respect as he has lost much more.

Anything more about the werewolves?
Stephenie said that she loves the brotherhood of the wolves and the pack mind. Within La Push, the wolves are pack animals. There are more vampires than wolves overall, as werewolves can’t change people by biting them – it has to be a genetic link. Billy is in the genetic line to have changed into a werewolf, but the books imply that he didn’t change as the vampires weren’t present at the time. Stephenie confirmed that it’s “not wrong to assume that”. Stephenie wouldn’t venture any further than this, as she was worried about giving us a spoiler!

Has the cover for ‘Eclipse’ been agreed on yet?
Just last week. She couldn’t tell us what it was, but says she likes it an awful lot better than the cover for ‘New Moon’. She liked the ‘Twilight’ cover because of the symbolism of it, and disliked ‘New Moon’ because it was just a pretty picture. This implies that the art work on the ‘Eclipse’ cover might give us some hints!

How do you research things?
Volterra was originally a fake city as Stephenie didn’t want to be sued for making a real city founded and governed by vampires. However, she knew she wanted to name the place Volterra and thought that Tuscany would be a good place for it as it’s both remote and ancient. She looked at a map on the internet and found that there actually was a place called Volterra. Upon investigating further, she found that the clock tower in Volterra was exactly the same as the one she’s imagined. She’s visiting it in April.

Doesn’t Edward remember what food tastes like?
Not really. It’s a bit like being five years old, because human memories fade over time, whereas vampire memories are total recall. If someone has a fever or is ill when they are first transformed, they are likely to let human memories fade more quickly. If someone concentrates on human memories in the early days they would have excellent recall of what it was like. This is why Rosalie has a good memory of her human years, because this is something she wanted to hang on to.

Doesn’t Bella have any friends she keeps in touch with in Phoenix?
Bella’s Phoenix existence was pretty much as her mother’s best friend as Renee takes an awful lot of effort and time. Bella is shy too, so has no real close girlfriends she’d go shopping with or anything like that. She didn’t leave strong ties behind her and it’s easy to fall out of touch with people.

Why can Edward read minds?
He was really aware of and in tune with people when he was a human. He understood the way that people were thinking. Bella’s gift is her inner strength and her self-containment.

What about the movie?
There are no scripts yet, and Stephenie isn’t allowed to be involved anyway. They want to apply their vision of it to the film, not hers. She went with MTV because they understood the innocence of the relationship and the need for character actors to play the normal people so that the vampires would stand out as being particularly beautiful. The rights haven’t been bought for ‘New Moon’ yet. Stephenie likes Tyler Posey (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0692677/) as an idea for a young Jacob.

Have you read any of Anne Rice’s books?
Stephenie read one while she was in college (the one with the witches), but didn’t find it quite her style. She doesn’t do the horror thing! Now she can’t read vampire stories at all. There’s so much cross-over in the genre, that ideas are bound to overlap. Stephenie has also promised to watch Buffy when her writing in this universe is done.

On Writing
It was something very immediate. One day she wasn’t an author and the next day she was. She intended to use her maiden name – Stephenie Morgan – on the books because she feels that reflects who she is as an individual. However, the publicity was done very quickly with her married name on it, so it was never an option.

Chapter 13 of ‘Twilight’ was her dream, and she had to write up to that, but had no real idea of what was going to be involved. She knows where the ultimate end is going to be, and if different decisions had been made by the characters what would have happened then. She writes very detailed outlines but these change as she goes along.

On her website, she has plans to post the alternate ending to ‘Eclipse’ which was what she was going to have to write if she had been limited to three books. As she says, it “messes with your head” but she likes it. She thinks it’ll be about 5 or 6 chapters long, and would produce a resolution to the storyline if books hadn’t been written beyond that point.

‘Eclipse’ is a favourite book and is a chance to get a lot more comedy in. Stephenie says that there is a lot more humour in this book, as she now has an editor that gets her sense of humour.

Current Projects
“Humans are boring; they need something extra.” Stephenie grew up with X-Men and other superheroes, and said, “I want to be a mermaid – I love mermaids.” She has plans to write a book on mermaids, or perhaps sirens, but these will be very different from the traditional type, just like her vampires are different.

Her mermaids will be thought to be cannibals because they eat humans. The humans fish for them, but because the mermaids need to go near the shore that leads to inevitable conflict.

The story will be about a girl with the nickname Froggy. She’s a human, but doesn’t really know where she belongs. Stephenie thinks this will be set in a fantasy world. The mermaids will be named with sounds that make it seem like they’re talking underwater. Long ‘e’ sounds, with l and s too.

What’s your typical day like?
On a good day, Stephenie can write a whole chapter. Generally she edits during the day but writes after 8pm at night after her children have gone to bed. Her husband watches sport on the TV. She laughed and said that Charlie is based on a lot of men – they just put the sport on, no matter what it is, and watch it.

Her editing and rewriting never stops. She adds in foreshadowing, or makes things clearer for the reader so things don’t look as if they’re coming out of nowhere. She edits repeatedly with her editor, to the point where she’d rather set fire to the manuscript than do any more.

Why do you like your favourite authors?
Stephenie likes them “because of the real emotions in the books. It was how I would feel and respond.” She discussed parallels between Marianne’s reaction to losing Willoughby as being just like Bella’s response when Edward left. ‘Pride and Prejudice’ is her favourite Jane Austen and Laurence Olivier is Stephenie’s Mr Darcy!

I’ve had a few e-mails from Stephenie with information that I think everyone will be interested in. 

First off, she has opened up a section where we can order t-shirts.  She is offering all the shirts you have previously seen pictures of as well as a few new ones.  Very cool!  Prices range from $18 – $25.  I’m not sure if there is a limited supply or not, so get ’em while you can!

Also, there is a rumor going around that the Twilight movie has been put on hold because the film makers are wanting to take Twilight and New Moon and make them into one movie.  Folks, this is simply NOT TRUE!  Should Twilight ever become a movie, it would cover the events in Twilight and that’s it.  As things stand right now, there is no new information about the movie at all.  Believe me, if there was big news about anything relating to the movie, we would pass it on to you right here. 

 On a personal note, I’m sorry that I have to announce that none of the Lexicon staff will be able to attend Prom.  Pel has been very VERY sick this last week and has had to use up the majority of her leave time from work.  We had planned to use some of her collected points towards the hotel room and car rental.  Now that she is unable to go, that puts me in a difficult position money wise.  And since Pel and I are not going, Imogen has decided to stay home as well.  It was like a domino effect, and believe me when I say that we are all very disapointed.  Pel and I have both agreed to try and attend a few of Stephenie’s other events when she tours for Eclipse and Imogen is trying to go to the events in Spain in a few weeks.  Also, there are plans in the works for some other things that will hopefully make up for this.  I can’t give you any more specifics other than to say that I am excited about it and I know you will be too. 

Alphie

~~~ UPDATE!

Imogen will be in Spain!  She will be there from Monday afternoon to Thursday morning.  There are plans for an event on Friday which she will NOT be there for, but look for her at all the other events that may take place.  If you see a lovely English woman wondering around Madrid taking lots and lots of pictures, chances are that it’s Imogen!   She has promised to fill us in on the details and post pictures of the events.

Hello All,

As you may have noticed, there have been issues with the site and the "sessions" error that rears it’s ugly head every now and again.  Well, I had moved the database to a new server a month ago thinking that the additional speed of the new server would fix things.  Well, that did not work.  I now know that my server that has been hosting the actual scripts that the forum software runs on has been being restarted due to system errors every now and again.  When it would restart  with someone logged into the forums, it would lock the database. 

Now that you have more information than you could ever want, what you really need to know is that I am moving the site to the newer server tonight.  As a result, there may be brief periods when the site might not be accessable due to DNS propagation.  While this will probably not be the case, you may want to note that you can get to the forums at the following link during those downtimes:

http://test.wheeple.com/forum/

I set this up to help you avoid the forum withdrawls that many of you suffered and are still recovering from during the previous outages. 

Darksied9

Imogen has come through for us with an update in the werewolf mythology section.  She’s added the notes on apperance, strength, and speed.  More to come soon.

And since we are on the topic of Imogen, those of you who will be coming to Prom will have the chance to meet Imogen!  She has confirmed that she will be there.  She may be tired from jet lag, but she will be there!  YEAH! 

Alphie

Werewolf strength

Their movement is in “powerful bounds” (NM10) as a wolf, but also as a human there seems to be a difference in strength. Bella notes that Jake handles her “too roughly” and when he hugs her it’s with a “crushing” movement so that Bella “can’t – breathe.” (NM12) He doesn’t seem aware of his additional strength like the vampires are, but this could well be due to the newness of the changes he has experienced.

Like the Cullens, once Jacob is a wolf, he exhibits similar displays of strength: “He slid his arms under me and lifted me without effort—like picking up an empty box.” (NM16) However, before the transformation has happened he is restricted to putting his arm around Bella and helping her back along the trail after her motorcycle accident.

When Jacob discusses being a wolf with Bella later in the novel, he explains: “It’s what we’re made for, Bells.  We’re strong, too.” (NM13)

The sounds that the wolves make are also linked with both strength and ferocity, for example, their growls are described repeatedly as “ like thunder” (NM14)

Should a wolf meet a vampire in a fight, there are few clues about what would happen. Certainly a pack of wolves were enough of a match for Laurent, but whether a single wolf could overpower a single vampire is another matter.

Part of the strength of a werewolf is that he (or she) is not a single entity, but part of a pack. They are stronger as a group than they would be alone. They communicate through the fact that they “hear each other’s thoughts, but only when you’re wolves” (EC5), and during fights, like those we see at the end of ‘Eclipse’ they can alert each other of danger.

They are more than a team. There are “no privacy, no secrets” (EC5) between them and this makes them stronger. As Edward puts it: “The pack mind is mesmerizing. All thinking together and then separately at the same time. There’s so much to read.” (EC19)

Werewolf speed

Like the vampires, werewolves are also superhuman in their ability to run. Jacob even compares it to being better and faster than a motorcycle, and thinks that the ability to run so fast is “The best part,” (NM15) of being a werewolf.

Even in his human form, Jake seems to have developed more speed: “Then he turned and sprinted through the parking lot, across the road, and into the bordering forest.  He flitted into the trees, swift and sleek as a deer.” (NM13) The comparison to the vampires here is quite clear and Bella herself  notes that being on Edward’s back as he runs is “A hundred times better than the motorcycle.” (NM24)

As the wolves could catch Laurent it appears that they are even faster on their feet than the vampires are. Bella says: “I couldn’t imagine that—the wolves running faster than a vampire.  When the Cullens ran, they all but turned invisible with speed.” (NM15) It seems that speed is their real weapon, along with the exchange of thoughts within the pack.

Their reflexes are also immensely fast: “With stunning speed, Jacob yanked a can opener from the counter and launched it at Jared’s head.  Jared’s hand flicked up faster than I would have thought possible, and he snagged the tool just before it hit his face.” (NM14) They are certainly quick enough to tear apart one vampire as a pack, regardless of how strong that vampire was.

Werewolf appearance

The wolves themselves vary in physical appearance, just like their human counterparts. For example, the wolf that scares Laurent away from Bella (NM10) is described as: “It was enormous—as tall as a horse, but thicker, much more muscular.  The long muzzle grimaced, revealing a line of dagger-like incisors. A grisly snarl rolled out from between the teeth, rumbling across the clearing like a prolonged crack of thunder.” So huge that Bella even mistakes it for a “bear” at first.

The other wolves are described: “One was a deep gray, the other brown, neither one quite as tall as the first.” And finally a “rusty brown monster” (NM10).

It is this “reddish brown” wolf that Bella focuses on, explaining “The wolf’s eyes were dark, nearly black.  It gazed at me for a fraction of a second, the deep eyes seeming too intelligent for a wild animal. As it stared at me, I suddenly thought of Jacob,” (NM10) but it is not until her later dream that Bella realises that these eyes are actually “The black-brown, familiar eyes of Jacob Black.” (NM12)

The colour of the wolves seems to be randomly allocated. Jake’s reddish-brown colour could be connected with his skin tone, but if that were true then the others would also be a similar colour as they are of fairly similar human appearance. However, as wolves they are markedly different in appearance, although similar in strength and size.

In ‘Eclipse’ we discover that there are some correlations between human and werewolf form. Bella asks why Jacob is furrier than the others: “Because my hair is longer” (EC22)

The sheer “monstrous size” of these things are emphasised again and again. This links clearly with the actual changes in the boys as well, which Bella notes, although she doesn’t connect the two together until later. “These were just four really big half-naked boys” (NM14) As a human Jacob is “six five” (NM5) and she also remarks of the changes in Quil: “He looked bigger than the last time I’d seen him.  What was with these Quileute boys?  Were they feeding them experimental growth hormones?” (NM11) It seems that a period of rapid growth happens in the human boy before he becomes a wolf.

It is also noticeable that the human boy changes significantly in areas other than height when they have become of an age to turn into a werewolf. Jacob crops his hair short, just like Sam and the others, but “The planes of his face seemed to have hardened subtly, tightened…aged. His neck and his shoulders were different, too, thicker somehow.  His hands, where they gripped the window frame, looked enormous, with the tendons and veins more prominent under the russet skin.” (NM11) Becoming a wolf is a sign of maturity, and he visibly ages as a human as well. This also seems to be true of Sam Uley, as his first description is: “closer to a man than a boy, and his voice was very deep.” (TW6)

The boys become very similar in their physical human appearance until they could be mistaken for “quadruplets” (NM14) as there was “something about the way they moved almost in synchronization to stand across the road from us, the way they all had the same long, round muscles under the same red-brown skin, the same cropped black hair, and the way their expressions altered at exactly the same moment.” (NM14)

I’ve added Chapter 24 to the discussion area.  I’ve also posted a few questions on the message board for those of you who wish to dish the dirt over Bella’s blood and the future of her relationship with Edward.  No one is interested in those things, right?

We should be posting the epilogue sometime later this week.  Once that is up, we will move on to our New Moon discussion.  YEAH!

Alphie

Pel and I have had a crazy amount of e-mails about prom and I thought I should post this here to let you all know that there is no new information.  All we know is that it will take place the first weekend in May and that it will be some where in the large city of Phoenix, AZ.  We have no specifics on hotels, time, loaction… nothing.  There just isn’t anything more to tell right now.  PLEASE do not book your flights or hotels yet.  We can’t make you any promises as to location or time and I would hate for someone to get a room on the opposite side of town from where the event will take place.  Just hang tight.  As soon as Stephenie has ANY information, I will let every one know what’s going on. 

Alphie