Breaking Dawn Plagerism Claim Disputed

Today various gossip sites published a story that an author named Jordan Scott is accusing Stephenie Meyer of plagiarizing Breaking Dawn. A quick Google search reveals Ms. Scott’s website and her modeling aspirations.

Ms Scott’s bio states:

As a musician and singer, I have worked in the entertainment industry since I can remember, but I became serious about my writing when I graduated high school at age 14.

When I was 15 I began writing The Nocturne Trilogy, after I took some time away from writing music and working in film and television. I wanted to write a character-driven story with characters who seem to “live and breathe” on the pages. I wrote The Nocturne with the intent of bringing readers into a completely new world of the fantasy and romance genres. And now I have completed it, after more than three years of intense research, character development, writing, rewriting, editing, and writing a little more! I hope you guys enjoy it.

I commenced studies in a Harvard University Psychology program when I was 17, after which I wanted to major in Film and Theater, and transferred to UCLA. So these days I divide my time between music, college, and writing.

I have an award winning script, and three other scripts in various stages.  Wow

I love school, writing, music, and of course Boys.

In response, Stephenie Meyer’s representatives have released the following, unedited statement:

“The claim that Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer somehow infringes on an alleged book by someone named Jordan Scott is completely without merit.  Neither Stephenie Meyer nor her representatives had any knowledge of this writer or her supposed book prior to this claim.  Ms. Scott’s attorney has yet to furnish us with a copy of the book to support this claim as requested.  The world of The Twilight Saga and the stories within it are entirely the creation of Ms. Meyer.  Her books have been a phenomenal sensation, and perhaps it shouldn’t be surprising to hear that other people may seek to ride the coattails of such success. This claim is frivolous and any lawsuit will be defended vigorously.”

Loose fantasy ideas are not copyrightable, otherwise all vampire fiction would have stopped at Bram Stoker. Neither are loose romance plots copyrightable, or Harlequin would not be a leader in romance.  Part of the book in question is viewable on Ms Scott’s website as a Google document. Upon examination, in our clearly biased and in our non legal opinion, the type of word-for-word lifting and exact modeling of character and circumstance that need to be present for a copyright case to have merit is simply not there.

MTV Interviews Chris Weitz

Blogger Maggie: Post Twicon Musings

Maggie posted her part one and her part two and now we are up to the next segment with another promised. Maggie muses:

“I’m also realizing that the fandom is a lot of fun, smart, influential and interesting, but I think I really get my kicks from the film making, and the development process. This is an interesting tangent and I do hope I might be able to run my own event in the future or something… but that may be a back-up. I think I’m more inclined towards the film creation, adaptation, development and marketing than I am to the offshoots of the piece. I think I’m more interested in the adaptation… not the retranslations and interpretations of the adaptation, if that makes sense… Hmm… I’m still figuring all of this out, can you tell?

It’s certainly been interesting, educational and eye-opening for me. I hope it has for the partners as well, and the fans had a good time overall, despite the hiccups. Hmm… still pondering, waxing and wondering… we’ll see!”

The Twilight Saga Breaks a USA Today Record

We’ve often said that the only way in which the Twilight novels and Harry Potter novels can be compared is the fact that they were books directed at younger audiences, written by previously unpublished women, they have tremendous sales totals, and they have fanatic fan followings. In fact we just turned down participating in an webevent that wanted a faceoff to determine which was better, because it’s not a contest. Reading, in our opinion, shouldn’t be a contest. Especially since the books are differnt genres, it would be like asking what’s better a cubist Picasso or an impressionist Monet.

USA Today just announced that the Twilight Saga broke a record previously held by Harry Potter. So you can see how the sales total comparison is an interesting one.

According to USA Today:

“The four-book Twilight series has sunk its fangs into USA TODAY’s Best-Selling Books list — with no signs of letting go. Meyer’s domination of the list for the past 12 months has smashed records that until now had belonged to J.K. Rowling.

Breaking Dawn, the fourth book in the teen-vampire romance series, entered the list at No. 1 on Aug. 2, 2008. Its sales and those of Twilight, New Moon and Eclipse, the first three books, have remained staggering.

This week, Meyer’s novels are Nos. 4, 5, 6 and 7 on USA TODAY’s list.

Rowling, overall, has sold more books than Meyer — her seven-book series about boy wizard Harry Potter has 143 million copies in print in the USA, while Meyer has sold 40 million copies of her four books. But Rowling can’t match Meyer’s control of the list.”

Check out the whole story on USA Today. It doesn’t take sides in which novels are better, but it provides an interesting insight into their respective sales patterns and histories.

Rotten Tomatoes: Best Twilight Sites

Jen from Rotten Tomatoes has a listing up of what she considers to be the best Twilight sites and we’ve made the list. As our friends in the UK would say, “We’re rather chuffed!” Here’s what Rotten Tomatoes had to say:

“For a comprehensive catalog of all things Twilight (we’re not even just talking the movies, since the site originated in response to Stephenie Meyer’s books), there is none better than Twilight Lexicon. It is just that — a veritable encyclopedia of details regarding the Twilight Saga world, containing sections of meticulously researched character bios (with chapter citations, natch), a Saga-spanning timeline, and detailed chapter summaries of every single book.”

Check out the whole article on Rotten Tomatoes.

Arson at Forks HS

This just in from Chris Cook, editor of the Forks Forum.

“On Monday morning, Forks Police Department Deputy Chief of Police Lloyd Lee reported to the Forks Forum that: “Early this morning around 0145 hours the on duty officer, Michael Rowley was flagged down in the area of the school and was told about a bench in front of the high school was on fire. The responding officer put the fire out with the fire extinguisher he carries in his vehicle.

“After investigating we found not only was the bench on fire, but the arsonist tried to burn down the Forks High School sign. A one foot in diameter charred area was found behind the sign. Also found was a broken window on the north side of the high school.”

See the entire story on the Forks Forum

Awkward Moment

Call this innocent bystander fallout. The unfortunate result of the Rachelle and Summit situation is that castmates are now stuck in the middle being asked questions that puts them in a tough spot. No matter what their feelings are, it’s a no win situation, if they take a side it’s Catch 22.

Twilight Makeover For Men

InStyle now has an option for women who wish their significant other looks more like Robert Pattinson or Taylor Lautner.

“Women everywhere can makeover the men in their lives with the hairstyles of Hollywood’s hottest males including Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Patrick Dempsey, Will Smith, Robert Pattinson, Zac Efron, Joe Jonas, Chace Crawford (old and new styles) and Taylor Lautner.”

Check out the details on InStyle

Teen Choice Awards Coming Up

According to ET the following Twilight stars are slated to make an appearance at the Teen Choice Awards:

“Twilight’ actors Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart, Taylor Lautner, Ashley Greene, Nikki Reed and Kellan Lutz are all set to attend the Fox awards show, hosted by the Jonas Brothers.”

You can find more info on the Teen Choice Awards on their website. The show airs on the Fox Network on Monday, august 10th.

Tinsel Korey:Radar Online Interview

RadarOnline has a video interview with Tinsel Korey who plays Emily in the upcoming New Moon.

“Known for the horrific scar on her[meaning the character of Emily] face, Tinsel revealed that the application took hours and that it was a painful process to go through. She also said that Kristen Stewart wasn’t acting, and that she was really taken aback by the scar the first time she saw her disfigured face.”

Read the whole interview on RadarOnline