Tomorrow is MTV’s regularly scheduled Twilight Tuesday. It also happens to be Robert Pattinson’s birthday on Tuesday and Nikki’s on Saturday. 

So, to start off the celebrating just right, we thought it would be a good time to share a little bit of director Catherine Hardwicke’s enthusiasm for the film. It’s even more fantastic when you consider that she’s this upbeat after what they called "the worst day of filming on any set ever" due to the weather conditions.

SheKnows has posted a precursor article on the Twilight phenomenon.  They will be posting an interview with Stephenie on May 23rd.  Be sure to check back when it’s posted.

Here’s BethG reporting in!

The pre-dawn hours of May 6 found us making our way to the Barnes and Noble at Stonebriar Mall in Frisco, TX, with hopes of getting tickets to the Q&A and signing with Stephenie to be held on May 10. We arrived at 6 am to find about 250 dedicated fans (which included a surprising number of very patient dads) already in line for the store’s 7 am opening. Those at the front of the line had arrived more than 12 hours earlier! The weather was damp, windy and chilly. Hats off to the brave souls who camped out. By the time the store opened, the line had grown to around 400, but things moved quickly and we were back in the car by 7:45 am, clutching our tickets for auditorium seats (Row G!) and multiple copies of The Host. Good timing, as it began to pour down rain soon after.

By contrast, the afternoon of May 10 was windy, hot and humid. Welcome to Texas, Stephenie! We had our books ready to go, so we joined the crowd of 1000 enthusiastic fans filling the auditorium and cafeteria of Frisco’s Centennial High School, including Twilight celebrities such as The Bella Cullen Project band. Many creative shirts were spotted throughout the crowd. As it got closer to starting time, the excitement built and spontaneous chanting/cheering for Edward, Jacob, and Stephenie broke out.

Shirt pics

Pics from the event

Introduction by Barnes and Noble lady, with lots of screaming from the audience. (YouTube video)

Stephenie says she’s happy to be in Dallas (more screaming) and explains that she is answering pre-submitted questions.

YouTube Playlist with questions

The Host Questions

1. What was your inspiration for The Host? Twilight was a dream, was it something like that?
No, my theory is that you only get one dream that good in your life. You can choose to forget about, or you can choose to write it down. I chose to write it down. She goes on to speak about how her favorite thing in the world used to be reading a good book, but at age 29 she figured out that her favorite thing was actually writing a good book. She talks about enjoying complicated relationships, such as two people in one body fighting over the same guy. Sci-fi was what she grew up with, so it was natural that she would venture into sci-fi.

2. On your website, you say that you are anti-human. What exactly does that mean?
She talks a little about how people have accused her of being anti-feminist, but the story of Bella and Edward would have been the same if the roles were reversed and Bella was the vampire. Same goes for the genders of the characters in The Host. She refers to herself as an equal opportunity oppressor. She says the humans in her stories tend to be weak, compared to the other characters she makes up. Stephenie says writing from the perspective of the alien (Wanderer) came naturally.

3. How did you go from Twilight to The Host? Did you have to catch yourself from using Edward’s and Bella’s names?
She tends to get very involved in the story when she is working on a book, so it does take a while to switch gears to another story. After working on editing for the Twilight series, she’d have to take about 2 days to read over what she’d already written, outlines, etc. to get back into Host mode.

4. Are any of the characters in The Host based on people in your life?
The character Doc ended up taking on some characteristics of her younger brother (and webmaster) Seth. *big cheer from the audience*

5. Was it hard transitioning from writing for teens to adults? (part of question cut off in video)
There is no difference. The last thing on her mind is the target market of her audience. A good story is her focus.

6. In both The Host and Twilight, you explore the value of a soul. Why?
Stephenie talks a bit about her religious background influencing her thoughts about why we are here and what’s coming next. In The Host, her characters explore the question: If the world has been destroyed or taken over, what does that mean for people of faith? She feels this makes them more real, more well-rounded.

Miscellaneous Questions

1. Do you have any tips for people like me who want to publish books?
Don’t focus on the publishing, focus on the enjoyment of writing. The writing is the fun part. Being an author is not as glamorous as it seems. After you’ve written a book, do research, follow the rules, be persistent, and you have a good chance at getting your work in the hands of someone who will give it a chance.

2. How do you keep a plot going once you’ve started your idea?
It is always about the characters. As long as you have interesting and exciting characters, the story will flow. Exception would be for a mystery, where you have to plan out that plot very carefully.

3. What other characters would you like to write stories for?
Right now in her computer, she has started a story about a ghost, one about mermaids, and some about regular ordinary people in a murder-mystery plot. She’d like to try a little bit of everything.

Stephenie remained on the stage for the signing, and everyone waited patiently for their chance to file across and have their books signed. When our turn came, she was gracious and funny. She said to say hi to everyone at the Lex and to be sure and say good things about her. We assured her that we would give a full report on her amazing wit and beauty. It was a great day!

The Utah Deseret News has a story on Stephenie and what to expect at the signing at Thanksgiving Point.  

The LA Times feature story on Twilight we told you about ran in the paper today. They will also be posting new "exclusive" pictures soon on their website.  Use that link to check back for the images, coming soon.

Don’t forget to check out the Twilight Trailer.  It is soo close to breaking the record for most viewed trailer online!!!

Current total views 8:46 EST:  2,403,785 views!!!

11:27 EST: 2,438,042 million views!

We made the following post a year ago, and it still seems appropriate, especially since Stephenie is flying home in time for Mother’s Day.

The success of The Host signing Tour continues. Last night Stephenie was in Frisco, Texas. She now heads home for a break before doing a local event at Changing Hands Bookstore, where you can order signed copies of any of Stephenie’s books, and then on to Salt Lake City. 

Alphie and Pel will be at both Salt Lake City events. We’ll give a full report. So if you’ve got a great The Host tee shirt, hat, poster, have named your newborn twins Jared and Ian, etc. look for us outside the event. We’d love to feature your creativity on the Lexicon.

Also despite rumor to the contrary, Elvis left the building...er…wasn’t actually there.

Later we’ll have a full report from Lexiconer BethG

We mentioned yesterday how today’s LA times would have never seen before photos.  If you live in the LA area, it’s well worth getting a copy of the paper. For those of you who don’t live out in sunny Southern California, we offer you the next best thing.  Thanks to Twilight Obsessed for the heads up and to Christal for letting us link.

The Dallas Morning News is also covering Twilight. They feature local band The Bella Cullen Project.  Thanks to Ally for the heads up.

The IMDB now has Twilight as a featured trailer on their front page.

Melissa Rosenberg, who wrote the script for the Twilight movie, was kind enough to take time out of her busy schedule (When you read the interview, you realize that this lady has multi-tasking down!) to tell us about writing the movie script.

Some highlights include:

"There’s nowhere I’d rather be than in a room full of talented writers, breaking story together. But it can also be a little like being crammed onto a submarine during wartime."

"And of course, Catherine, whose work I absolutely loved, so I was a little intimidated meeting her. I went in and talked about how I thought the book could be structured. We discussed many different options, but the one thing we all completely agreed on was that the book was our bible. We would not veer off it."

Here’s the interview. Thank you again to Melissa, and thank you to Cocoa for acting as our interviewer.

Twilight Teez still has great tee shirts, but they are now expanding their jewelry business. They previously brought you Bella’s bracelet, he only officially approved version of the bracelet authorized by Stephenie Meyer.  Now they are creating a new product, Bella’s engagement ring.  They have a survey up and need your help so they can make some decisions on where to go with this product. Chime in and give your opinion on their survey.

Tired of Twilight videos being all over the place? Chris and Geo over at Twilighters have come up with a great solution. Introducing TwilightTube!  Kudos to Cris and Geo, check them out!

We mentioned earlier this week how Stephenie was featured on NPR’s Fresh Air. Well, now there is a link. Thanks Adalia.

The LA Times has an article on the Twilight Movie. EDITED: We have been given a tip  that the Sunday LA Times print edition will have an exclusive, never seen before photo. So, if you live in the area, it’s worthwhile getting the paper.

So we got to the Signing at 4:45pm & the doors weren’t set to open until 6:00pm, the event not starting until 7:00pm. So we had some time on our hands.

When Sarah, JT & I got there, we were pretty close to the front [Picture of Line In Front of us Which is surprisingly short] [Picture of Line Behind us The line went behind that half wall & snaked around the whole backside of the school!], lots with fan shirts & cameras & stacks of books! We sat around for awhile, people occasionally walking by with their video camera, showing how long the line was. We got stopped by 2 Lexicon Lurkers with a video camera when they asked us ‘Edward or Jacob?’ Sarah screamed ‘Jacob!’ & I go ‘Edward!’. They saw our awesome shirts & sent a shout out to the Lex. I turned around & they read off the usernames on the back.

A little later, we saw a man drive by the front of the school in a volvo. I don’t think he thought he would attract much attention, judging by the confused look on his face, but soon enough fans ran to the car asking for pictures. He said ok as a line formed.

At about 5:30pm, some Barnes & Noble employees ran down the line, putting our names on post-it notes & placing them inside the cover so the books would be ready for Stephenie to sign & personalize them.

At 6:00pm, we were allowed to enter the school, the air conditioning was very refreshing as Sarah & I ran to the seating in front of the stage. We sat on the isle, center, 5th or 6th row back. We knew we had amazing seats.

As the high school cafeteria filled up, a couple of girls walked up to us asking for our picture because of our Lexicon shirts. We felt famous. Here is a Picture of the Front of the T-shirt & here is the back.

A few minutes before 7:00pm, a man came on stage & introduced Stephenie. She walked out & everyone started screaming & taking pictures like crazy.

Once the crowd settled down, she had a short introduction & then began answering pre-submitted questions. (These are paraphrased, but very close to what she has actually said. On some questions, there are videos to go with it. Please remember that I was in an audience & they are not always quiet or make comments while filming.)

In her introduction, Stephenie said that she was happy to be in Houston, the turnout was amazing. She said that she was invited to a party with George Clooney & several other celebrities on May 9th also, but felt that she couldn’t let her fans down which brought an immediate *aww* from the crowd.
(Video Link)

Next she talked about how she likes doing the Q&A because it’s stuff that she knows the fans want to hear about. She talked about when she goes on tours she likes to do public events rather than school events because those are kids that have to be there, not necessairily want to be there.
(Video Link)

She then began her Q&A portion.

Which Host characters are you most like & did you give them any of your quirks?
-She said of the two main characters, Wanderer & Melanie, she gave them each a negative aspect of herself & a postive aspect she wishes she had. With Melanie, it is that she is pretty ruthless & hardcore, but she is immensely strong emotionally & physically. With Wanderer, it is that she is perfectly compassionate & always has the right instinct, but she can be kind of a coward too.
(Video Link)

If they made the Host into a movie, Which actors would you like to play the main roles?
-She said that she likes to cast the characters in her head as she writes. She imagined an actress portraying Wanderer. She said ‘It would look like Golumn!’. She thinks that Matt Damon would be a really good Jared.
(Video Link)

Do you have a playlist for the Host?
-She said she was embarassed that her playlist wasn’t posted yet, but she does have one & she intends to email it to her brother to post it on her site after the book tour.
(Video Link)

Have you ever been involved in a love triangle?
-She said, surprisingly, yes. While in college, but she was the only one who knew about it & her three boyfriends were clueless.
(Video Link)

Do you write for a target audience?
-She said no. She writes her stories the way she pictures them & her agent says ‘I think this is an adult novel.’ & Stephenie just goes with it.
(Video Link)

What if you have a story people will be upset with?
-She said ‘I think this was a New Moon reference.’ She said she writes the way she thinks it will happen because if she tried to make everyone happy, it would be impossible. She keeps seeing the ‘If Stephenie does this, I will burn the book.’ or ‘If Stephenie doesn’t do this, I will burn the book.’
(Video Link)

Was that your eye on the cover of the Host?
-She said no. People get paid to be beautiful for the covers. And it’s not her hands on the cover of Twilight either. She says she has little or no input on the covers. The only real control she has over her books is what’s inside. The Twilght cover was to represent choice. ‘Should I eat the apple or not?’ Because it could be poisionous, everything has risks. The cover of New Moon has no symbolism, her agent just thought it would be pretty. She was actually in on the cover of Eclipse. The ribbon represents Bella trying to cut herself off from her human life in order to become a vampire. The few strands still connected to the other half represents that it is not as easy as she thought & there were still somethings she wanted to hold onto. She also says she was very involved in choosing the cover for Breaking Dawn.

Is Breaking Dawn the last book of Twilight?
-Stephenie said that this is one of her most difficult questions to answer because there is no ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to it. Breaking Dawn will be the last book from Bella’s point-of-view, but not necessairily the last of Bella & Edward or the Cullens.

Will there be a sequel(s) to the Host?
-She said she has thought about it, but she is not sure yet. She wants to take a year off after Breaking Dawn & write about anything that pleases her if it may be mermaids or whatever. She doesn’t know if everything she writes will be published, but she knows she will have more published works.

What is the hardest part of your job from the writing to going on tour?
-Stephenie says the hardest part is the editing which can take months & goes through the process several times. She said she first thought that an editor’s job was to go through & check her grammar & punctuation, but she was wrong. During editing, they give suggestions on the characters, plots & everything. When she was first editing Twilight, some of the editors thought that Edward should be invisible. They also thought that Renee should have been killed off.

What did you mean when you said that parents would understand Twilight better?
-Stephenie said that she meant that parents would be able to see Twilight like she did when writing it. Like ‘Why is Bella running around with this vampire?’ not ‘Edward is so hot!’

Within the mythical creatures, How does your religion influence your writing?
-Stephenie says that she doesn’t use her books as a form of discussion for religion, she writes from her personal experiences. Her life has always dealt with religion though.
(Video Link)

How does the movie compare to the book?
-She said she gets tons of questions about the movie & she felt like she should include this one because she knew we would all be fairly interested. She said that she would love it if the movie could be like Pride & Prejudiced as a movie, 6 hours long, word for word, but it can’t. It’s an hour & a half hour long movie so scenes will be combined & so will some characters like Ben & Eric unfortunately. Though some changes had to be made, she thinks the movie will turn out great.

How did you come up with the idea for the Host?
-Unlike Twilight she did not have a dream inspire this story. She was driving through the desert with no one to talk to & it just came to her. This is why the majority of the story is set in the desert.

After the Q&A, Stephenie left for the theater where her signing table was set up, expecting hundreds of Twilighters with their copies of her books.

The first couple of rows went filed slowly into the theater, the rest of us sat in the cafeteria untill it was our row’s turn to get in line (which seemed to take forever when you sit there.

We sat & talked to the people around us, reading random parts of Eclipse, to pass the time.

Once we were called up, it didn’t seem to take so long to get into the theater. Inside was a cart filled up with gifts for Stephenie.

Sarah went first, Stephenie noticed her ‘colorful arms’ from marker wars at school. Stephenie commented back "Looks like you lost!".

I brought my books up next as one of the helper’s noticed my shirt that said ‘Twilight Lexicon’. ‘Look, Lexiconers!’ she pointed out to Stephenie. ‘That’s really cool!’ Stephenie said back looking at me & Sarah’s shirts.

JT went up next, Stephenie first commented on how she thought it was brave coming to a public signing for Twilight/The Host. She said it was ‘awesome’ to see Twilight Guys!

After leaving the stage, Sarah & I joked about how we were going to cry & we actually ended up crying because we were overwhelmed that the most exciting thing had just happened to us.

We left along with many other Twilight fans, very excited with what we got.