Portland Signing Q&A

On May 20th I attended the Portland signing for The Host. Due to work schedules and other things, My two friends and I weren’t able to arrive at the Bagdad Theater until around 6. We parked the car several blocks from the theater but not before noticing that the line for the signing was already going around the block and wrapping itself around the building.
 
We grabbed our books, and headed over to the line. Instantly, I noticed that it was full of young girls and their mothers. The girl behind me in line was finishing up her copy of The Host. The girl in front of me, with her mother, discussed Edward vs. Jacob. Many girls had homemade shirts on, with logos and "Edward’s this and that" written on them.

I felt a bit out of place because the only other men I saw there (and there was only about ten) looked like they had been dragged by their daughters, girlfriends or wives. Maybe I’m not being fair. I was there of my own free will and I didn’t care. I was very excited.
We didn’t wait in line too long. The line moved a bit every few minutes and everyone seemed to be in good spirits. Upon entering the theater we showed our tickets and were then given a blue raffle ticket (the respective numbers would be how they would call us in groups for the signing) and also given our copy of The Host. It was so big and heavy it made me happy.

Many people, my group included were a bit confused as to the seating. Our tickets had assigned seating given out on them and after a bit of trying to find our seats in the very dark Bagdad theater, we asked an official who said to just sit anywhere. All the seats on the floor were either taken or being saved so we ran up to the balcony and got some decent places that had been fitted out like loveseats.

We waited a few minutes then a volunteer came to the stage and told us how the even would work. It seemed pretty clear to me, having read posts and seen videos of the other signings. Stephenie would come out and speak, then she would sign two backstock copies of any of her books and she would personalize as many copies of The Host as we had.

After Stephenie spoke we all waited for our groups to be called so we could get in line. There were 500+ people there so the numbers would be called by the last three on our ticket. We waited around and chatted, and when I got up to stretch my legs I walked down the balcony and all but ran into Stephenie sitting at a table signing books.  She was so pretty and had a kind spirit about her. I was surprised that she was so close, but at least I knew where the signing table was.

When they called the group before ours we decided to leave the balcony and go sit down below so we could be closer to the line. Within minutes they called out numbers and we took our places.  The line moved very fast. I felt it was my duty, as a good brother, to buy another copy of The Host to get personalized for my sister considering that she was the one who introduced me to Stephenie’s books anyway. I did so and opened my books to the title pages as instructed.

When it was my turn, I pulled out six or seven watercolor paintings I had done for Stephenie. The volunteers, who were only doing their job, began to tell me that she was only signing books. I politely told them I understood and that I just wanted to give her a gift. They looked surprised and agreed. I put them down on the table and told Stephenie that I had painted them for her. Because she was signing and I didn’t want to take up her time, I started to move on–then a volunteer began to flip through the paintings and stopped on two of Jane and Emily. Stephenie then said that she recognized me from my website, which I am sure she saw through The Lex, and that she had really liked those two paintings. I got to speak to her for a minute and told her how I had discovered her books through my sister and how I loved the characters. She seemed happy and made a comment about how great it was that I was a male fan.

It made my week. The signing seemed well put together and very well run. The volunteers were helpful and the Bagdad theater was a nice venue to have it at. Everyone there seemed to be in really good spirits and enjoyed themselves greatly.

Stephenie: This is a cool theater. This is awesome. I’m really excited to be back in Portland. I was here quite a bit in the spring to hang out on set and so it’s fun to come back. I know my way around the city now, its kind of cool. I like Portland. This place rocks.

Stephenie:

I’ve got my questions that people submitted for tonight. This one I’m gonna start with. I picked it because there’s a few hints, one hint, in The Host of one of my favorite tv shows and when I saw this question it just really made me laugh.

Question: What kind of bears are best?

Stephenie: I would have to say black bears.

Alright, then on to The Host.

Question:>To me the Host exhumes all levels of love, right? What is the most powerful level of love in your opinion?

Very good question because The Host really is about that. For me it really was about looking at not just romantic love but love of community and love of self and who you will change your life for. For me the strongest kind of love I have ever discovered is the love of a mother for a child. The Host was my frist change to explore that kind of through a surrogate relationship. But that made the story really compelling and important to me. Very astute question , thank you.

All right, this one is a bit of a spoiler so I will try to phrase it a little differently.

Question:Does Jared really lie or does he develop feelings for Wanderer herself?

If you haven’t read the book yet that probably doesn’t make much sense to you but no, He really doesn’t lie. There are times when there are a lot of different truths and that is one where there are two very distinct truths going on at the same time.

Question: I cried several times while reading The Host. Was there any particular scene that made you feel the most emotional or tearful as you wrote or reviewed?

There were several places. Particularly around the end, I think probably around chapter 57. I can’t type and cry at the same time because you can’t see the screen. So I was trying so hard not to cry that my throat was just aching for about three chapters. So I do very distinctly remember that experience—just kind of gulping down ice water to see if that made it feel better. I do get very emotionally involved in my stories so if they’re feeling it, definitely I’m feeling it too.

Question: The Host has a lot to say about tolerance, forgiveness and understanding. What inspired you to delve into those particular themes?

One of the things that has always fascinated me about being human, and if this book is about anything it’s about being human, is the range that were all capable of. I try hard to be a good person. To me that’s an important thing and so when I watch the news and I see what people have done to each other, and the kind of violence that actually goes on in this world, the things that someone who might look just like you or me can go up and do to a total stranger on the street…its a horrifying thing. I can’t really read the news or watch the news because it’s so upsetting to me.

And the idea that we all have that in us—that possibility. And then you see the people who do things so amazing and so self sacrificing that you wonder who could ever be that good.The highs and the lows are really interesting. I think all of us want this to be a better world and this was one way of exploring what kind of price we would have to pay to have that. I think the price in The Host is a little too extreme. I’m sure the world is great but none of us get to enjoy that. It was an interesting thing to look at. Most of my books are about the relationships in them and there was a lot of compelling moments when I was thinking about what I would personally give up to have a world of peace and goodness.

Question: What was your favorite part of writing the Host?

I have a lot of scenes that were really fun for me. I find that writing violence is often a lot of fun.

Question: Have you started the next book in The Host series? Whose perspective is it from?

I do have an outline for a sequel. I don’t know if or when I will work on it again but if I do the second book in the series would be from Wanderer’s perspective again. A lot of people noted in the questions that I would be going on vacation for a while. After Breaking Dawn I am planning on taking some time off just to write. I really plan on just working on things that I am excited about. I’m not sure what that will be.

Question: Did you have troubles transitioning from writing the Twilight series to The Host? How were you able to detach yourself from the characters in one book to focus on others in the new book?

That’s a good question. As a writer sometimes it can be hard to pull yourself from one story to another. When I was working on The Host I actually wasn’t writing anything in the Twilight series. I was editing. It’s a very different process, you’re not as attached to it. It’s not really a creative process for me. It’s more like homework, it’s kind of like math in some ways. So unpleasant. So when I was doing The Host what I would do is I would start reading over again. Either I would read through the whole outline or read through everything I had written. I’d get back to the voices. Once I was in character so to speak, I never got confused. I got a question before. Someone asked if I had ever put in any of the wrong names from the Twilight Saga. Absolutely not. I was so involved in that world that Twilight barely existed—it doesn’t exist in that world. So I don’t even think of those characters when I’m working on it.

Here are a few Twilight Saga questions.

Question:Are you planning on re-writing the entire Twilight Saga (books one through four) from Edward’s point of view? When does Midnight Sun come out? I read you will be taking a year off after your Breaking Dawn tour. Will you be releasing Midnight Sun before you take your break?

No. I will not. Midnight Sun is only half written at this point. I won’t be able to work on it between now and the release of Breaking Dawn. Even if I were able to, it takes quite a while to put a book out. The editing could take up to two years and there’s also the printing process and coming up with a cover. It all takes quite a bit of time. I plan on working on the Midnight Sun while I’m on vacation. It’s not a vacation from writing, it’s a vacation from everything else. I am not planning on writing the Twilight Saga from Edward’s perspective. The reason, two things: New Moon would be horrible. I have said before that I have to live these emotions to write them. I don’t want to live in that place for six or seven months. I really don’t. It would be way too depressing. It would not be a fun book to read. It’d be boring in lots of spots because how long can you read about someone curled up into a ball doing nothing but moping? It just wouldn’t be good. And I also think that after you’ve seen Twilight from Edward’s perspective you’ll understand what he’s doing and what he’s thinking. I think you’ll know him then and you won’t need the extra context. I think it’ll be clear.

Question: Aside from the one’s you’ve created who is your favorite literary couple?

That’s a good question. I’m a big fan of Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennett, Romeo and Juliet. Some of them are a little bit more obscure. I really like Ender and Novinha which is from Speaker for the Dead. Those of you who know it probably love it. A lot of the Jane Austen couples, and Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre and Mr. Rochester and also Anne Shirley and Gilbert Blythe. Those classic couples.

Question: What will you be doing the day Twilight hits the theaters?

I’m not really sure yet. I imagine that the premiere will run earlier that week or the week before. The actual night of the movie I’m hoping to get a big group and go to a local theater with all my friends and family and see it all together. I think that’d be really fun. Maybe we’ll go dressed up like the red carpet. I’ll see if I can talk anyone else into that.

Question: We know you made a Twilight playlist to put on your site. What song do you most associate with Bella and Jacob?

Mostly I was trying to answer Host questions but I like this one cause I have an answer for it. The song that is most Jacob and Bella’s New Moon song is “Fix You” by Coldplay. That one I just felt was written for my soundtrack so it was nice of Coldplay to do that for me.

All right, on to the writing questions because I’m guessing that 90% of you are either in the process of writing a book or thinking about doing it or dreaming about doing it so I like to give a little advice where I can.

Question: What kind of advice would you give to an aspiring writer other than becoming an English Lit major?

That’s actually part of it. I do think that to be a good writer one of the important steps is to read as many books as you possibly can. Both good and bad because you can learn from people who did things right and learn from people who did things wrong. I really think that all the training I got for writing was in reading the thousands of books that I read growing up and I got a natural sense of when to end a story how to build the tension, where to put the climax. Things like that just come to you after you’ve seen it done ten thousand times. So I do think reading is really important. I also think “pure” writing is really important. What I mean by pure writing is writing just for yourself. Getting really lost in a world and not letting anything else be a factor. Not thinking, “Who’s gonna read this book?” “Who’s gonna publish it?” “How do I find an agent?” “Should I write this for a younger demographic?” All those kinds of worries just kind of take away not only from the experience but also from the manuscript. I think it’s better when it’s just about you telling yourself a story. And it’s a lot more fun. The experience of just writing for yourself—I really found that with Twilight but it was similar with The Host because I wasn’t sure if I was going to publish it. It was just my little side project to give me a creative output while I was editing. That was one where I wasn’t thinking about who was going to read it, what they were going to say and what the reviews were going to be like. It was just for me again and there’s really nothing like that experience. I encourage everybody who has that desire to find that opportunity to experience that because it’s really amazing.

Question: Do you find it challenging to juggle motherhood while being a celebrity?

Sometimes. Sometimes the time is hard. There’s a lot of demands on my time. The nice thing is that my kids see me unless I’m on tour which is really 10% of my time. Im always there. I’m doing interviews sometimes and I’m like “Shhhh!” (she mimes being on the phone) But I’m there. They know I’m there and they know they can come to me when they have a book report that needs to be done or what not…so…yeah, we did get an A, I know you guys saw that. My kids are really my whole life so that is the priority for me. Sometimes it is difficult finding the time but things change. When I first started writing I didn’t have nearly the time commitments for publicity that I have now but my kids were in diapers still and little and I have a lot more to do. And now my kids are in school all day, I have all this free time. Things keep changing and evolving and the balancing thing is something that you never get exactly right and you keep trying again and again but that’s basically how life is anyway, right? We’re doing okay and it all works out in the end but my priority is definitely with the kids.

Question: Did you ever feel like giving up when you were writing?

That’s an excellent question because I think a lot of times it can be very frustrating and we can feel like, “What is the point of this anyway? Why am I writing this all out anyway? Who is ever gonna see it?”

With Twilight I didn’t feel that because I wasn’t concerned. I was just writing it for me. That was enough. But I have quit things before. I was working on one thing and got five chapters in. There was no fantasy at all. It was just people and I got really really bored. And I just thought, “Why am I spending time on this if I’m not interested in it?” So I put it away and worked on something more exciting. So I think there are times when you do have to evaluate a story and see if this is really what I want to be doing. But if you’re quitting for some other reason like stage fright—the only reason you should quit a story is because it’s not working for you. You’re not interested or you’re getting bored. Any other reason is invalid. If you love the story keep going.

Question:Why are all the men tall and all the women are tiny?

That’s kind of funny you know. The people involved with making the movie asked the same question. Why is everybody so tall? Cause that’s kind of hard to do. And there are plenty of girls who are taller. Melanie and Rosalie are fairly tall. But it’s all about your personal experience. My brother, my webmaster is 6’6. I grew up thinking that’s normal. So for me men are tall. That seems normal to me and on the other side of my family, my in-laws, besides my husband I’m taller than everyone. My sister in-law is literally 4’10. So that is something that also seems normal. In The Host there is a character who is very small, The Seeker—there is a couple of characters who bear a resemblance to my agent because she wanted to get in the book so she did. She’s about 4’10 but don’t laugh cause she has a black belt and she’s not afraid to use it. A lot of times people’s physical descriptions come from what I see every day.

Question:Have you ever experienced writer’s block and how did you overcome it?

I haven’t had too much trouble with writers block since I got started. When I started writing it was really like a dam bursting because I had been telling myself stories for so long that this was the first time I stopped and wrote them down. I had so many stories. A bigger problem was time and typing fast enough. But I can occasionally get a block which is just like a transition I can not word right or a sentence that just isn’t working for me. My favorite thing to do is go into a dark room and turn up rock music really loud. You just kind of lay there and let your brain go really empty and usually that recharges me and I can go back and look at it from a new perspective.

All right, so those are the writer’s questions I have one last questions and Sarah from D.C. wants to know:

Question: Are any of your brothers single?

That’s a very very smart question ‘cause sometimes my sister in-laws get to read manuscripts early and I do have one single brother. He’s really good looking and he is an engineer and yeah. So he’s a terrific catch so he’s out there.

Those are all your questions and thank you for listening. I hope that I got the ones that kind of covered everything. Thank you all so much for coming tonight and reading my books and for being awesome beautiful smart fans because I feel really lucky to have you. Thank you.