First let us start out by saying that we are completely biased here. We have been online as a Stephenie Meyer fansite since March 2006. And because of our relationship built over three years with Stephenie Meyer, we have no reason to doubt her word. So when the story first broke today on TMZ, we decided to do several things:
1. We looked at the version of the book in question that is available online
2. We asked Little Brown the publishing company for an official response
3. We started to research Ms. Scott herself
So we wrote up our preliminary findings here. Now what we found particularly interesting is that the attorney involved then decided to give a follow up to MTV. That’s right, MTV. It’s a unique tactic first TMZ now MTV. Could it be that he has something for initials, or is it possibly that those sites generally have a target audience that mirrors the demographic Ms. Scott’s novel and career are directed towards? Oh heck, maybe it’s just sheer coincidence.
As many of you know, much of Breaking Dawn came from Stephenie’s first sequel she wrote to Twilight called Forever Dawn. In fact, Alphie got to read this book back in February of 2006 and stands by what Stephenie says on her website.
“The basic story [between Forever Dawn and Breaking Dawn] is the same. Bella and Edward get married and go to Isle Esme for their honeymoon. Bella gets pregnant with Renesmee. The birth just about kills Bella, but Edward makes her a vampire in time. Jacob imprints on Renesmee. Alice has a vision of the Volturi coming to destroy the Cullens with the “immortal child” as their excuse. Alice bails. Bella’s shielding abilities turn the tide in the Cullen’s favor, along with Alice bringing home another half-vampire to prove that Nessie isn’t a danger.”
We decided to do some more research. We wanted to see for ourselves when Ms. Scott actually copyrighted her book. Well we got a whole lot more than we bargained for. We not only looked up Ms. Scott, but Stephenie Meyer as well. We were after the date that Twilight was copyrighted. Little did we know that not only was Twilight copyrighted, but so is Forever Dawn. This was news to us.
The following information is readily viewable to anyone doing a simple site search at the copyright office. If anyone had thought to try this a year ago they would have had a hell of a spoiler in the name of the Application Title. additionally Stephenie has stated in various interviews and as reflected in her “craptstic covers” that she originally toyed around with publishing under a pen name that included her maiden name of Morgan. You can see that name reflected in the registration as well.
Forever dawn.
| Type of Work: | Text |
|---|---|
| Registration Number / Date: | TXu001163060 / 2004-01-05 |
| Application Title: | Renesmee. |
| Title: | Forever dawn. |
| Description: | 241 p. |
| Copyright Claimant: | Stephenie Morgan Meyer (Morgan Meyer) |
| Date of Creation: | 2003 |
| Rights and Permissions: | Rights & permissions info. on original appl. in C.O. |
| Names: | Meyer, Stephenie Morgan |
| Meyer, Morgan |
Now when one looks up Ms. Scott’s work what is discovered is that nothing was legally filed until AFTER, Breaking Dawn was published. Now the work itself (though not filed for copyright) was online starting in 2006 which is a full two years after Stephenie Meyer filed her Forever Dawn manuscript:
| Type of Work: | Text |
|---|---|
| Registration Number / Date: | TX0006874176 / 2008-09-19 |
| Application Title: | The Nocturne. |
| Title: | The Nocturne. |
| Description: | Electronic file (eService) |
| Copyright Claimant: | Jordan Scott. |
| Date of Creation: | 2003 |
| Date of Publication: | 2006-07-05 |
| Nation of First Publication: | United States |
| Authorship on Application: | Jordan S Scott, 1988- ; Domicile: United States; Citizenship: United States. Authorship: Entire text, editing, orginal work. |
| ISBN: | 100977799697 |
| Names: | Scott, Jordan S, 1988- |
| Scott, Jordan |
So all in all, given the above easily accessible information, we are satisfied with Stephenie Meyer’s version of events.
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