Q: Elizabeth asks, “What are your intentions with the Twilight universe and are you going to do anything after Midnight Sun?”
A: Ok, so, confession on that one. A lot of you guys know, Elizabeth, my publicist, right? She’s really cool. So we’re going through the questions and about a million of them were, “so is the next one going to be about Nessie and Jacob? Or are you going to do something with Garrett or are you going to do something with Kate or what are you going to do with Bella and Edward?” So we combined it into one just so we could move forward. At this point in time, I’m not exactly sure what I’m going to do. I’ve been writing about vampires for a long time now and when I get done with midnight sun, there’s a lot of other characters that I have waiting. They’re just kind of sitting there back in the wings like “is it our turn yet?” I want to give them their turn so that’s something that we’ll see. I don’t know that I’m done with the Cullens universe. We’ll have to wait and see how that works out.
Q: Christina asks, “Can you tell us the difference between Breaking Dawn and Forever Dawn?”
A: I thought that was a really cool question because I’ve seen some speculation on that. And the basic story line… Bella and Edward get married… Renesmee imprinting… and then the final scene with the Volturi is very much the same as Forever Dawn. So all of those things were in place with the story by fall of 2003. So for a really long time I knew where this was going. And the little differences were things like, without Eclipse and New Moon, Jacob really hasn’t developed as a character so his development happens in Forever Dawn. And it’s a little bit sketchier. There’s not quite as much… you don’t get to know, Leah isn’t as big a part of the story and I miss that. So it’s just the little pieces of the characters that are really more fleshed out earlier in the novel. But other than that it’s very close.
Q: Evelyn asks, “How does Edward feel about himself now? Does he still see himself as a monster?”
A: I love that question because, no. There’s this great evolution for him. He’s kind of a pessimist, did anyone else notice that? He’s really always waiting for like the worst thing to happen and then it doesn’t. And I think his biggest worst fear about this whole situation was that he would give in, he would change Bella, and she would hate him for it, that she would regret what had happened. And that doesn’t happen. And you can see at the end he’s just changed so much, that even with this horrible impending doom, he has faith in their future. He doesn’t believe that anything can stop them now. And I was really happy to see that happening within him and that evolution to where he’s a believer now and I really liked that.
Q: Sydney asks, “Since you couldn’t answer completely at Comic Con, what was your favorite Bella and Edward moment?”
A: Completely honest. Actually I did answer this one in Chicago so I’m sure some of you know this, but the last 2 pages in Breaking Dawn were- I mean, that seemed for me like a culmination of over 2000 pages of getting there. So it really, that for me was the moment. I mean, they finally see eye to eye and really know each other. And wow, that was really worth 2000 pages to get to.
Q: Actually, I’m a little surprised because I thought that the new love would maybe because I was a big fan of that rush of new love.
A: New love is really fantastic, but love realized is even better.
Q: Christine wants to know, “For Twilight and New Moon, you posted outtakes and extra stuff online. Will there be outtakes or extra stuff for Breaking Dawn?”
A: Ok, so, as I’ve gotten a little bit better with the writing thing, I don’t have to cut as much. The bad news is like with Eclipse, there really aren’t any outtakes. I did do a few extras there. Probably, there’s more coming. With Breaking Dawn, there weren’t a lot of major cuts or like interesting cuts. Everything that went was like it was a good thing. But I do think that, I don’t know. I’ll probably get around to posting little bits of Forever Dawn just so you can see how different it was. In some of the scenes when they take place in a totally different time, in a different way but at the same time it’s the same effect being achieved. So there’s a possibility there will be little pieces of forever dawn out there some day.
Q: What about the spoof that you did when it was just getting all crazy, breaking down, will that ever really get out there?
A: Oh my gosh, I should totally write breaking down. If I had more time what I would have done is… If I hadn’t been, I don’t know, touring for the host last May, I would have been writing breaking down and then I would have leaked it. And people would have been like “oh my gosh, they all die!” It’s realy cruel. It’s the Hamlet ending. I think that in the end, Bella’s planning to commit suicide, changed her mind, then falls off the cliff anyway because she tripped. Um, poor Charlie has lost his job because after Bella was so seriously injured he got addicted to her pain meds. Bella’s brief marriage to Mike that ended when he ran off with Eric Yorkie, that was [lots of screaming]. So that might happen some day.
Q: Anonymous asks, “Why didn’t we see Bella’s pregnancy through Bella’s POV?”
A: So this is one of the big differences from Forever Dawn. In forever dawn I wrote the entire thing from Bella’s POV and it was actually quite a bit longer. I noticed as I was reading through this that there is this significant lag time where Bella is stuck in the house and everything that is happening is on the outside. All the action is somewhere else and there’s all these things she’s missing because she wouldn’t know about them. And I always felt with that rough draft that there needed an overhaul to make that section more interesting. So when I started playing around with the idea of letting Jacob take over the narration because he was the one that was seeing all the exciting stuff, it really grew on me. Then I started writing it and it was such an awesome experience. All of this time, all through New Moon and Eclipse, I’m hearing all of the snarky comments in jacob’s head that nobody else gets to hear because he’s not saying it out loud. And finally Jacob gets to be all snarky in his head and you get to hear it. I had a really great time with that and it did really move the story along a lot faster with a lot more action. So I think it was the right thing to do.
Q: Do the cover and title of Breaking Dawn have a meaning and what part of the book goes with My Never and then they say “love the book, sorry it ended.” So first part, do the cover and title have a meaning?
A: So, the cover. For me this cover was extremely meaningful. I was really happy with how it turned out. This cover’s not just for Breaking Dawn, this cover is for all 4 books. It shows Bella’s progression from being the pawn to being the most powerful player on the board. I was excited to show that visually. So that’s why it looks like that.
So with the title, um, obviously, you know, forever dawn was just way, way, way too cheesy. I wanted a sense of disaster as well. You know, this is a new awakening and a new day and there’s also a lot of problems inherent in it, so breaking dawn was the right way to go there.
There was one more part of that with My Never, which you guys haven’t heard yet because it’s not out. This is one of the really cool things about touring with a rock star is you get to hear new stuff and you’re going to get to hear it a little bit later. I did tell people in New York that I’d tell you which page it applies to, and that’s 355 so now you know.
Q: Mimi asks, “Seeing Edward and the Cullens through Jacob’s eyes was fascinating to her. If you could tell breaking dawn from another character’s POV, what POV would it be?”
[shouts from the audience]
A: Alice would be a good one, good suggestion. Ok, ok, I’m not taking suggestions, sorry. With Jacob’s perspective getting to see Edward, especially his evolution of when he kind of finally has to admit he was wrong about Edward all along. That was really interesting to watch, how Bella and Edward look to someone else. I enjoyed that. But I do think that if you’re looking at it from a storytelling perspective, the only other option is Alice because she has another adventure that we don’t get to see. But the book was getting really long. Sometimes you have to draw the line at almost 800 pages.
Q: Nicki wants to know, “Since Renesemee will live forever, does that mean Jacob will be immortal as well since the vampires are always going to be around?”
A: actually once the trigger of vampires being around is over, there’s a lot of fact questions coming up, just so you know, just so you can get some of these things straight. Um, Jacob can continue to be the same age that he is now as long as he turns into a werewolf every now and then which is really not very hard for him. So, luckily for them, they’re both set up for immortality, which is nice.
Q: Myra wants to know, “What was the phone conversation between Bella and Rosalie like?”
A: You know, um, I actually talked to someone today who had a reaction to that that I’d never expected. She thought that like Rosalie and Bella were going to take off and run away. It was kind of a cool – I can see that so that was cool. But it went something like, you know, Bella said to Rosalie, you know, “obviously you’ve heard.” And Rosalie’s like “yeah.” “I don’t have a lot of time,” Bella says. Rosalie’s very sullen at this point because here’s Bella getting what she wants, again. And then Bella says “you have to help me and you have to help me keep this child alive.” And that was when Rosalie’s whole perspective on Bella changed. And they made a very fast agreement and when Bella and Edward got home Rosalie was ready and she took over from there. So that was kind of, it was a very short conversation but it changed a lot about their relationship.
Q: So is that what Bella said to get Rosalie on her side, I need your help? She reached out to her?
A: Yes, and she just told her the truth of the situation and that was enough to change her mind.
Q: Ok, Terlisha asks, “Is Bella’s before car in BD a real car?”
A: It’s not! This is the first non real car in the twilight series. There actually is a Mercedes Guard, which is close to the Guardian, I just wanted it one step more. I wanted more missile proof armor. So it is a little bit different from reality.
Q: Amanda says, “Why did Edward call Jacob “son” in breaking dawn?”
A: That was a real odd writing moment for me. Every now and then when I’m writing one of my character’s voices is so loud with a line I’m not expecting and it just takes me off guard. It happened in new moon at the end. And in this moment I realized that Edward had completely accepted Renesemee’s future and that Jake was going to be a part of it and there was no resentment. Everything was gone. Their happiness was, you know, in that moment the most important thing. And it’s totally cheesy but when I heard that as I’m typing, I burst into tears. It was very odd. I do that every now and then, it scares people.
Q: Ok and this is another anonymous, “what was going on between Billy and Charlie?”
A: There was this whole romance thing going on that Bella only barely caught the fringes of. You know, Billy always thought that after a while, he’d move in there. You know, Sue’s a nice looking woman, they have a lot in common, but she and Charlie just bonded. And Billy I don’t think is talking to them right now, so…
Q: Drew asks, “Why did you have Bella envision having a son rather than a daughter?”
A: So I always knew, I mean, Renesemee was always Renesemee, and there was always- she’s just is such a strong character to me that I always knew that was going to happen. But then when I was getting into Bella’s head and looking at it from her perspective, she has a few issues with herself that she learned to get over. But at the time she can’t imagine anything more beautiful than Edward. So it seemed to her that his son would be the most beautiful thing possible and the most amazing thing because she always sees him in that light. But you know, Renesemee’s even more than she had hoped for. So she was surprised but happily.
Q: Lily asks, “What happened to Leah?”
A: Ok, Leah. So there’s a lot of story there and when we’re not with Jacob we don’t get her anymore. She is second in command of that pack which is something that she’s very pleased with and she’s so much happier than she was before. So she’s in a better place. But if I were to go ahead with the series in some other form in 10, 20 years, yeah, her story is definitely one that I’d want to follow because I’m interested in her future.
Q: Has Gianna been turned into a vampire and did she join the Volturi?
A: I’m sorry to say, but Gianna did not make the cut. Gianna’s not with us anymore, um, that’s one of the problems with working for the Volturi. It’s a hazardous job.
[laughter and cheering]
You guys are applauding for a woman’s death; you do realize this, right?
Q: Also, you never explained why Heidi’s eyes are purple.
A: Actually, I did. I pulled that one out. It does say that the color of her eyes was something that might be achieved with blue contacts on top of red irises. So that’s why they’re purple, because red and blue make purple.
Q: What made you decide to do the pregnancy story line because it seems kind of far from where the characters seem to be heading.
A: I have heard that and let me tell you in new moon and eclipse, with one exception, every plot line, every moment is heading towards what happens in breaking dawn. I knew exactly where it was going and all the hints are actually in there. You kind of have to dig for them but every thing that happens happens for this reason. The one exception is actually the back story of the Quileutes. That was something I that wrote when there was this possibility that I was going to be forced into this 3 book thing which I didn’t see how I could do an ending I liked. I came up with an alternate ending that, I had, I kind of get a kick out of it. It was a little different. I don’t think anyone else would have liked it; my mom hates it. But he Quileute back story indirectly leads into that. So that’s really the only part that wasn’t focused on this ending.
Q: How early in the series did you decide Jacob would imprint on Nessie?
A: That’s another one that those kind of fit together, um, and that was part of the story from the very beginning. With Twilight I wrote without knowing what I was going to do but as soon as I was finished and I wrote a couple epilogues and I’m like “ok, I kind of want to live in this world a little bit longer.” That was immediately a part of what was going to happen so it was always the future.
Q: Kelly asks, “Have you seen the movie, and if so, are you happy with it?”
A: I had to put in a movie question. I have seen a rough cut and I am thrilled. The only problem was that I had to pack to come on tour and I could only watch it once and I was really, really upset about that. If I’d gone to the theater to see that, I would have turned around, gone outside and bought another ticket, and gone back in because I am so ready to watch it again.
Q: Next person asks, “I love that in the end, Bella was the one protecting the ones she loved. Did you always know that Bella would end up being so strong?”
A: I knew that Bella was going to be the star at the end. That she was going to make the difference. That it was all about the mental strength that she’d had all along. And over the past couple of years when people are talking about Bella being this weak human and being rescued again and again, it was a little bit frustrating because I knew that this is all one part of this big story arc and each book is just a piece of the fabric and you can’t really cut them apart. And bella was going to end up just totally kicking butt and it was frustrating I couldn’t say that.
Q: Do you feel sad that Bella’s perspective is over now?
A: Um, not yet. I’m not feeling sad yet and I think a lot of that is because I’m still working on Midnight Sun. I’m not sure how I’m going to feel after that. I really can’t tell at this point. It’s so funny and weird to have created this world and live in it so much and to think about it being over. I don’t know that that’s ever really going to sink in and what I’ll do when it does. So I don’t know yet.
Thanks to colormebella for the transcript.
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