Stephenie Meyer sat down with MTV to talk about Life and Death. Twilight and Life and Death do mainly parallel each other, but there are some key differences such as the gang encountering Bella/Beau and the ending (which we won’t spoil) is quite different.

There are also some text changes that go beyond pronoun and proper name swaps. Stephenie explains why the iconic three things quote was changed:

MTV: One line of dialogue that’s significantly different is that iconic scene where Bella lists all the things she knows about Edward and she says, “I was unconditionally and irrevocably in love with him.” That’s drastically different from Beau’s perspective. Why did you make the change?

Meyer: You know, it’s funny. That specific quote, my editor was so sad because she didn’t want me to change it. But because it was used so much — I mean, it’s on the back of the book — I was very tired of it. It was too heavy. It was too overwrought. It was too painful. So I got to just relax it and sound like what a boy would say. I have three teenage sons, so I have some experience there. To me, it feels a lot more organic than the other quote. My editor wouldn’t agree.

MTV: Was there anything that was particularly difficult for you to change?

Meyer: If I loved it, I kept it. It wasn’t like I had to sacrifice something I loved because it didn’t sound like Beau. Mostly, every change I made is one that I’ve been dying to make, so I was just really happy. As I read [“Twilight”] here and there, there would be a word that seemed out of place, but by the time you’ve finished editing it, you’ve gone through it 200 times and you just want to set it on fire.

You can catch the rest of the interview on MTV, be aware there are some spoilers involved.

Since word first broke about the gender flipped Twilight, fans have been wondering: Is it canon? Are there more flips coming? How do we view this? Stephenie Meyer explains in the below video.

At Comic Con yesterday, Stephenie Meyer spoke about how the release of Grey (the Christian point of view retelling of 50 Shades of Grey) kind of put a damper on her Twilight mojo.

According to Hypable:

Twilight author Stephenie Meyer revealed at New York Comic-Con on Thursday that she recently started working on Midnight Sun again… until the Fifty Shades spin-off Grey was announced.

Speaking on a panel to promote the 10th Anniversary Edition of Twilight (which rattled the fandom earlier this week), Meyer revealed she went back to work on Twilight-from-Edward’s-perspective earlier this year (!!!) after finishing Life and Death, the gender-swapped Twilight.

And then Fifty Shades of Grey from Christian’s perspective, titled Grey, was announced.

Now all hope is not lost, despite what some outlets are reporting. Hypable was able to further clarify the comments with a panel attendee, “Stephenie went on to reveal that she put Midnight Sun on hold again after learning about E.L. James’s new book, according to a trusted panel attendee who spoke to Hypable after the event. While Tech Insider’s report states that Stephenie was “definitive” about never trying to work on Midnight Sun again in light of Grey, we’re told she wasn’t that certain she’d never try again.”

See the full story on Hypable.

Stephenie Meyer was interviewed by NPR regarding the 10th anniversary edition of Twilight and the reimagining of Twilight (gender swapped) Life and Death.

You can listen to the entire interview below.

Andrew Sims over at Hypable has written a really great piece on what makes the new Twilight novel Life and Death a great idea. Andrew writes,

“Upon reading the news of Stephenie Meyer’s gender-swapped Twilight Tuesday morning, I screamed “WTF” like everyone else. But the more I thought about it, the more I liked it.

The 10th anniversary edition of Twilight is actually two books in one. On one side of the book you’ll find the original version of Twilight. Flip the book over and you get Life and Death: Twilight Reimagined.

Many are chastising Stephenie for not only gender-swapping the characters (every character has been switched except for Charlie and Renee) but for also publishing the darn thing. Most of the negative remarks stem from the fact that this type of gender-swapping is what fan-fiction writers do.

But I think this decision should be welcomed, not put down.”

Check out Andrew’s reasons on Hypable.

Here are some quick fact about the new Twilight novel Life and Death:

1. You can get if as part of the new 10th anniversary edition of Twilight which is available in hardback and Kindle right now.

2. Life and Death not only gender swaps Bella and Edward (Beau and Edith), but every single character in the original novel right down to the school secretary.

3. Stephenie Meyer has no immediate plans for a new Twilight novel that would continue Jacob and Renesmee’s story and Leah’s story, but she will eventually reveal what their happy endings are, even if it’s on her deathbed.

4. If Stephenie had continued with Twilight novels, Renesmee would be the narrator.

5. Stephenie has several signings of the new novel. See her website for details.

6. There are no immediate plans for a major movie surrounding any characters in the series, but Stephenie enjoyed the Twilight Short films that were fan made that came out earlier this year. You can see them all here.

7. Stephenie was on GMA today talking about the novel. You can catch the entire video here.

8. Life and Death isn’t just a change of genders, names, and pronouns. The storyline is essentially the same, but it’s not a word-for-word repeat.

9. There are no immediate plans to have a Bella and Edward to a Beau and Edith swap in the other novels in the series.

10. Stephenie decided on this take because, according to EW,”Meyer explains in her foreword to the anniversary edition of the novel that she decided to go with the gender bending to underscore her position that Bella isn’t a “damsel in distress” as certain critics have charged. Rather, the author insists, the character is a “human in distress,” or as Meyer calls her, “a normal human being surrounded on all sides by people who are basically superheroes and supervillians.””

Stephenie Meyer was on GMA today talking about the 10th anniversary edition of Twilight and her new addition to the Twilight universe called Life and Death.

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Yes you read that right, there is a new Twilight novel. Ew has the details:

In honor of the 10th anniversary of her best-selling vampire romance, Twilight author Stephenie Meyer has written a 442-page reimagining of the novel that made her a publishing sensation. This time around, she’s switched the genders of her protagonists. Yes, it’s true. In the new tale titled Life and Death: Twilight Reimagined, Bella Swan is now a boy named Beau (short for Beaufort) and the brooding Edward Cullen is now Edythe. Meyer is expected to discuss the project in more detail during an appearance Tuesday morning on Good Morning America.

For a full explanation of why the gender swap, see the EW article.

This new material is available in the 10th anniversary edition of Twilight that is out today

Here is what Stephenie had to say about the 10th anniversary edition of Twilight when fans were able to do a Q & A with her in Forks.

We’re looking for 30 excited fans to show support and be in the audience during Stephenie Meyer’s interview on Good Morning America Tuesday, October 6th! Enter through the Rafflecopter below by tweeting your favorite Twilight memory using the hashtag #Twilight10 and following the accounts listed below. Good luck and if you win, feel free to wear your Twilight-finest!

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Must be in the NYC area and available 10/6 from approximately 6-9 am. Enter by following @Thenovl, @Twilightlexicon @fangirlishness and @ficklefishfilms on Twitter from now through Sunday at 5 pm ET. Winners will be contacted by the e-mail they used to sign up for rafflecopter Sunday evening and exact time of arrival will be confirmed. Must be 18+. 15 winners will be chosen and each can bring one guest.

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