Stephenie Meyer Explains Why Bree Tanner Deserves Her Own Book

03 Jun 2010

'Twilight' author wants fans to read the spin-off novella before seeing 'Eclipse.'

Given the fanfare and publicity typically granted Stephenie Meyer whenever she types or breathes a new word, the famous author has been relatively quiet about this Saturday's release of her "Twilight" novella, "The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner." But thanks to a Q&A posted on TheTwilightSaga.com by publisher Little Brown, fans now have a little more insight into why Meyer focused this book on the character Bree, and why she wants fans to read the story before they go see "Eclipse" in a few weeks.

Meyer first explained that because "Eclipse" is so focused on Bella's point of view, she wasn't able to delve into the story of newborn vampires like Bree. "There was always in my mind a general idea of what they were up to," she explained. "To keep it all straight, eventually I made a calendar of the months of May and June — which is all 'Eclipse' deals with — and wrote down on each square what was going on with Bella that day and what was happening in Seattle. ... The story of the newborns was always a big part of the story of 'Eclipse.' And it made me kind of sad that there was no way to express any of that in the book."

Regarding the singling out of Bree, Meyer said she was the only newborn mentioned by name in "Eclipse," and the only one who has contact with the Cullen family and encounters the Volturi in the clearing. "She lives the longest, so she is the narrator who can tell the full story," she said. "She was a natural choice to chronicle the story of the newborns."

Of all her "Twilight" books, Meyer said "Eclipse" had the most elements going on outside Bella's point of view and she wanted readers to be able to experience more of those things before the film opens.

"The [movie] viewer can see things — like the wolves hunting Victoria in 'New Moon' — that the reader only gets hints of," said Meyer, who also appears with "Eclipse" actress Jodelle Ferland in a new featurette about Bree Tanner. "For the movie to work, we have to see and understand some of these things. ... Knowing that elements of Bree's story were being incorporated into the movie, I hoped the story could somehow get out first."

Meyer admitted that her motivation for getting the story out now, is slightly selfish: "Personally, I always want to read a book before seeing the movie," she said. "I like to make my own mental pictures before someone else's picture intrudes. Probably most of my readers don't have the same hang-up, but for those who do, I wanted to give them the chance to create their own mental pictures of Bree and the gang."

Credit: MTV

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Category: Stephenie Meyer, Articles, Merchandise, Twilight Saga

Bree Tanner's Time Is Now

03 Jun 2010

The month of June promises to be a feeding frenzy for Stephenie Meyer fans, who have a new Twilight movie and a new book to drool over.

And the two are connected.

Eclipse, the hotly anticipated third movie in the series featuring the steamy lovers, vampire Edward Cullen (played by heartthrob Robert Pattinson) and teenager Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart), opens June 30.

But first comes The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner: An Eclipse Novella (Little, Brown, $13.99), an offshoot of the Eclipse novel, to be released Saturday at 12:01 a.m. It tells the story of what it's like to be a newly created vampire.

"I had always wished people could read Bree's story before the movie came out," Meyer writes in remarks released today exclusively to Meyer's international publishers and only to USA TODAY in the USA.

Bree, who appears in just 10 pages of Eclipse, is played in the movie by Canadian Jodelle Ferland. The teenager is part of an army of newborn vampires created by Edward's archnemesis Victoria, who plans to use the newbie blood drinkers to exact revenge on Edward and Bella.

Bree is the only newbie mentioned by name in Eclipse. She dies in the novel as well as the novella — an emotional event for Meyer.

"It was harder for me to kill Bree than any other fiction character I've ever killed," she writes, "even though I was killing her for the second time."

The novella's plot is secret, but we know that it gives a new perspective on events that take place in the saga. All four novels —Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse and Breaking Dawn— are told from Bella's perspective.

The novella is told through Bree's eyes and plot points are included in the Eclipse film. Director David Slade, screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg and some of the actors had access to the novella during production.

A limited number of booksellers across the country, including some Barnes & Noble stores, are holding midnight release parties Friday evening, Fans can also purchase the books at a select number of Borders stores at 12:01 a.m. Saturday.

"We expect this to be a huge hit," says Borders' Larry Norton.

Credit: USA Today

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Category: Stephenie Meyer, Articles, Merchandise, Twilight Saga

Stephenie Meyer Blogs About Twilight Fansite Interviews

18 May 2010

Yesterday, Stephenie Meyer blogged on her official site that she drew four USA website names out of a hat, and those websites will have a chance to have an interview with her to answer any questions! Congrats to the winning websites!

Hey guys,

I want to do something different with publicity for this movie release. For Twilight, I did the normal press junket, for New Moon I got to go on Oprah. Both of these were fun, exciting experiences. However, they both had the same drawback—the interviews were designed for a very broad audience, and because of that, most of the questions were about things you guys have known the answers to for years. I feel like all of the basic questions have been answered, and for Eclipse I want to focus on the more specific questions of the readers. To accomplish that, I'm hosting my own mini-junket with a few fansites. It will be held on Friday, June 18th, the week before the L.A. premiere.

Unfortunately, I can't talk to every single site, and I want to keep this as low key and enjoyable as possible. So I put all the U.S. fansites in a hat (for logistical reasons, we had to keep this in the country) and drew out four names.

The names I drew were:

* Twilight Series Theories (twilightseriestheories.com)
* Twilight Source (twilightsource.com)
* Twifans (www.twifans.com)
* Letters To Twilight (letterstotwilight.wordpress.com)

Each of these sites is invited to send two members of their staff (or one member and a guest) to our fan-centric mini-junket. You will be contacted shortly by my assistant, who will give you all the specific information. In the event that any of the sites is unable to send representatives, I've already drawn four back up sites, which I will post if it becomes necessary.

I'll answer all of your questions (and your readers questions, if you want to poll them) about the Eclipse Movie, and the Bree story, as well, which will have been out for a few weeks by then. We'll have lunch, hang out, and hopefully have a fantastic time. I hope you all can make it!

-Steph

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Category: Stephenie Meyer, Site, Interview

Stephenie Meyer's 'The Host' Could Begin Filming Next Year

02 Apr 2010

'Twilight' author's first adult novel is well on its way to the big screen.

With the film installments of her "Twilight" novels not yet fully completed, Stephenie Meyer is already well into the development of her next film franchise. According to Deadline.com, the adaptation of the author's first adult novel, "The Host," could go before cameras as early as next year.

Published in 2008, the book involves benevolent yet parasitic aliens who have taken over the minds of almost all the humans on Earth. Upon its release, Meyer described the plot to MTV News as " 'Invasion of the Body Snatchers,' if the aliens had won."

Although financing is not yet in place and no definite shooting schedule is planned for the sci-fi/horror hybrid, producer Steve Schwartz divulged that "Truman Show" Oscar-nominee Andrew Niccol is currently working on his third draft of the screenplay, with the author's close involvement. Niccol is also signed on to direct the film.

Schwartz, who is now budgeting the project with co-producers Paula Mae Schwartz and Nick Wechsler, again noted that Meyer handpicked the filmmaker because Niccol's directorial debut, "Gattaca," is one of her favorite science-fiction films. However, his hire was not immediate.

"We spent time with Andrew," Schwartz explained. "Listened to his vision, introduced Andrew to Stephenie and she responded. There is very good chemistry in this group. Stephenie is a very smart collaborator, and she had an intuitive strong hunch he would be the right guy. Based on the script we've seen, we think she was right."

Credit: MTV

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Stephenie Meyer Releasing New Book in June

30 Mar 2010

Stephenie Meyer has announced on her official website that this June she will be released a "novella" about one of the characters from 'Eclipse' - Bree! On her website she divulges on how the story came to be, and how we can get our hands on it on June 7:

Surprise!

I have a new book coming out. It's called The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner. Well, it's more of a novella than an actual book—my version of a short story.

Actually, this has been a surprise to me, too. The reason why it's a surprise was that I never intended to publish this story as a stand-alone book. I began this story a long time ago—before Twilight was even released. Back then I was just editing Eclipse, and in the thick of my vampire world. I was thinking a lot about the newborns, imagining their side of the story, and one thing led to another. I started writing from Bree's perspective about those final days, and what it was like to be a newborn.

This story was something that I worked on off and on for a while, just for fun, in between the times I was writing or editing other Twilight novels. Later, when the concept for The Twilight Saga: The Official Guide came up, I thought that might be a good place for Bree. Her story is a nice complement to Eclipse; it explains a lot of the things that Bella never knew. So I dusted it off and finished it up for placement in the Guide.

At the same time, it came in handy for the Eclipse film. Melissa (Rosenberg, the screenwriter) had a ton of questions about what exactly was going on in Seattle, how Victoria managed things, what Riley was like, etc. I let her read what I had then, and later gave the whole thing to the director, David Slade. David asked if Xavier, Bryce, and Jodelle (Riley, Victoria, and Bree) could read it as well, so all the parties involved would end up having a really strong foundation for their characters before the cameras started rolling. I was pleased that this side of the story would make it into the film and was looking forward to including it in the Guide.

Then I got the news: my "short story" was nearly 200 pages long when typeset. It was too long to fit into the Guide—without ending up with a tome as heavy as the Oxford English Dictionary. My publisher approached me with the idea of releasing the Bree story on its own. One of the major benefits of this plan was that it would be out before the movie, so people would get to know Bree before they saw her in the film. That made sense to me, and we decided to go ahead with it.

There was one thing I asked for: since this story had always been an extra for me, and was meant to be released with the Guide, I wanted to be able to offer it to my fans for free. You all have bought a ton of my books, and I wanted to give you this story as a gift. My publisher was awesome and embraced this idea. We still wanted to also produce a physical book with a cool cover (see below) that you can add to your set if you like, but starting at noon on June 7th until July 5th, it will also be available online at www.breetanner.com.

One other aspect of this release is the plan to give a more important gift to people who really need it. One dollar of each book purchased in the US from the first printing will be donated to the American Red Cross for their relief efforts in Haiti and Chile and other parts of the world where people are in great need. We're going to have an option online as well, so you can choose to make a donation if you want when you read the story online. I hope you will. I think that we can really help a lot of people with this.

I really hope you all enjoy this story. I had a blast writing it. I'm glad that after all this time cooling her heels in my files, Bree finally gets her chance to shine.

Thanks for all the support,

Steph

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Category: Stephenie Meyer, Articles, Merchandise

Brit Band Muse Inspired Twilight Author

02 Feb 2010

AsiaOne News has an interview and article with Muse where they mentioned how they have 'Twilight' to partly thank for their success in the U.S.:

Fans of the insanely popular vampire saga Twilight may have British alternative rock band Muse to thank (at least in part) for its creation.

The books' author, American Stephenie Meyer, is a huge admirer of the trio and mentions them in the acknowledgement page of each volume, thanking them for "a saga's worth of inspiration".

Not only that, Muse has also been featured in the soundtracks of the past two movie versions of the books: Twilight and New Moon.

For the Essex trio, who play their second Singapore gig as part of promoter LAMC Productions' Big Night Out 2010, that association has brought only good things.

Speaking to my paper recently from Sydney, Australia, where the band was playing at the annual Big Day Out festival, bassist Christopher Wolstenholme revealed: "I was vaguely aware of the books (before Meyer approached us) but we didn't think anything of it at the time.

"The next thing you know, it's Twilight fever. It's good because it has made a difference for us in trying to break into America."

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Stephenie Meyer Blogs About 'New Moon' DVD & More

27 Jan 2010

Stephenie Meyer updated her website about various things, such as the 'New Moon' DVD pre-order, Haiti, and more:

Hope your new years have all started off right. A few unrelated things:

- I've been very impressed with the world in general and the Twilight fansites in specific in the support and love everyone is giving Haiti. It's amazing to see how Twilight fans have come together to help. You are wonderful people. At this point, I think it's important for all of us to remember that the situation in Haiti is not going to be cured overnight, so... keep up the good work, and let's all keep the Haitians in our thoughts and prayers.

- A new book recommendation: I recently read and adored The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. It was one of those books that feel absolutely perfect and satisfying, and when you finish it you sit around wishing that you could find another book just like it.

- I realized that there was an egregious oversight on my music recommendation page. How have I never listed Metric? That's crazy. Anyway, Fantasies was one of the best albums of 2009.

- Finally, a movie recommendation: Dear John comes out Friday the fifth of February. Thanks to my cool friend Wyck (who many of you have seen in various Twilight Saga interviews, as he is one of the producers on our movies, and who is a producer on Dear John) I got to see this one early. I will confess, I cried. Also, I discovered Channing Tatum, who I've somehow missed until now. Likey. Lots. Amanda Seyfried is entrancing as always, and the chemistry (chemistry is always the crux of a movie for me) between them is lovely. Though the chemistry between Channing Tatum and Richard Jenkins (who plays his father) was my favorite part.

Have a great week!

Steph

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Category: New Moon Movie, Stephenie Meyer, Merchandise

EW Exclusive: Twilight, The Graphic Novel

20 Jan 2010

Entertainment Weekly has an exclusive feature on the upcoming 'Twilight' Graphic Novel by Young Kim. We have also added the feature photos into the gallery.

I’m delighted to announce, exclusively, that Yen Press will publish Twilight: The Graphic Novel, Vol. 1 on March 16, with a first printing of 350,000 copies. Here’s a first glimpse at the book’s cover, as well as an exclusive peek at one of its panels (for a full ten-page excerpt, and the entire Q&A with Stephenie Meyer, see the issue of EW that goes on sale this Friday).

What strikes me, looking at the book, is how faithfully, and how beautifully, artist Young Kim has translated Meyer’s original vision. Kim, who has a fine arts background—in fact, this is her first foray into graphic novels—didn’t just read the book; she absorbed it. Her Bella is the Bella I had in my mind’s eye the first time I read Twilight; her Edward is the Edward I always imagined. It took me back to reading Twilight pre-movie: Kristen Stewart and Rob Pattinson faded into the background.

Meyer talked to us about all this, and more. Here are a few snippets from our conversation:

The text of your original novel is boiled down so carefully that it doesn’t feel like anything is missing. Were you the one who did that?

I was definitely involved. I didn’t do the original “script” for the book, so to speak. But when I got the dialogue with the images, I did a lot of tinkering. In a couple of places, I asked for missing scenes to be inserted. For example, the conversation in the car that Bella and Edward have after she faints in Biology.

>>> 2 MQ 'Twilight' Graphic Novel

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Stephenie Meyer Blogs About 'Breaking Dawn' Movie Status

12 Jan 2010

Stephenie Meyer took to her website to update the fans as to the status for producing the 'Breaking Dawn' movie:

Just a quick note on the subject of the Breaking Dawn film: there is no drama over whether the book should be one movie or two. My personal feeling is that it would be very difficult to cram the whole story into one movie (as I've said in many interviews previous to this), but if a great way of doing that surfaces, I'm all for it. Two or one, whichever way fits the story best is fine by me, and everyone I've spoken with at Summit seems to feel the same way. We're all excited to move forward on this, and we are slowly and surely getting there. I know people are anxious for news, and so sometimes gossip gets fabricated to stir things up, but there's no basis to this particular story.

Steph

And there you have it!

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Category: Stephenie Meyer, Breaking Dawn Movie

Happy Birthday Stephenie!

24 Dec 2009

Today we celebrate Stephenie Meyer's birthday. So Happy Birthday to her! I hope that she also has a happy and joyous holiday season!

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Category: Stephenie Meyer

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