Twilight Saga Q&A #4

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Lilly
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Re: Twilight Saga Q&A #4

Post by Lilly »

does someone know why stephenie meyer writes in the first-person narration ?maybe she mentioned it sometime..
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Re: Twilight Saga Q&A #4

Post by Openhome »

That's a very good question. I don't know why she chose it, but I am very glad she did. I can feel with the characters in her books more than any others I have every read.
OH, ALPHIE! Alphie? Do you know the answer to this one?
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Re: Twilight Saga Q&A #4

Post by bac »

Lilly wrote:does someone know why stephenie meyer writes in the first-person narration ?maybe she mentioned it sometime..
I just went through several pages of questions and answers on the front page of The Twilight Lexicon and also on Stephenie Meyer's website. I didn't find a specific answer to this question. However, some things were mentioned that gives some ideas.

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.

Does writing dialogue come naturally?
It stems from the fact that Stephenie is really shy. She said she was shaking during the TV interview in Madrid. As a consequence of being shy, she had a lot of internal dialogues with herself, especially during high school.


This is what Alphie had to say on the subject:
Well that's a good answer that you found, Brooke. The story is in first person because that's what Stephenie decided to write. Why is Harry Potter in limited Third Person? Why is any book in the voice that it is in? Because that is what the author felt worked best. And from what I've seen, Stephenie likes first person best. Sorry I couldn't be more help!
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Lilly
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Re: Twilight Saga Q&A #4

Post by Lilly »

thank you for the answer
I just asked because when I read a book in first person I'm always afraid the character isn't always telling the truth and in 3. person I can be sure that I'm reading the truth.. I know that sounds crazy.. xD
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Re: Twilight Saga Q&A #4

Post by Openhome »

I agree BAC, very good answer! I like Alphie's too, but yours was very in depth!
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Re: Twilight Saga Q&A #4

Post by jazzlover »

I have a question that may have been answered before. This just popped into my head, and I don't have a logical explanation myself. Why are Alice and Edward so anxious/interested in seeing Bella after she is changed in Breaking Dawn? I mean since Alice has been having visions of her as a vampire since the day of the van incident, don't they already know what she is going to look like?

Thanks in advance for any insight about this.
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swedishskinjer
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Re: Twilight Saga Q&A #4

Post by swedishskinjer »

Hopefully, Midnight Sun is published soon. Jacob and Bella have been able to tell their stories from a unique perspective, so Edward should have that opportunity, as well. Stephenie's rough draft for MS was really enlightening. I don't follow the news much, but I assume that publication for MS is still her intention around 2011 or so?
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Re: Twilight Saga Q&A #4

Post by ringswraith »

Well, considering the events just prior to Bella's transformation (i.e., the "accident" that results in the baby's delivery and Edward's injecting the venom), Edward is understandably under a lot of stress. Bella made it more difficult for him by resolving to be unresponsive; in Edward's eyes, she was just lying there, and he had no real way to tell what was going on with her. (Recall how he was on the verge of breaking down when talking with Carlisle- he felt as if he had failed and that Bella would just die.)

As for Alice, well... We all know how subjective her visions are. Yes, she's seen Bella as a vampire someday. But:

(WARNING: Midnight Sun spoiler!)
We've also seen that her vision was quite thoroughly baffled by a determined Edward.

Also, recall that during the pregnancy, Alice could not get a good read on Bella's future. We know from Eclipse that Alice is quite uncomfortable dealing with things without the use of her gift; add to that the fact that this is Bella, her new best friend and sister, and we can understand why she'd be anxious, too. (Lastly, compare her behavior during the pregnancy and during the transformation- how cool she was when she went to Edward to announce that the time would be soon.)

Finally, in my opinion, it's not so much that they want to see what she looks like- they just want to see that Bella is actually okay.
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Re: Twilight Saga Q&A #4

Post by Jazz Girl »

swedishskinjer wrote:Hopefully, Midnight Sun is published soon. Jacob and Bella have been able to tell their stories from a unique perspective, so Edward should have that opportunity, as well. Stephenie's rough draft for MS was really enlightening. I don't follow the news much, but I assume that publication for MS is still her intention around 2011 or so?
We just don't know. SM has said in multiple forums (Oprah being the latest) that she just isn't feeling the story right now. She took a break and put it completely away after the leak. Since then, Edward hasn't "talked to" her lately. Part of her answer is that, now that part of it is out there, SO many people want it so badly. And, she just doesn't write that way. She said she thinks she will finish it, but she just doesn't know when.
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Rae Cullen
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Re: Twilight Saga Q&A #4

Post by Rae Cullen »

Yeah SM felt really bad about the Midnight Sun leak and I think it kinda made her lose interest in the book for awhile. Although I hope that she does publish Midnight Sun someday. Although I as wondering will SM write other stories for the Twilight universe? Stories from Leah's view or Nessie's view. I don't know, I think those would be really cool to read. Oh and I heard once that SM had considered writing a counter part to New Moon, but from Jacob's view. Has anyone heard of that possibility?
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