Twilight books editing errors?

[smitten_by_twilight]

In Eclipse, Bella states that she's had her first day of final exams while she's on her way to Jacob's house. Later, still at Jacob's house, she thinks about the fact that her high school years are behind her now that she's finished all of her finals.

I checked Eclipse and as near as I can figure, Bella talks the day before going to Jacob's about how the next day will be the first day of finals ... but you are essentially right. Gee, I wish I'd only had two final exams. What happened to English, Science, Government ...? How funny would it have been if she had a final in Gym?!

[Jeakat]

In Eclipse, Bella states that she's had her first day of final exams while she's on her way to Jacob's house. Later, still at Jacob's house, she thinks about the fact that her high school years are behind her now that she's finished all of her finals.

I checked Eclipse and as near as I can figure, Bella talks the day before going to Jacob's about how the next day will be the first day of finals ... but you are essentially right. Gee, I wish I'd only had two final exams. What happened to English, Science, Government ...? How funny would it have been if she had a final in Gym?!

I think she wpuld've been sporting a broken arm at Jacob's if that was the case!

It's something I stumble over every time I read it, so sorry if you end up doing that in the future!

[smitten_by_twilight]

This one took me 12 re-throughs. See what you think ...

Twilight (pb 411) "My guilt slowly subsided as I looked into her dark eyes."

They're in the hotel room in Phoenix - Alice's eyes are referred to as dark. So let's see, Sunday night was the baseball game, and Monday morning dawn was breaking over northern California, Monday sunset they were checking into the hotel, and Bella wakes up 3 am Tuesday morning, which is when that statement happens. The previous Friday, Alice and Edward ditched the afternoon to go hunt. Now, the focus was definitely on Edward hunting, but wouldn't Alice nibble a bit while he was stuffing himself? So her eyes go dark in less than 4 days?

Well, I guess there's a lot of behind the scenes stuff that we don't see. I will keep hoping for MS to be completed and released.

EDIT a month later, to avoid double posting: Just thought of this, which is maybe an error, what do you think? When Bella wakes in the hospital in Twilight, it's only been about 4 days or so since Edward drank some of her blood (and more than a week since he stuffed himself in Forks, I think). Now, he didn't drink much, but shouldn't his eyes be at least a little reddish?

[The Unpublished Author]

There's something that's always bugged me about the first chapter of Twilight.

In the first chapter, Bella mentions that her mother looks like her, but with with short hair and laugh lines (or something along those lines). This description is totally useless, as we don't know what Bella looks like at this point.

[December]

Hmmm. Depends, doesn't it, on whether the point of the remark is to paint a picture of Renée's exact physiognomy, or tell us something about her character (ready laughter) and give us a sense of Bella?

I can't say I ever stopped to think about this line before, but now that I do, seems to me the effect of that remark is to establish a kind of intimacy between narrator and reader. Bella addresses us as if we already knew her, had a mental image of her in our heads. As we do. And Stephenie has deliberately left Bella's precise appearance underspecified (as we've often discussed here) so each reader can picture her for themself (though obviously some details -- hair colour, height etc -- are fixed). Seems to me that the important thing Stephenie's getting across in this remark is the fact that Bella looks like her mum, and that this is what Bella thinks of when describing Renée. An unspoken sign of Bella's deep attachment to, bordering on identification with, her mother. (We don't actually get enough of these -- if you really want to pick on Stephenie's writing, I'd point to the underdevelopment of Bella's supposedly intense bond with Renée: too much telling and not enough showing here). To me that line actually seems like a good authorial choice or rather instinct (frankly I don't think Stephenie brooded about it; Bella just spoke and she wrote it down). Reneé's personality (beyond her loving fecklessness) is unimportant to this story -- her entire role comes down to Bella's feelings about her. Economical, then, to convey as much as possible of the latter without cluttering the reader's attention with too much unneeded detail.

[Tornado]

I always took that quote, as with most of the Twilight narrative, as to represent what Bella is thinking about, rather than narrate a specific truth. That is the interesting thing about writing in first person. You're writing that character's perceptions rather than objective information. This comment is Bella's way of assessing her and her mother's similarities, at least in the physical. We're eavesdropping on her thoughts. I don't ever stop to think, "Well, my mother's got black hair that's mostly grey now, and is a few inches taller than me." etc. Instead, I'd probably think something abstract, like, "That's something I picked up from my mother!" Bella's comment is more abstract, as we are eavesdropping on her thoughts

[pyrosis]

here is another mystery:
In Breaking Dawn, we get to know the Irish coven and it is not 100% clear, if Siobhan has a gift or not. But since Eleazar has the gift to know if other vamps are gifted, shouldn't he be able to tell if Siobhan has a special talent?

[Tornado]

That's a very good point, pyrosis. Perhaps it's so subtle that Eleazar can't pick up on it. There has been the suggestion from SM that Carlisle's compassion motivated self control borders on a superpower, but there's no suggestion that Eleazar can pick up on that. Perhaps it is a similar kind of thing. Those gifts may be a little harder to quantify.

[smitten_by_twilight]

here is another mystery:
In Breaking Dawn, we get to know the Irish coven and it is not 100% clear, if Siobhan has a gift or not. But since Eleazar has the gift to know if other vamps are gifted, shouldn't he be able to tell if Siobhan has a special talent?

Excellent point! Why didn't Carlisle just ask him, and settle the debate?

[pyrosis]

I mentioned earlier that I don't understand how and why the Quileute keep the existence of the wolves a secret. Here is aonther reason why I would at least warn potential pack members.
We have seen with the Clearwaters what can happen, if someone suddenly shifts without anyone knowing what's going on. Just Imagine Quil or any other of the boys had shifted at school (where someone easily might get pissed off). Because as Jacob said, once the gene is triggered there is no turning back. And if you can see the growth spurt and feel temperature of a potential you can easily tell, if someone is about to join the pack. Warning that person would make is safer for everyone and easier for the new wolve...