Interview with the vampire lady: Stephenie Meyer on 'Twilight'

Stephenie Meyer has the story of her vampire dream down pat: It happened on June 2, 2003, it contained a complicated but coherent conversation and when she woke up, she just had to know what was going to happen next. So she wrote it down. Then Meyer, who had no ambitions for a writing career, just kept writing. The much-anticipated film adaptation of “Twilight” – the first of four books in her series – opens Friday.

Did you write the books with a teen audience in mind?

No. I had a very specific audience, and it was a 29-year-old mother of three. No one was ever supposed to read this except for me, and if I’d had any idea that anyone else would ever see what I was doing, I would never have been able to finish it. There would have been way too much pressure.

Was it difficult getting the book published?

I had the easiest publishing experience in the entire world. I sent out 15 query letters to agents. I got five no replies, nine rejections and one who wanted to see it. A month later I had agents. Another month and I had a deal with Little Brown. And it does not happen that way. If you expect that going in, get ready for heartbreak.

What was your involvement with the script?

They were really interested in my ideas, and I really didn’t want to step on anyone’s toes. They let me see it and said, “What are your thoughts?” And I sent them back the script with red marks … stuff like, “Wouldn’t he say it more like this? Wouldn’t this sound more like her voice?” I think they took 90 percent of what I said and incorporated it into the script.

What was it like watching the film for the first time?

I was just all ready for it to be bad. I was watching through my fingers, and I had my little notepad. This was a rough cut, and I was going to give them notes on what I wanted. So after a couple of minutes, you start hearing Kristen’s voice and it becomes Bella’s voice, and it got to where I completely forgot why I was there. When the movie was over, and the producer said, “OK, let’s have your notes,” I was like, “Give me a minute.” I was so overwhelmed. I had to have a moment to just sit and think because there was so much to take in, and … so many scenes were the way I had envisioned them. It was partially creepy and partially wonderful.

Both the book and the film seem to ignore most legends about vampires.

There are a lot of varying legends. There’s the ones that turn into bats, and the ones that are more concrete. My vampires don’t have fangs, and they don’t need them. Strong as they are, it’s kind of unnecessary. They’re fairly indestructible. Wooden stakes and garlic are not going to get you anywhere. They don’t sleep at all. And the sunlight doesn’t harm them. It just shows them for what they are, because they sparkle in the sun. They totally have reflections, and you can take pictures of them. In my world, these are myths that vampires anciently spread around so that people would say, “Oh, this person can’t be a vampire because I can see him in a mirror, so I’m safe.”

Has your writing process changed dramatically?

It has. It’s gone through some evolutions as I experiment with different ways to do things. With “Twilight,” I didn’t know what was going to happen when I wrote it. I was just writing to find out the answer. With the other books, I had to start out outlining. I had to be more careful because I knew when I started the sequel where it was going to end. So it takes a lot more work to tie up the threads. The biggest change is that when I started writing, I had three kids under school age at home all day. All my kids are in school full time now, so that really has made the biggest change in my writing style. My kids are 11, 8 and 6. And if I could freeze them there, I would. They’re perfect. I lost sleep to write. You had to give something up, and I wasn’t giving up my time with the kids, and I couldn’t give up other things I had to do, so it was sleep.

Could you talk about your cameo in the film?

They talked me into it. They thought it would be cute for the fans, because lots of them would recognize me. So in the scene where Bella and Charlie are at the diner, and the waitress is asking what’s the news about Waylon’s murder, there is a woman sitting at the counter, and for some reason, the camera focuses on her for like a good five seconds. And you’re like, why are you looking at this person? And that was me.

Contact Ed Symkus at esymkus@rcn.com.