Stephenie Meyer at the premiere of "Twilight" held at the Mann Village Theater in Westwood, Calif. on November 17, 2008.

The 35-year-old Arizona resident spoke to MediaBlvd Magazine about what it’s like to see the characters that she envisioned come to life.

MediaBlvd Magazine> What would you say is the reason for the incredible popularity of the Twilight saga? Why do you think so many teenage girls cannot live without reading every one of these books?

Stephenie Meyer> I don’t know. It’s hard for me to answer that because, for me, it’s an absolute mystery. I read a lot of books, and some of them that I love are really popular, and there’s others that I just think, “Why isn’t everybody in the world reading this book? It’s so amazing!” When one book takes off, why does that ever happen? I don’t know why people respond to these books the way that they do. I know why I do, because I wrote them for me. It’s exactly what I wanted to read, so of course I’m really hooked on them. With other people, it’s kind of bizarre, actually.

MediaBlvd> Did you write Twilight with the idea that young teenage girls would be your audience?

Stephenie> 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 have never been able to finish it. That’s way too much pressure!

MediaBlvd> How did you decide to sit down and actually write Twilight?

Stephenie> I don’t think many authors have as specific an answer to that question as I do. It all started June 2, 2003. I know the exact day because I had all these other things on my calendar that I had to do that day. I tell this story a lot, and I think it starts to sound like I’m making it up, but I’m not. I had an awesome dream, and it was odd because it was coherent, because it was a really complicated conversation, and because I don’t ever dream about vampires. I woke up and I just was wrapped up in this idea of, “What is going to happen next? Is he going to kill her, or are they going to be together?” It was 50/50, at that point. I wrote it down because there were a lot of nuances to the conversation that I didn’t want to forget, and I knew they would go. I forget everything. And, once I got started, within that day, I was completely hooked on writing. This was something brand new to me. I had no ambitions for a writing career. I had a career -- being a mother. I was really busy with it. It’s about the most full-time job you can have. I had three little boys, and there was no time to do something else. But, I was obsessed with writing, from the first day. I had painted before, and I’d done a couple other little creative endeavors. They were good and it felt good to be creative, but it wasn’t completely fulfilling. But, with writing, it was like I just found my favorite flavor of ice cream. It was like, “This is what I should have been doing for the last 30 years! What was I thinking?” So, then I just had to keep going with it.

MediaBlvd> How did you get it published?

Stephenie> Sheer luck, or fate. I had the easiest publishing experience in the entire world. I sent out 15 query letters to agents, got five no replies, nine rejections and one “I want to see it.” A month later, I had an agent. Another month later, I had a three-book deal with Little, Brown & Company. It does not happen that way. If you expect that going in, get ready for heartbreak.

MediaBlvd> Could you believe it, when it happened?

Stephenie> No, I still don’t.

MediaBlvd> How much input did you have into the script, and how much did they listen to your input?

Stephenie> It was a really pleasant exchange, from the beginning, which is not very typical. They were really interested in my ideas. I really didn’t want to step on anyone’s toes. I don’t know how to make a movie. I didn’t want to get in the way and make it worse, or screw it up somehow, so I let them come to me, and they did. They kept me in the loop with the script. They let me see it and said, “What are your thoughts?” I sent them back the script with red marks through the whole thing, and it was stuff like, “Wouldn’t Bella say this more like this? Wouldn’t this sound more like her voice?” It wasn’t things like, “This whole scene needs to go,” because it was in really good shape, from the beginning. They let me have input on it, and I think they took 90% of what I said and just incorporated it right into the script.

MediaBlvd> Why did you insist on keeping that key line about the lion and the lamb exactly the way it was in the book?

Stephenie> That was an interesting thing because I actually think the way (screenwriter) Melissa Rosenberg wrote it, sounded better for the movie. It was just a little bit more relaxed. But, the problem is that line is actually tattooed on people’s bodies, which I don’t approve of, by the way. I said, “If you take that line and change it, that’s a potential backlash situation.” That was a place where we could give a little shout out to the fans and do something for them.                                                                                 

MediaBlvd> Is it true that you didn’t want to commit to doing the film until they promised you there would be no fangs?

Stephenie> Yes. When we started out with this, I actually sold the rights to a different company and I got a look at a script that, objectively, probably would have been a decent vampire movie, but it had nothing at all to do with Twilight. You could have produced that movie and never given me any credit because it wasn’t anything to do with the books, and that was a horrifying experience. I had realized that it could go wrong and they could do it badly, but that they would do something that had nothing at all to do with the story was kind of shocking to me, and I know that’s because I’m really naive. So, when I went back into this, and I had learned from the first experience, when Summit said, “We really want to do this,” I was weary and I said, “You know, I’m just not sure.” They said, “What can we do for you?,” so I said, “What if I give you a list of things that absolutely can’t be changed?” I wasn’t saying that it had to be exactly like the book. It was very fundamental things like, “The vampires have to have the basic rules of the vampire world I’ve created, which means no fangs, no coffins and they sparkle in the sunlight. The characters have to exist by their present names and in their present forms. And, you can’t kill anyone who doesn’t die in the book.” Just basic things like that, that were really just the foundation of the story, and I got that in writing. The nice thing about working with a new company is that they’re really open to working with you. You don’t get that with a big, huge studio.

MediaBlvd> How did you get the rights back?

Stephenie> The option period was up and they weren’t going to use it. That’s actually when Summit came in and said, “Can we roll over your option? Can we have it?” I wouldn’t have done it because I had learned my lesson, except I could tell they were different. If I had gone to them and given them my list and said, “Okay, these are the things I want,” and they had hesitated or put on the breaks and said, “Woah, I’m not sure about this,” I wouldn’t have done it. But, they were like, “Oh, of course!,” so I knew that they wanted to do it the way it was in my head.

(left to right) Director Catherine Hardwicke, star Kristen Stewart & Stephenie Meyer

Stephenie> No. When I was writing Twilight, just for myself, and not thinking of it as a book, I was not thinking about publishing, and yet, at the same time, I was casting it in my head. When I read books, I see them very visually. I pretty much cast every book I read. I’ll think, “Who could play this? Who would do this?” And, I did exactly the same thing when I was writing Twilight. If I hadn’t had that feeling about it, I probably wouldn’t have agreed to do a movie in the first place because it’s a huge risk. It was that sense that this was a natural step for the story that made me feel like I could go ahead with it. With the others, it was very similar.

MediaBlvd> What did you think of Catherine Hardwicke, as a director?

Stephenie> Catherine is fantastic! The first time we started talking to each other about things, I was surprised because I knew that she was the person whose focus was going to shape this film. If she had a different idea from me, it wasn’t going to turn out very much like how I’d seen it in my head. But, we were on the same page, from the very beginning. Things that I was worried about, she was already on top of. I’d be like, “Hey, Catherine, about the wardrobe, I’m a little worried that this is going to go all chokers and leather, and everything,” and she’d be like, “Oh, no, I’ve already talked to the wardrobe person and we’re thinking ice, and this is what I want it to look like,” and it was exactly what I wanted. She was great because she got it, the same way I got it. I just really loved working with her. We’re buddies. She’s really cool to hang out with. She’s just an awesome person.

MediaBlvd> When you met the cast, did you feel like they really embodied the characters?

Stephenie> Yeah! If someone had pulled me in and said, “Okay, we’ve got a room full of your characters, let’s see if you can pin the names on them,” it would have been cake. It would have been so easy! They were so clearly who they were. And, I really think the acting in this movie is something special. It’s amazing! Here are all these people who people really haven’t heard of yet. Some of them, to an extent, but a lot of these kids are new, and they’re so good. They’re just so believable. You feel like you’re just sitting there with a bunch of kids in high school because that’s how they sound. It didn’t sound like people acting. It sounded like people being people.

MediaBlvd> Did you spend time with any of the actors and talk to them about their characters?

Stephenie> A little bit. With Rob, we sat down and talked about Edward’s character, before filming started. I’d just come in and met everyone. It wasn’t an argument, but we actually disagree on the character. I’d be like, “No, this is how it is,” and he’d be like, “No, it’s definitely this way.” The funny thing about it was that, there we were, arguing about a fictional character, and yet, in the performance, he did what he wanted, and it was still exactly what I wanted, so that was really cool.           

MediaBlvd> How often did you go to the set?

Stephenie> I think I went to Portland four times, in and out, for probably a total of two weeks, altogether.

MediaBlvd> What did you think of the filmmaking process?

Stephenie> That was one of the coolest things that agreeing to do a movie gave me. I had two book tours this year, and all kinds of crazy stuff going on, and the movie was just fun. I found it fascinating. One time, I had my brother with me for a couple days, and I know he was bored stupid. That poor kid! He was just like, “How can they say the same line again, for the 16^th time?” I was with the humans that week and, for me, every time Anna Kendrick (who plays Jessica Stanley) said her line, she added a new little twist, or her eyebrow raised just a little bit differently. The nuances were fascinating to me, and that’s because it was mine. I don’t know if I’d be that way on another film, but I was riveted. I was on the edge of my seat, looking at the monitor, thinking, “Oh, I love that!” I was just thrilled!

MediaBlvd> When you saw the finished film, was there a specific moment where you felt dislocated from it? And, did you have a similar moment where you felt like it was really what you had envisioned?

Stephenie> It was a funny experience. It’s hard to pull out a moment because, as a whole, it was just so overwhelming. Just the first scene took me a minute. I was so braced for it because, what if it was really horrid? I was all ready for it to be bad, almost watching through my fingers. I had my little notepad because it was a rough cut and I was going to give them the notes on what I wanted. But, after a couple minutes, when I started getting into it, and I started hearing Kristen Stewart’s voice, and it became Bella’s voice, it got to where I completely forgot why I was there. In all the scenes, there were so many things that were like deja vu to see them that, when the movie was over, the producer said, “Okay, let’s have your notes,” and I said, “Give me a minute.” I was so overwhelmed. I had to have a moment to just sit and think because it was so much to take in. So many scenes were the way I had envisioned them that it was partially creepy and partially wonderful.                                                                               

MediaBlvd> What was it like, shooting your cameo in the film?

Stephenie> It was painful. It was not my idea to do a cameo. They talked me into it. They thought it would be cute for the fans because most of them would recognize me. I was thinking it was going to be more like a “Where’s Waldo?” thing, where I would walk by for one second, in a crowd, and if they could find me, cool. That’s the one scene in the movie I would happily cut the first five seconds of, and the one that I had to watch, saying, “Is it over yet?” It was really hard for me.                                                

MediaBlvd> What is your cameo, for those who don’t know what you look like?

Stephenie> In the scene when Bella and Charlie are at the diner and the waitress is asking them for the news about Waylon’s murderer, there is a woman sitting at the counter and, for some reason, the camera focuses on her for a good five seconds, and you’re like, “Why are we looking at this person?” That was me.

MediaBlvd> How important was it to you for Muse to be on the soundtrack, since they played such a big part in your writing?

Stephenie> I knew that was out of my hands, with the music, but I would have always felt like there was something lacking in the soundtrack, if they hadn’t been a part of it. Knowing what I know now, having seen how Muse brings that scene to life, that’s a moment when everything -- music, action and atmosphere -- comes together so perfectly. It would just not be right, if you didn’t have “Supermassive Black Hole” playing in that scene. It was so perfect! Watching that was one of the most surprisingly enjoyable things. That was cool!

MediaBlvd> How do you feel about the soundtrack overall?

Stephenie> Aside from the Muse song, which was already part of what I listen to, all the time, the songs were all new for me. And, I have to say, the Iron & Wine song was really the one that just made me an instant fan, probably because the first time I heard it was when I watched the movie and, in that scene, it’s just so perfectly melded in with the feeling. That’s the one that got me.                                               

MediaBlvd> As the fan base for the series grew, did that change how you approached the later books, in any way? And, what was your response to the fan response for Breaking Dawn?

Stephenie> As far as changing things, it couldn’t because I actually had the first three books and a rough draft of the fourth one written before Twilight ever came out, so the story was there. I was talking to a friend of mine that writes non-fiction, obscure historical stories, and she was saying, “It must be so hard for you because, when my editors come in, they can’t change anything. This is what happened.” It clicked in for me because that’s exactly how I feel. This is what happened. It’s not like I can just change things. This is how it went down. And, that’s an awkward position to be in, when your editor does want you to change things. So, I already knew the story. The fan expectations did add a little bit of pressure, and it was particularly difficult. When I’m writing, I tune that out and I don’t think about it at all. But, when I’m editing, I get online and I see one blog that says, “If A and B don’t happen, I’m burning this book,” and then, on another page, it says, “If A and B do happen, this is going to be the worst book ever.” So, you know going in, there is no way you can please everybody. Everybody wants things that are so different and they’ve written this story in their heads, in a way that they are happy with. I was braced, going in. I knew it was going to be bad, but it was also good. The thing about the fourth book was that it was so much more, in every aspect. It was bigger than I ever would have dared to imagine. It was better, in a lot of ways, and it was worse, in a lot of ways. It was a lot of overwhelming stuff, that I couldn’t really take in. When I’m at home, I forget that this is all going on and I just live my life. Writing is a part of it, but I don’t think about the rest because it’s too hard.                                                                                                       

MediaBlvd> Has your writing process changed dramatically, since you first started?

Stephenie> 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 others, I had to start outlining and I had to be more careful. When I started the sequel, New Moon, I knew where it was going to end, and 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 the school age, at home, all day. All of my kids are in school, full-time, now.

MediaBlvd> How old are your kids now?

Stephenie> My kids are 11, 8 and 6, and if I could freeze them there, I would because they’re perfect.

MediaBlvd> How did you find the time to write while they were still so young?

Stephenie> I lost sleep to write. I had to give something up, and I wasn’t giving up my time with my kids, and I couldn’t give up the things I had to do, so it was sleep.

MediaBlvd> Why do you think there is such an enduring interest in vampire culture?

Stephenie> My answer has to be hypothetical because I am not a vampire fan and I never have been. I don’t do horror. I’m an enormous scaredy cat. Hitchcock is about as much as I can handle, and I love it, but anything more than that and you’re not going to see me in the theater. I have never gotten it. Why are people obsessed with vampires? I know a lot of people are. And, now I know how many more people are. The fact that I would write about them is wildly out of character for me, and bizarre. Nobody who knows me believed it, for a really long time. But, having talked to a lot of people about why they do like vampires so much, my theory is that, besides myself, everybody seems to really love to be scared, in a controlled environment. Horror movies do really well. It’s a big industry. People read a lot of really scary books. I’m missing that gene, but clearly people really like to be scared. If you look at the monsters we can scare ourselves with, most of them are disgusting and gruesome, covered in nasty things. We don’t want anything from them. We just want to get away from them. They’re just there to scare us. And then, we’ve got vampires, who are often beautiful and eternally youthful, and rich and cultured, and they live in castles. There are so many things that are ideals in our culture that we want, that they have, so there’s this double-edged sword. They’re going to kill us and they’re terrifying, and yet, maybe I even want to be one. I don’t want to be a vampire. A lot of other people do, though, and I think it’s that dual nature. They’re terrifying and intriguing.

MediaBlvd> What’s the difference between your vampires and vampires in general?

Stephenie> There are a lot of varying legends. There are the ones that turn into bats and mist, and then there are the ones that are more concrete. In general, my vampires don’t have fangs, and they don’t need them. As strong as they are, it’s kind of unnecessary. They are fairly indestructible. Wooden stakes and garlic are not going to get you anywhere. They don’t sleep at all. They have no periods of unconsciousness. And, 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, those are myths that ancient vampires spread around, so that people would say, “Oh, this person can’t be a vampire because I can see them in the mirror. I’m safe.”

MediaBlvd> Now that you’ve gotten a taste of the Hollywood system, would you ever think about doing your own screenplay?

Stephenie> I don’t think I could do that, unless Hollywood is ready for a 14-hour movie experience. I tried once to write a short story and it was a horrible thing. I don’t think in short. I have to explore every tiny little detail of things. I really admire people who can come in and streamline it, and get all the information across, so simply. That’s not my talent. I can’t imagine doing that. Although my ideas are often very visual, I’d have to have a partner who would know how to do it.

MediaBlvd> If the rest of the books get made into films, which one do you expect to be the most challenging to adapt?

Stephenie> If every one of these books would be made into films, Book 4 (Breaking Dawn), without a doubt, would be the hardest thing to do, for a really simple reason. You have a character in that, Nessie, that you would have to do with CGI. And, while CGI can do dragons and almost anything else in the world, the one thing that I’ve never seen is a completely realistic CGI human. That’s something that either ground-breaking technology will have to develop in the next couple years, or it will be impossible.

MediaBlvd> Is the series over now, at four books? Are you done with it for good?

Stephenie> It’s done, for now. I can’t promise that I won’t get lonely for the Cullens and come back to them in 10 years, but right now, I feel really satisfied with where it is. So, I’m not planning on doing anything with it, but there are no guarantees.

MediaBlvd> Have you had any other dreams that have fueled future projects?

Stephenie> You don’t get a dream like that twice. I got my chance. And, I do feel like I was supposed to be writing, and this dream was my kick-in-the-pants to get going. Once I started, I didn’t need another one because, once I discovered how wonderful writing was for me, I was ready to go with it.

MediaBlvd> What is the status of Midnight Sun?

Stephenie> Midnight Sun is not on my schedule right now. For me to really write a story, I can’t think about what other people want, what other people are thinking, what the editing is going to be, and what the expectations are, while I’m writing because it’s paralyzing to do that. I really can’t put a word on the page. I have to be very alone with a story. It has to just be me and what’s happening, and I just can’t feel that way about it right now. It’s a weird thing, and I’m not sure what it’s all about. But, this is going to die down. It’s been two months since it leaked. People are going to forget about it. It’s going to go away. And, that will be the time when I sneak back in and give it a try again. But, it’s going to have to be after it’s not like writing in a fishbowl because I can’t work that way.