Say what you want about Twilight author Stephenie Meyer’s somewhat questionable writing skills, but it’s a non-debatable fact that writing is an occupation that demands many consecutive sedentary hours behind a keyboard. While I’m obviously no best-selling author, I can certainly identify with having to force myself to go to the gym on an almost daily basis to counteract this very same occupational hazard. So when a much slimmed-down Meyer showed up at the recent Breaking Dawn Part I premiere as well as the Grauman’s Chinese Theatre handprinting ceremony, it was impossible not to acknowledge how good she looked (even standing next to the naturally skinny Kristen Stewart):

As you can see from the comparison header photo at the top of this post, Meyer’s new silhouette differs dramatically from her 2009 and 2010 red-carpet photos. However, there was reportedly no magic pill or trendy diet for Meyer — just the boring (yet highly effective) old-fashioned combination of diet and exercise:

Twilight book author Stephenie Meyer is adored by fans for the vampire romance phenomenon she penned, but for weeks the Ministry has been admiring her new figure.

In early November, the author showed up at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood for a handprint and footprint ceremony starring Twilight Saga trio Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner — and wound up turning a few heads herself with a slimmed-down silhouette.

So how did she do it?

“Honestly, watching what she eats, and exercise,” franchise screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg told us at Monday’s Breaking Dawn premiere. “Diet and exercise. And she looks fantastic.

“You know, she had lost some weight when we filmed the wedding scene together,” Rosenberg recalled of the on-screen matrimony of Stewart and Pattinson, “but then I saw her at the Breaking Dawn junket and just thought, holy smoke.”

[From LA Times]

Good for her. Meyer probably felt a ton of pressure (as a relative civilian) to look good on the red carpet, and I do hope that she really did achieve her weight loss in the healthiest manner possible. She probably feels a lot better and has more energy now — the byproduct of which means that she’ll have more energy to write now too. That last aspect could be good or bad, but I’ll just leave that detail wide open for interpretation.

Photos courtesy of Fame and WENN

Cue the Twihard furies to defend their righteous Queen of Love Triangles, or at least, so the hopeful filmmakers behind the adaptation of The Host would have you believe. It’s a question of whether Meyers’ fans will flock to see any movie based upon her novels as they have done (to the tune of worldwide) for her previous de minimus efforts, but a few producers and a screenwriter certainly believe that the audience is there for The Host, which is a sci-fi novel embedded with Meyers’ never-to-be-abandoned love triangle formula. Now, get ready to weep, for the actress that has been newly confirmed for the lead role is none other than the Oscar-nominated Saoirse Ronan:

Saoirse Ronan has been set to star in The Host, the screen adaptation of the bestselling novel by Twilight Saga author Stephenie Meyer. Scripted by Andrew Niccol, the film figures to be one of the hot titles when Inferno launches sales at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival next week. Niccol, who was originally set to direct, might resurface as the filmmaker.

Ronan, the Oscar-nominated star of Atonement, The Lovely Bones and most recently Hanna, will play Melanie Stryder, one of the last humans putting up a fight against an alien species called Souls. These parasites invade human bodies, fuse to each person’s consciousness and systematically erase their personalities. Melanie is captured by the aliens and implanted by a Soul called Wanderer, something of a legend because of all of the “hosts” she has attached to on numerous planets. Wanderer’s goal is to get Melanie to give up the remaining pockets of humans, but instead the alien finds Melanie to be unique in her unwillingness to surrender her consciousness. Wanderer is so overwhelmed by Melanie’s memories and feelings, the alien is driven to reconnect with Melanie’s old life.

The concept is more of a visual challenge than Meyer’s Twilight Saga books, but one thing they plan is for Ronan to play both Melanie and Wanderer. Meyer’s book has an enormous fan base, and the author had long resisted offers to sell it. She finally made a deal two years ago with producers Nick Wechsler and Steve and Paula Mae Schwartz, who’d done the adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road together. They deliberately developed the script outside the studio system, and invited the author to be very hands on in the adaptation. Meyer was involved down to choosing Niccol because she was such a fan of his films Gattaca and his script for The Truman Show.

[From Deadline]

In the interest of full disclosure, I must admit that, after reading The Host, I found that it was indeed rather mindless but not on such a grand scale as any of the Twilight Saga books. However, Ronan is obviously much better than this movie deserves, so in one respect, it’s almost maddening to think of Ronan wasting her talent upon bringing yet another silly Stephenie Meyers story to life on the big screen. Still, I do think it’s permissible for an indie queen to occasionally throw in her chips, say “F&#$ it,” and just go for the money grab for once. After all, we don’t have to worry about this movie going franchise or anything … yet.

Photos courtesy of Fame Pictures

Oh, this is one is sure to rile up the epic battle royale between the Twihards and the Potter-heads. Apparently, the Academy thought it would be a cool idea for the two biggest selling authors in the world – J.K. Rowling (author of the Harry Potter series) and Stephenie Meyer (author of the Twilight series) – to present together at this year’s Oscars. Meyer stepped up and said she would do it, with pleasure, while J.K. declined, claiming that she was too busy writing to make the trip to LA. Um… what? Too busy to present at the Oscars?!?

Is there a fantasy writer feud brewing, or is J.K. Rowling just really busy? The Harry Potter author declined an invitation to present an award at Sunday’s Oscars, citing her work on her next book.

Rowling and Twilight author Stephenie Meyer were invited to present the Best Adapted Screenplay prize together, and while Meyer responded positively to the idea, Rowling didn’t find the trip from England worth it.

She wrote on her Web site that the world “won’t be hearing from me often I am afraid, as pen and paper is my priority at the moment.”

Rowland’s decision not to attend comes on the same day as the millionaire reaches another milestone: The Harry Potter books topped the list of “Top 10 Books to Pass On” to future generations by Brits—a full four spots higher than the No. 5 Twilight series (also included where the 9/11 Commission Report and Barack Obama’s memoirs).

[From The Daily Beast]

Now, I’m sure J.K. didn’t mean it as a diss. Well, maybe she did. I wonder if authors who have sold a bazillion books still engage in petty girl fights? Is that what this about? Two professional, rich, accomplished women who the media must report on as if they’re drugged-out starlets fighting for the fifth supporting role in a horror film? Now, even though I don’t like the misogynistic undercurrent, and I seriously doubt J.K. meant anything by declining the offer, I do think it’s rude. I mean, Rowling would have been a best-selling author no matter what, but Hollywood has still made her even richer and more powerful and more well-known, and what’s wrong with being a little gracious and going out of your way to show the Academy some respect?

J.K. Rowling at a London premiere on July 7, 2009. Stephenie Meyer at the ‘New Moon’ premiere on November 16, 2009 in LA. Credit: WENN.

Stephenie Meyer on Oprah Part 1

Stephenie Meyer on Oprah Part 2

Twilight author Stephenie Meyer appeared on Oprah Live on Friday and she did a great job. It was the 35 year-old author’s only televised interview in advance of the New Moon release, which is out in the US this Friday. Meyer was very relaxed and chatty and she seemed in her element on Oprah. I expected her to be much more reserved as I’d never seen her interviewed before. (She was on Ellen last year, I just missed it.)

The show opened with an explanation of how Meyer came up with the concept for Twilight. She claimed to have never read horror or vampire books before starting the first, although she’s a voracious reader and has a degree in literature. Meyer had also never written a book or even a short story before she penned Twilight.

On Twilight coming to her in a dream and becoming an ‘obsession’
One night five years ago, Meyer had a dream about a sparkling boy and a normal-looking girl in a bright sunlit meadow. The boy was telling the girl he was a vampire and potentially deadly. That dream became chapter 13 in Twilight, and Meyer wrote the book from chapter 13 to the end, going back to finish the beginning. Her boys were aged 1, 3, and 5 at the time and she said that writing served as an outlet after caring for her children all day. “I’ve been bottling up what I was for so long that it became an obsession,” she explained. “When your kids are little, their lives depend on you,” adding that “you have to put your imagination on hold.”

Meyer never intended to make Twilight into a book, and explained that “It seems kind of presumptuous to me that anyone would want to read the things that are in my head. It was just me spending time with this fantasy world.” Her sister ultimately convinced her to try publish the book. She initially approached literaty agents looking for representation. Meyer told Oprah that she had “9 rejections, 5 no answers, and one ‘I’d like to read more’” from the agents.

On Robert Pattinson being the perfect Edward
“When we were first doing the casting for this, I knew the problem was going to be Edward,” Meyer said. She said that Pattinson has “something about him, he doesn’t look like everybody else, there’s something unusual.”

The transformation from Rob to Edward impressed her. “I got on set, and he’s in makeup and in costume… all of a sudden he’s Edward. There are moments when he looks exactly like he did in my head.”

Oprah asked “Is he nice. Does he smell good?”

“He smells great. Rob is hilarious… he’s really fun to hang out with. He’s not at all like the Edward character… He’s so different as Rob.”

“What was it about him?”

“The eyes, the facial structure. He just doesn’t look like everybody else. In a very good way.” She said that she first met him for lunchy and that people on the street did a double take because “he’s very striking looking.”

The New Moon secret she hasn’t revealed
Meyer said New Moon initially had a different ending. “It was a much quieter book. It was very much all in Bella’s head.” Her mom recommended more action at the end, so she decided to add the Volturi and the action sequences.

At the end of the show they interviewed a group of teachers and students from Missouri via Skype. They enthused that the students had convinced the teachers to read the books. “We have a common language now, and we talk in quotes and [Twilight has] just been a total phenomenon.” They said they have a 1,000 people on the waiting list for the Twilight books at their library, and then Meyer and Oprah announced that they would send them 600 copies of the four book box set to take care of that.

Whether there will be a fifth Twilight book
One thing they never addressed is whether there will be another Twilight book. There was a teaser at the bottom of the screen promising they would talk about it, but it never came up. (There is a fifth Twilight book written from Edward’s perspective called Midnight Sun. A rough draft was leaked online and Meyer put it up on her website after explaining how the leak affected her ability to finish the story.”With writing, the way you feel changes everything.”)

A spokesperson for Oprah told EW that there wasn’t enough time to ask Meyer about the fifth book. They asked her the question backstage and she said she wasn’t sure about it, explaining “I think I need a little break” and “I am a little burned out on vampires right now.” She said she knows “absolutely” what happens to Bella and Edward, though. (You can watch the video of her answer here.)

Twilight series author Stephenie Meyer hasn’t done a televised interview yet to promote New Moon, but that’s about to change. The multi-millionaire mom of three will talk to Oprah on Friday. It’s unclear from this report whether her interview with be taped on Friday or if it will air that day. Oprah has “Fridays Live,” but there’s nothing on her website about Meyer yet.

Some say Meyer can’t write “worth a damn,” and others cite how derivative and unoriginal her books are in the crowded young adult vampire genre. No matter what you say about her, you can’t argue that she’s been incredibly successful. Oprah is probably thrilled to have her and most authors clamor to get on that show.

Oprah Winfrey will indulge in all things vampire and werewolf on Friday, when Twilight author Stephanie [sic] Meyer is to sit down for a rare interview.

“Since I’m only doing one interview, better make it really, really big,” Meyer wrote on her blog.

But since the Oprah interview will be geared toward a mainstream audience, diehard fans shouldn’t expect too many secrets to be spilled. To that end, Meyer is answering questions about the series online at the official Twilight Saga Web site until noon Tuesday (Eastern time).

Just don’t expect any answers about Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart or Taylor Lautner and Taylor Swift.

[From People]

I’ve read all the Twilight books along with all the books that True Blood is based on, the Sookie Sackhouse novels by Charlaine Harris. I’ve also read the first four books in the Vampire Diaries series by L.J. Smith, but put down the fifth one because it was really awful. Many of the themes in Twilight were done earlier and in a more convincing and sophisticated way in Harris’ books, and arguably in Smith’s books. The Sookie Sackhouse novels aren’t for a young audience, and while The Vampire Diaries are decent they came out in the early 90s and teens were looking for new vamps to lust over when Twilight came along.

While it took me some time to tolerate Stephenie Meyer’s super cheesy style of writing, I ultimately enjoyed her books and wanted to find out what would happen next. Yes, the characters are one-dimensional but I would read another Twilight book if it came out. (I guess she was working on one and then scrapped it when it got released on the Internet before it was ready. Meyer has made it available as a PDF, but it may be a while before I bother.)

Anyway I’m interested in seeing Meyer on Oprah and hearing what she has to say. She could have started smaller with an interview on her local news or something. I know I would be peeing myself if I had to go on Oprah without any kind of warm up. Maybe she’s done other tv interviews, but I don’t recall ever seeing her and she could easily be promoting the hell out of these films.

Twilight author Stephenie Meyer has been sued for copyright infringement by an author who claims that significant portions of Meyer’s fourth and as-of-yet final book in the series, Breaking Dawn, published in August, 2008 were lifted from a story she posted online in 2003. Last week TMZ published the cease and desist from the author, Jordan Scott, which detailed the similarities between the two books, including plot structure and some minor dialogue. (Here’s a spoiler filled link to TMZ’s coverage of the author’s case against Meyer. Please be warned that TMZ’s article and the PDF legal document pretty much ruin the fourth Twilight book/movie. If you haven’t read the book and are planning to or don’t want to ruin the movie, don’t read it. I waited to read the legal document until I finished the book later last week.)

Scott just officially filed suit against Meyer yesterday and is asking for damages and requesting that all existing copies of Breaking Dawn be impounded. Good luck on that one.

The author of the “Twilight” series is being sued by a woman who claims the 4th installment is a rip-off of her work.

Jordan Scott claims in her lawsuit, filed today in federal court, that she began writing a novel “in the vampire genre” when she was just 15 — back in 2003. The novel was published in 2006 and called “The Nocturne.”

Scott claims the 4th installment of Stephenie Meyer’s “Twilight” series lifted her work. She says Meyer’s book — “Breaking Dawn” is a “significant literary departure from [her] early books…” She says it seems the book is “written by a teenager.” Yes, Scott was a teenager when she wrote “The Nocturne.”

Scott claims the two books “show striking, articulable and substantial similarities in the … plot lines, themes, dialogue, mood, setting, pace, characters, sequence of events, ideas and other similarities.”

Scott is asking for damages, and that the court impound the “Breaking Dawn” books that are being sold.

[From TMZ]

I read through the legal document a couple of times, and I have to say that if I was on a jury for this case – not that it’s ever likely to go to a jury trial – I wouldn’t be able to rule in Scott’s favor given the evidence that’s presented. I can believe that Scott feels that Meyer ripped off her story, and there are some very strong plot parallels between the two books and even some similar wording. I don’t think it’s a frivolous lawsuit, but they don’t present enough evidence to prove a case. Some of the wording is similar, but not strikingly so. The common character dialogue isn’t exceptionally unique. Two weaker examples are that both books have lead characters who call their male partners “love,” as in “my love,” and another scene in which one of the leads marvels over their partner’s beauty, as if that’s significant. The things that the author claims are the same plot points are very common human experiences adapted to the vampire world. There are some things that seem too alike for coincidence, but I’m not going to get into the specifics as I don’t want to spoil it for anyone. I haven’t decided either way and the case is not strong, but not completely without merit.

Minor past spoiler for True Blood below
Many of you have pointed out that the Southern Vampire Mysteries, which were published well ahead of Meyer’s Twilight series and are the books on which the HBO show True Blood is based, have many commonalities with Meyer’s books as well. There’s a mind-reader, a character named Sam who plays the second “more of a friend” love interest and has incredibly similar powers to Sam in the Twilight books, and the vampires have skin glows and sparkles. (I’m almost done with the first novel in the series, Dead Until Dark, and it’s a lot of fun. Thanks to Bodhi and Laura for recommending it! I’m also watching the first season of “True Blood” now and love it.) Maybe many of these concepts are similar in the vampire genre. I’ve never really delved into it before except for Ann Rice and it’s been over 15 year since I’ve read any of her books.

Meyer didn’t come up with Twilight in a vacuum, but whether her similar ideas venture into the realm of plagiarism remains to be seen.

Stephenie Meyer is shown at the premiere of Twilight on 11/17/08. Credit: WENN.com

Prolific king of horror Stephen King has some choice words for Twilight series author Stephenie Meyer. He told USA Weekend that while Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling is actually talented, Meyer “can’t write worth a darn.” King also says that thriller author James Patterson can’t write either:

Both Rowling and Meyer, they’re speaking directly to young people. … The real difference is that Jo Rowling is a terrific writer and Stephenie Meyer can’t write worth a darn. She’s not very good.”

But then King recalls that when his mom was alive, she read all the Erle Stanley Gardner books, the Perry Mason mysteries, obsessively when he was growing up. “He was a terrible writer, too, but he was very successful,” King says. “Somebody who’s a terrific writer who’s been very, very successful is Jodi Picoult. You’ve got Dean Koontz, who can write like hell. And then sometimes he’s just awful. It varies. James Patterson is a terrible writer but he’s very very successful. People are attracted by the stories, by the pace and in the case of Stephenie Meyer, it’s very clear that she’s writing to a whole generation of girls and opening up kind of a safe joining of love and sex in those books. It’s exciting and it’s thrilling and it’s not particularly threatening because they’re not overtly sexual. A lot of the physical side of it is conveyed in things like the vampire will touch her forearm or run a hand over skin, and she just flushes all hot and cold. And for girls, that’s a shorthand for all the feelings that they’re not ready to deal with yet.”

[From USA weekend via Celebutopia]

Many will disagree with me, but I don’t think that Da Vinci Code author Dan Brown can write, either. The prose in that book was laughable, and the characters were completely flat. He wove a good tale, though, and I learned about theology, history, and art along the way. From what King is saying Meyer might have similar appeal. Authors don’t need to write deftly in order to draw you in. In some cases, like Brown for me, bad writing can distract too much from the story though. I haven’t read the Twilight books yet, but from the excerpt of the first book available on Amazon, they don’t seem that bad. She does use flowery descriptions and it’s all a little too emotional and fraught with meaning, but teens seem to like it. Writers don’t have to please other authors in order to have a successful book, they just have to appeal to the masses.

Stephen King is shown at a book signing on 11/7/06. Credit: WENN. Stephenie Meyer is shown at the premiere of Twilight on 11/17/08. Credit: PRPhotos