―Well, I‘d like to keep the story in high school, because we are marketing the first book this way.
And I just feel like there‘s so much that must have happened that we miss if we just skip to Bella being a grown-up.‖ And I said: ―Well, you know, I could always make my characters talk more — that‘s not a problem. Let‘s go back and have this kind of stuff happen earlier.‖ So I had a chance to develop it.
By the time I got to Breaking Dawn the characters were so fleshed out — and their allegiances were so strong to whatever they hated or loved — that it made the story just a whole lot richer when I came to it the second time, because there was so much more backstory to it.
SH: I have to go back to the point that Jacob exists because Edward couldn‘t say, ―I am a vampire.‖ So Edward is what created the necessity for Jacob. Just as Edward‘s existence, and nearness as a vampire, made Jacob into a werewolf. I just think it‘s interesting that those two characters, who are sometimes friends and sometimes…
SM: Not.
I think that, in reality, it‘s never one boy — there‘s never this moment when you know.
There‘s a choice there, and sometimes it‘s hard.
SH: … enemies, can‘t seem to live without each other. They completely are born from each other.
SM: Jacob was born from Edward… also because of — I guess you have to say it was a flaw — Edward‘s inability to be honest about this essential fact of himself. Although it was an understandable flaw — it was something that he was supposed to keep secret. You know, it wasn‘t something that you just say in everyday passing conversation: ―By the way [laughs], I‘m a vampire.‖ It‘s just not a normal thing.
Jacob‘s character also became an answer to the deficiencies in Edward — because Edward‘s not perfect. There were things about him that didn‘t make him the most perfect boyfriend in the whole world. I mean, some things about him make him an amazing boyfriend, but other things were lacking — and Jacob sort of was the alternative. Here you have Edward, someone who overthinks everything — whose every emotion is overwrought — and just tortures himself. And there‘s so much angst, because he has never come to terms with what he is.
Then here you have Jacob, someone who never gives anything a passing thought and just is happy-go-lucky: If something‘s wrong, well, okay — let‘s just get over it and move on. Here‘s someone who‘s able to take things in stride a little bit more, who doesn‘t overthink everything.
Someone who‘s a little rash. He does seem foolish sometimes, just because he doesn‘t pause to think before he leaps, you know?
That was sort of the opposite of Edward‘s character in a lot of ways. It gave a balance to the story and a choice for Bella, because I think she needed that. There was an option for her to choose a different life, with someone that she could have loved — or someone who she does love.
I always felt like that was really necessary to the story. Because when I write, I try to make the characters react to things the way I think real people would.
I think that, in reality, it‘s never one boy — there‘s never this moment when you know.
There‘s a choice there, and sometimes it‘s hard. Romance and relationships are a tangle, and this messy thing — you never know what to expect, and people are so surprising.
I do know what would have happened if Edward hadn‘t come back. You know, I know that whole story — how it went down, and what their future was.
SH: So for you, was the storyline inevitable? Or were there points when you were writing where you thought the characters might have made one choice or another?
SM: It‘s a funny thing — because it was inevitable. From the time I started the first sequel, I always knew what was going to happen. With Twilight I had no idea what was going to happen — it just sort of happened. But after I knew where it was going, I knew Edward and Bella were going out together. As you start to write stories you get twist-offs of things — there are three or four or five different ways it could have gone, and none of them were the right way. I knew what the real way was.
But I do know what would have happened if Edward hadn‘t come back. You know, I know that whole story — how it went down, and what their future was. I know what would have happened if this character had changed — when he did one little thing here, or that. There are always a million different stories — you just know which one it is that you‘re going to write. But that doesn‘t make the others not exist.
SH: And I think that comes through in the writing — that you are aware of these alternate realities. I think the reader becomes aware of these other realities, too. And that‘s nice, because then it‘s not predictable. You don‘t know exactly what‘s going to happen, because you can see there are other ways it can go.
SM: I think that‘s why the alternate stories develop — because you have to make it suspenseful; there has to be conflict — and there has to be, hopefully, some mystery about where it‘s going to go. If it‘s so clear that something specific is obviously going to happen, well, nobody wants to read that. So where‘s the suspense going to come from? It comes when you start to realize: Well, this other thing could have happened. Even though you know where you‘re going with it.
SH: I love that.
SM: It‘s all very circular. Something happens within something else, but the thing that happened is somehow the birthplace of the other one, too. It‘s very confusing [laughs] in the head of a writer. At least, for me.
SH: But it is like life, in that I think we are all aware of how if we‘d made a different decision, we would be living in a different reality. And you can think about the other ones, but you live the one that you‘re in. The story has to live in the reality it‘s in.
SM: I think my fascination with that very concept kind of comes through in Alice‘s visions of the future, where there are fourteen million of them. As characters make choices, they‘re narrowing down which visions can actually happen. Alice sees flashes of the future possibilities coming from the choices they‘ve made. But if they make different choices, it becomes a whole new future. And that‘s what happens to us every day. You choose to go to Target today [laughs] and you don‘t know how that‘s going to impact everything in your future, because of one decision. I‘d always been really fascinated with that concept, and I enjoy science fiction that sort of deals with those strands.
SH: So, if you knew — that morning you woke up after having the dream of Edward and Bella in the meadow — if you knew the reality that would happen after you sat down and wrote it, would you still write it?
SM: You know… I wonder if I could have. The pressure would have been so immense. If I‘d been faced with knowing: If you sit down and write today, eventually you‘re going to have to speak in public, in front of thousands of screaming people; you‘re going to have to travel around the world and live on Dramamine and Unisom; and you‘re going to have to be away from your family sometimes; and you‘ll be more successful than you could ever possibly have dreamed, but there‘s going to be more stress than you could have ever thought you were able to handle — I don‘t know what my decision would have been.