Squirrels in Portland
by Violet Quagmire
May 20th - Portland, Oregon Host signing:
Ouisa, starz57182, and I met up around 11:00 AM to scope out the Bagdad theater and to evaluate the line situation. At that time there were only about 10 ladies in line and the weather was a bit gray and drizzly, so we decided that we had time to grab lunch, pick up some tasty vegan doughnuts, and do a bit of Host-inspired scavenger hunting around Portland before returning to the theater. After stumbling across a dragon near the place we ate lunch, we decided to search for examples of all of Wanderer's previous lives. We found a dragon, a spider, a flower, a bat, a bear, some fire, and some seaweed. Around 1:00 PM we returned to the theater and staked out a place in line. The weather was much sunnier by then but there were still only about 35 people in line, so we had fairly good positions and sat down to visit with the nice folks in line around us. Many had traveled from all over Washington and Oregon and the two great ladies in front of us had flown up from California just to attend the signing. (SM fans are awesome!)
While we waited in line, we chatted with a few Dex members via cell phone, text messages, and skype. We also took turns running around to peek in the nearby shops (where we completed our scavenger hunt and stumbled across a silly Twilighty magnet). We watched and discussed the Twilight movie trailer and showed the Host Index website to our nearest neighbor in line. *Hi, new member alliemomo210!* And we had several pedestrians stop by to ask what the long line was for. Our explanation that the huge crowd was gathered for a book signing was unanimously met with looks of surprise and lots of questions about Stephenie Meyer and her books. In addition to shopping, chatting, and munching on yummy doughnuts, we spent our time in line admiring all the fun Host and/or Twilight themed shirts like a great "Mrs. Ian O'Shea (Don't tell Emmett)" one and a bright orange "I love cheetos" one. By 4:30 PM, the line stretched all the way around the side and back of the theater and down the block a bit. (The theater seats 600 people, and it was a sold out event.) Around five o'clock, someone came through the line giving each person a notecard to use for submitting their question(s) to Stephenie. Ouisa submitted her question, I'd typed up a list of questions and submitted three of them on my card, and starz submitted three of the questions suggested by Dex members on her card.
By 5:30 PM, just as everyone began to stand up and shift around in anticipation of being ushered into the theater soon, Solomon Trimble (aka Sam Uley in the Twilight movie) appeared near the front of the line. Ouisa dashed up and got his autograph while starz and I held our spot in line, then we traded off and ouisa held our spot in line while starz and I ran up to get photographs, hugs, and autographs. Talk about Dexers in Fangirl Mode ON! Solomon Trimble was polite, friendly, charming, and gorgeous! As we all returned to our place in line and excitedly regrouped to shared a fangirl SQUEE, I think the general feeling was one of "Edward who? That movie better be all about Sam">!"
Before news of the celebrity sighting had spread very far through the line, it was time to head into the theater. We all filed in excitedly and received pre-signed copies of the Host and raffle tickets to have our books personalized after Stephenie's Q & A presentation. The theater was nice (but very dark) and had rows of narrow tabletops in front of each row of seats. (YAY for places to set our books and prop our cameras for photos/videos.) We found seats right in the center of the fourth row and had a great view of the stage. Before the presentation began, we snapped a few photos of ourselves and Squirrel with the Host poster, ouisa did a little bit more skyping with Dex members (YAY for wi-fi!), and we watched a group of excited fans suddenly spot Solomon Trimble in the audience and instantly form a line all the way down one aisle to meet him (that line seriously formed in less than two seconds). But it was time to begin getting seated, so only a handful of those folks had the chance to meet him before everyone was urged to find their seats.
At 7:00 PM, Stephenie was introduced (to much cheering and a standing ovation). She spoke briefly about how she was pleased to be back in Portland, talking briefly about her visits during the filming of the Twilight movie. Then she jumped into answering the questions she'd selected from the cards. She answered questions for about seventeen minutes. You can see a video of her entire presentation here and a transcript of the Q & A will follow very shortly. She answered all the questions thoughtfully and quickly, avoiding saying anything that was too much of a spoiler for those who have not yet read or finished the book. Ouisa's question was answered (regarding whether Jared was lying to Wanderer on p.591) and two of mine were answered (regarding the themes of tolerance and forgiveness and which portions of the book made Stephenie feel the most emotional or tearful as she wrote), and we tried to avoid squealing aloud as we heard her reading and answering our questions aloud. In addition to answering Host questions, she answered a few Twilight questions and a number of writing/general questions. I particularly liked seeing her amusement with the "What kind of bear is best?" question (Confirming again that she is indeed a true fan of The Office! ) The funniest answer was definitely the last one, regarding whether any of her brothers is single. Stephenie was so hilarious in her description of her single brother and all his wonderful qualities, mentioning how that question was really quite a good one since her sisters-in-law do sometimes get to read advance copies of her books. Hahaha!
After the Q & A, Stephenie moved to a location in the theater lobby and audience members were referred to their raffle ticket numbers to determine when they should join the book signing line. Stephenie had thoughtfully asked that all the mothers with young babies in attendance and ticket holders with mobility challenges be allowed to skip to the front of the line. We were about 40th in line and I was amazed how fast the line moved. Stephenine and her crew have the book signing business down to an exact science. The process was extremely efficient and we were having our books signed in no time at all. She personalized our Host books, signed our Twilight books, and thanked us very politely for the scrapbook from all of you great Dexers. Ouisa was first in line and Stephenie immediately recognized her from the Host Index, mentioning that she hoped she'd answered her question satisfactorily (while trying not to reveal too much of a spoiler in her Q & A presentation). Stephenie was very sweet and friendly and said that it was so nice to see us and that she has been pleased to see the Host Index doing well and has really enjoyed the terrific discussions we've been having on our boards. Stephenie is really beautiful, very genuine, quite funny, and such a quick signer! What an incredible experience!
The Host Questions
To me The Host examines all levels of love right? What is the most powerful level of love in your opinion.
A really good question because The Host really is about that. For me it really was about looking at not just romantic love and love of community and love of self and who you will change your life for. For me the strongest kind of love I have ever discovered is the love of a mother for a child. And The Host was my first chance to explore that. It was a surrogate relationship but that made the story really compelling and important to me. A very astute question thank you.
This one is a bit of a spoiler so I'm going to try to phrase it a little differently. Does Jared really lie or does he develop feelings for Wanderer herself. (Ouisa's QUESTION!!!)
People who haven't read the book yet that probably doesn't make much sense yet. But no he really doesn't lie. I mean there are times when there are a lot of different truths and that's one when there are two very distinct different truths going on at the same time
I cried several times when reading the Host, is there any particular scene that made feel the most emotional or tearful as you wrote or reviewed (VIOLET'S QUESTION).
There were several places but particularly at the end. i think around chapter 57 i couldn't type and cry at the same time because I couldn't see the screen so i tried so hard not to cry that my throat was just aching for about 3 chapters and so I really do distinctly remember that experience, being done and gulping down ice water. get very emotionally involved in my stories. If they are feeling it, I'm feeling it too.
The Host had a lot to say about tolerance, forgiveness, and understanding. What inspired you to delve into those particular themes (Violet again!!)
One of the things that has always fascinated me about being human and if this book is about anything it is about being human. is the range that we're all capable of. I try hard to be a good person to me that's an important thing and so when I watch the news and I see what people have done to each other and the kind of violence that actually goes on in this world and the things that some one that might look just like you and me could go up and do to a total stranger on the street . It's a horrifying thing I can't really read the news or watch it because it's so upsetting to me and the idea that we have that in all of us . And then you see the people that do things so amazing so self sacrificing that you wonder if you could ever be that good . You know the highs and the lows are really interesting. I think all of us want this to be a better world and this was one way of exploring what kind of price we would have to pay to have that. I think this price in the host is a little too extreme. Sure the world's great but none of us get to enjoy it. So it was an interesting thing to look at. Most my books are about the relationships but there were a lot of compelling moments when i was thinking about what it would really mean , what i would personally give up to have a world full of peace and goodness.
What was your favorite part of writing the Host?
I have a lot of scenes that were really fun for me. I found that writing violence is a lot of fun. I'm not sure why I like torturing my characters. So much but actually it's fun. It has it's own beat when you are working with it, you can really feel it. there were a couple of scenes that were homages to other works. there is one scene in particular that was inspired by Julius Caesar by shakespeare. Points for anyone who comes through the line and knows that one. and there is another scene, a bathing scene that's inspired by Ann McCaffery's Dragonflight. I always really loved a scene where someone was kinda reborn into a new situation in that way. And so it was fun to be able to incorporate some of my favorite things into the novel
Have you started the next book in The Host series, whose perspective is it?
I do have an outline for a sequel, I don't know if or when I will work on it again. But if I do, the second book in the series would be from Wanderer's perspective again. But again a lot of people were noting in my questions here that I'm going on vacation for awhile. After Breaking Dawn I'm taking some time off just to write, I really plan on just working on the things that I'm excited about so I'm not sure what that will be.
Did you have troubles transitioning from the twilight series to the host? How were you able to detach yourself from the characters in one series and focus on the others in the new book?
That's a good question. As a writer sometimes it can be hard to pull yourself from one story to another When I was working on the host I wasn't actually writing the twilight series i was editing it's a very different process and you aren't as attached to it, it's not a creative process for me it's more like homework, it's kinda like math in some ways , so unpleasant. So when i was doing The Host what I would do was I would start reading it over, either I would read the whole outline or I would read through everything I had written and I would get back to those voices. Once i was in character, so to speak I never got confused. I had a question before. Someone asked if I had ever put in the wrong names and absolutely not I was so involved in that world that twilight barely existed , well it doesn't exist in that world so I don't even think of those characters when i am working on it.
Miscellaneous Questions
On Writing
Coming soon