A New Day Dawns for 'Twilight' Fans

By Donna Freitas -- Publishers Weekly, 8/2/2008 11:10:00 AM

Meyer (r.) and Furstenfeld,
at Friday night's sold-out concert.

Friday evening, at just about twilight (how appropriate!), I emerged from the subway in Times Square. While maneuvering the dense crowds, I could barely contain my excitement. I was headed to the Nokia Theater for the launch of the Breaking Dawn concert tour, to celebrate the release of the last book in Stephenie Meyer’s bestselling Twilight Saga, with VIP passes courtesy of Little, Brown, publisher of the series (thank you, thank you!).

Justin Furstenfeld of Blue October would be playing songs by special request of the esteemed author of all-things Twilight, who would also be answering questions from fans and talking about why Joshua’s music inspires her writing. I couldn’t wait to hear what Meyer had to say.

But before going on, let me be honest and say that, for me, the night really belonged to Edward!Which is why I was wearing my red and black “Team Edward” T-shirt for the event. (Sorry, Team Jacob.)

Five members of the "fanpire."

And when I finally arrived at the theater, I knew I had found My People! (My People being those who have read and reread the books in the Twilight series until its pages were tattered and torn, and just about couldn’t wait for the release of Breaking Dawn last night at midnight.) Stretched around an entire block and then some were hundreds of teenage girls (and 20-, 30-, 40-, 50-, and even a few 60-something women, too) decked out in some of the best Twilight fan gear I’ve ever seen. As I passed by the line, taking in the scene, I heard shouts of “Go Edward!” from some of my fellow Team Edward members, and saw many other creative Twilight slogans on T-shirts—some professionally done, some clearly homemade.

To name a few favorites:

Official I ♥ Edward Cullen Fan Club

The Forbidden Fruit Tastes the Sweetest

I Am a Fanpire! (That was one of the homemade ones, complete with puffy paint and glitter glue.)

Another of my favorite shirts had the following written on the front: “Wow, wouldn’t it be great to find someone like Edward?” The back asked the million-dollar question that all Twilight fans (except for the Team Jacob folks) wonder: “Well yes, but where the hell am I supposed to look?”

Indeed.

Fans of all four books
were well represented.

Once inside, girls rushed the stage—well it was a concert, after all—alternately chanting Ed-ward! Ed-ward and Steph-en-ie! Steph-en-ie! in anticipation of 7 p.m., when the event was scheduled to start. It was difficult not to join in the squealing myself. As I worked the crowd asking people why they were there (“Because we love Edward!”—and why do you love Edward?—“Because he’s perfect!”—insert deep sighs and dreamy looks here), I ran into four adorable girls, each holding giant sparkly posters with hearts, glitter, and the words “The best saga eva!” written all over them, one for each book in the series (only one Team Jacob fan there). Another young woman showed me her fingernails, painted black, with red lettering that said “I ♥ Twilight.” Me, too, I told her, laughing.

Aside from the many teenage girls I spoke with, there were more than a few mothers present, including a large, proud contingent—51 was their count—of members from TwilightMoms.com (they wore T-shirts with the Web site printed across the front). They, too, waxed poetic about Edward (and Jacob), especially about how, in their opinion, the series shows teen girls like their daughters what a real gentleman (i.e. Edward) is like, and the kind of romance they should hold out for in their own lives. (I can’t resist mentioning the comment from one of the Moms about how the series, and in particular Edward, had spiced up her love life with her husband—though she still hadn’t convinced her husband “to bite her neck yet.” Hmmm. Interesting.)

Personalized T-shirts abounded.

Though I had a blast checking out the crowd’s unbelievable enthusiasm and love for these novels, the best part of the night was, of course, seeing and listening to Stephenie Meyer herself. First, Justin Furstenfeld of Blue October would open the show with a few solo acoustic songs, then Meyer would come out to answer fan questions gathered from all over the world, and finally, Meyer and Furstenfeld would engage in a duet of sorts—with Meyer talking about a particular favorite song, and then Justin playing it.

Among the most interesting questions from fans was the one about which character Meyer is most like in the series? The answer: “I am not Bella,” Meyer emphasized. “I’m much more like Edward.” But the tidbit that got the most cheers from the audience came in response to Meyer’s last answer, about whether or not she was going to miss writing the series. Not only did Meyer affirm that she was still working on Midnight Sun, which is Twilight told from Edward’s perspective (and which fans have long been aware of), but Meyer confessed that there might be yet another book in the series! This comment made fans go wild. (And I, too, went wild at hearing this, but inside, since I was there as a respectable reporter for PW.)

As a writer myself, it was amazing to hear Meyer talk about her process—both how emotional it is (she often cries apparently, when working on certain scenes and chapters), but even more so, how much music literally inspires the words she puts down on the page. This is where the presence of Justin Furstenfeld of Blue October really made the evening interesting. Anyone who is a fan (or fanpire) of the series is already well aware that Meyer includes a playlist of the music she listened to while writing each book in her acknowledgments as well as posts specific songlists on her Web site. But it was poignant to listen to Meyer explain how she hears her characters voices in the song lyrics—like how, when she first listened to Furstenfeld’s song “Hate Me” on the radio, she said it was as if Edward was singing to her about the moment when, in New Moon, he leaves Bella alone in the woods after breaking things off. After Meyer told us this, Furstenfeld then sang “Hate Me” and the song took on new meaning. It was uncanny how much the lyrics resonated with that angst-ridden moment.

Just a few of the more than 2000 fans
who lined the streets of Times Square
before the show.

Meyer only had one small spoiler for her audience last night about Breaking Dawn, and it came out again through her pairing a moment in the story with a Furstenfeld song called “My Never.” She said that song was Jacob’s. There were moans of sympathy from the crowd as Furstenfeld sang a beautiful, but hauntingly sad song that did not seem to bode well for Jacob Black’s future chances with Bella in Breaking Dawn. Even though I am staunchly in Edward’s camp, I admit that I was moved. And so was Meyer—she teared up through almost all of the songs Furstenfeld sang.

And speaking of Breaking Dawn, as the heavens open up in New York City, and rain thunders down onto the sidewalks as I imagine it does in the Forks, Washington, home of Bella and Edward, it feels an appropriate moment to crack open this last installment of the Twilight Saga, and begin to read. I’ve been trying to hold off, to make it last a little longer since I know it will be over before I know it. But how can I resist such perfect, moody weather as this? I think it’s a sign…

Freitas’s first novel, The Possibilities of Sainthood, comes out this month from Frances Foster Books at Farrar. Straus and Giroux.