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happy. It’s a great thing to hear that your book made someone’s day brighter. It’s amazing to think that you’re doing some good, with a thing that just brings you joy in the first place. It’s not why I do it, but it’s a great benefit. It’s the frosting.
    It’s hard when people who really wanted to like it don’t. That makes me sad, because I know that there was a story for them, but it’s just not the one that I could write. I think that sometimes for people who are that invested, it’s because they’re storytellers themselves. And maybe they need to cross that line—cross over to the dark side… join us!—and start creating their own stories.
I don’t question the characters, which is why I’m able to maintain my voice when I write—because that, to me, is the one thing that’s rock-solid.
     
    SH: That is an impossible situation, though. Because here you’ve created these characters in
Twilight
, and then readers are creating their own versions of those characters. So then you go on and write another book, and what your charactersdid… isn’t necessarily what their characters would do. Maybe from their point of view, you’re manipulating their characters into doing things they wouldn’t do, even though of course you’re not.
    SM: It
is
funny…. I mean, it’s hard because I am very thin-skinned. I don’t take anything lightly. When I read a criticism, I immediately take it to heart and say: “Oh my gosh—maybe I
should
have done that! Oh, I
do
do this wrong!” I question myself very easily. I don’t question the characters, which is why I’m able to maintain my voice when I write—because that, to me, is the one thing that’s rock-solid. It doesn’t matter what my doubts are—they are who they are. And that’s a good thing.
    SH: It is. And despite all of the criticism, there are so many more fans than there are people who are angry about the books, but you hear the negative stuff so much louder.
    SM: Oh, always loud. You know, it reminds me of the movie
Pretty Woman
. Whenever that comes on TV, for some reason I can’t change the channel. [SH laughs] And there’s the one part where she says: It’s easier to believe the bad, you know.
    SH: Yeah.
    SM: That’s one of the things that I think is a constant struggle: to make the negative voices not as loud as—or at least just equal to—the positive voices. I know a lot of people who feel the same way. It’s easy to doubt yourself.
    Maybe the answer is not to write a sequel. I’m considering that. You know, write one-shots—just one contained story, which I have a hard time doing. I guess I’ll just have to end it by killing the characters—because then it’ll be over, right? [Laughs] But if you kill off your characters—even minor characters—you still sob for everything that they were and could have been.
But if you kill off your characters—even minor characters—you still sob for everything that they were and could have been.
     
    SH: In the book I’m writing right now, there is a death—a major death. And every time I do a rewrite, as I get near that scene, and I know I have to face it again, my stomach just clenches and I get sick with dread. And as I go through that scene, I’m sobbing the entire time. It is not easy….
    SM: No. When you know in advance that you’re going to put yourself through that, it gives you some pause. And then you also have to know that it’s a different story than what people are expecting. That’s also the trouble with sequels.
    SH: The most letters I get from fans is for one book called
Princess Academy
, and the most requests I get from fans is for a sequel to that book. And then they tell me what happens in the sequel, you know? [SM laughs] And that’s how I know that I shouldn’t write it.
    SM: Right.
    SH: Because they’ve already told their own story. And that’s what I want, anyway… because I didn’t tie everything up completely. I just gave them an idea of where they