Stephenie Meyer makes a surprise visit on her day

By MARK ST.J. COUHIG, Forks Forum

Stephenie Meyer loved Forks before she ever visited the place. Much of her early infatuation was simply a fantasy — she sought a green, damp place, a lush Eden for an Arizona girl.

Then she discovered Forks.

This week she returned to the place she made famous through a best-selling series of young adult novels that were followed by a series of blockbuster movies.

She said her surprise Friday the 13th visit for the city’s Stephenie Meyer Days was prompted by an anniversary.

Ten years ago this June she had a dream about a boy vampire and a normal girl in a green meadow.

A quick look online turned up Forks, deep in the heart of the wettest terrain in the lower 48. It was perfect.

And there was more. “I love the name,” she said. “The first draft of the book was called ‘Forks.’”

“I just loved the idea that this was the big fork in her (Bella’s) life. What direction was she going to go in?”

“I thought was a great title, but my editor disagreed,” she laughed.

She began researching the town, pulling up photos on line, poring over maps.

“I’ve probably seen your house,” she told an interviewer.

But she wrote the first book about the town sight unseen. In fact she had never been to Washington. But after the first book was done, she and a sister visited Forks.

She was stunned by what she found. It was eerily exact to her vision.

And La Push Beach, she said, was incredible. “I had seen pictures of it, but when you come around the corner it takes your breath away.”

The first visit was brief. “I’m a mom,” she said. “I get two days away, max.”

What it means

She says she still can’t quite grasp the impact she’s had on Forks.

“In the Chamber of Commerce they have those great maps with all those pins in them. It’s really mind-blowing. It’s hard to really believe I had anything to do with that.”

She laughed.

“There’s an actual town that I just picked up from a map and fell in love with.”

“And that it helped some people?”

Then she laughed again. “Although I’m sure it has annoyed people, too. There have to be some people who are annoyed. But everybody has been super nice to me.”

She said that extends to the members of the Quileute Tribe.

Meyer said she wrote the middle and end of “Twilight” first and found herself stuck. She knew Edward Cullen would never admit he was a vampire. “He just couldn’t. So someone else had to do it.”

That’s when she discovered the Quileute Tribe and created the character of Jacob Black.

“I looked around and found the Quileute Tribe and all of their cool history. They’ve been here. They have stories. And they would have that information,” she said.

So far, she’s received only positive response from the tribe.

“I was worried. When I wrote it I didn’t think anyone would ever see it but me. Especially in the third book, when I’m adding my legends into theirs — that worried me.”

“When we first talked about publishing, I thought maybe we should change the name, but they’ve been very, very nice to me. Very loving. which was a relief.”

Living the good life

These days Meyer has a Washington home. She says it’s perfect for her children. “I think it’s a good thing for the kids to see. There is water in the stream bed and not all of the plants are covered in thorns. And the weather isn’t actively trying to kill you every day. It’s nice for them to see all of the life here every day.”

But, she admits, her success has come at a price.

She says she likely won’t be writing again about Forks, at least not soon.

“’Twilight’ has had a lot of backlash and I’m not as thick-skinned as I should be.”

When she encounters criticism of her books, she said, “I just sit there and think, ‘Oh, they’re right. It’s awful and I’m a hack and I shouldn’t write.’ It gets in my head.”

“This whole Twilight place has become so negative. I don’t go a day without seeing it. I don’t go looking for it, but I can be reading an article about something else and suddenly there it is. I have to grow a thicker skin before I write about Forks again.”

She said there are aspects of her success that have pleased her. “I’ve heard stories about girls that were in relationships that weren’t good for them.” Through her books, “They learned that this isn’t love.”

They learn that love is putting someone else’s well-being ahead of yours. “That’s important,” she said.

Reach Mark Couhig at mcouhig@soundpublishing.com.