I (Blue Liz) want to share this with you. This petition was created in good faith, and I leave you to judge the rest for yourself.
This petition was created by a fellow amazon.com forum user. The petition has over 1,000 signatures. We had hoped it would generate a response. Boy did it.
View the petition here: http://www.petitiononline.com/BDFailed/petition.html
After the petition received 1,000 signatures, the author e-mailed the following letter to Seth (Stephanie Meyer's website administrator and brother):
Seth,
I completely understand that you are not the whipping boy for Stephenie Meyer, but she has given us no address to reach her directly, so sadly, I have few choices- and one of them was to send this to you.
My name is Heather Faust, and I have written a letter to Stephenie and to Little, Brown. As suggested by a number of others on message boards, I posted this letter as a "petition." Today we reached a thousand signatures. (It has only been live for a few days.) We will continue to leave it live and see how it grows.
I feel that it is well written and respectful, and I would hope that you would take a few minutes to read it. If it gets through to Stephenie, well, I'd be thrilled. We are not looking to hurt her, we aren't looking for her to rewrite it... We just want our opinions acknowledged, and we'd like to no longer be referred to as a "vocal minority." We'd also love it if she'd be able to answer our concerns with more than just "it's fiction," "I'm not a biology major" or other brush offs. We don't, of course expect that at all. But just a simple "Yes, I hear you, I'm sorry that you were disappointed" would be enough for us.
Anyway, sorry that you are in the middle of all of this. That must suck for you.
Thanks for your time
This was Seth's response:
Heather,
First, let me assure you that I will not forward this email to Stephenie. You say that you are not looking to hurt her, but it would be ignorant to believe that criticism of any kind does not hurt the person to whom it is directed. I didn't even forward any of the 35 emails that I received today telling me (or Stephenie) how much they loved Breaking Dawn, how the series changes their lives, etc.
There are a few other reasons why I would not forward the link to this "petition." (By the way, you have heard that online petitions never generate results, right?). I disagree that it is "well written." Besides the grammar mistakes (which are not hard to overlook), you address the letter to Stephenie, but by the end of the first paragraph you refer to "Meyer" in the third person. I am not sure if you are speaking to her or not. Also, the "signatures" (which are completely invalid) are not just names, but a discussion board. I went to one page and found three people defending Breaking Dawn and saying things like "I am surrounded by self absorbed teenagers or adults that think they can write better books and never do!"
And, although I got very bored and wasn't able to read the entire "petition," I want to try to answer a few of your main points (although I'm sure that Stephenie's answers would be a lot better than mine):
#1 and #2: At the end of Eclipse, Alice specifically says that nobody has ever made the conscious decision to become a vampire, and so none of them had any idea how Bella would handle the entire process.
#3 and #4 (and everything else in your : These books are fiction. They are filled with FICTIONAL characters that Stephenie made up all by herself. In an attempt to keep the books clean and not make young girls think about things that they don't need to think about, no other book mentioned anything about reproductive systems. They are Stephenie's characters, she can decide anything that she wants.
And finally, Heather, your letter is not respectful at all. It is libelous in many instances. I would be embarrassed to say such things about someone who I have never met.
Seth's response has caused several on the amazon.com forums to send in their own letters. Here is a letter another poster has sent to him (we eagerly await his response):
Dear Seth,
I am one of the signers of the petition that was sent to you by more than 1000 angry readers who consider Breaking Dawn to be both an epic failure and a travesty. In fact, I am proud to say I am signer number 7.
I read your rather arrogant and rude reply and I would just like to make a few comments.
First of all, whether you or I want to believe it or not, your sister is a public figure. She can hide behind you if she chooses to, but please do not start throwing around legal terms you don't understand. The day she chose to become a public figure, all the rules changed. She is playing in a different league now. I quite seriously doubt she can haul 1000 people into court and sue them for saying Breaking Dawn is an Epic Failure, and if she can, Signer Number 7 will be proud to be there and testify.
I support what that petition says for many reasons. I have been speaking out in forums regarding these books for more than one year. I cringe when I hear your sister say she has fans as young as 8 years old. The thought of an 8 year old child reading that revolting birthing scene or the battering sex scene makes me sick. The idea of a 12 year old being subjected to pedophilia in relationships - not once but TWICE in her books is abhorrent. The fact that Bella is manipulated by this 103 year old vampire and turned into a liar who disrespects her parents repeatedly and lies to them about everything is unconscionable. The fact that he stalks her and abuses her - going as far as to isolate her from her family and friends and disable her car to prevent her from doing so disgusts me. When Edward Cullen offered to barter with his new bride - an abortion in exchange for sex and "puppies" with her best friend, I knew that Edward Cullen is the vilest character ever created in literature. I knew it from the beginning. He is a spousal abuser.
I could go on and on. Your sister claims she writes "for herself", but then proudly claims that 8 year olds read this.
So my question is - do these books have any effect on children? And my answer is 1000% YES. The proof is in the thousands of fanfics they write and hide from their parents featuring rape, beatings, pedophiles, incest and abortions. The proof is in the forums where kids brag about stealing this book online and reading it anyway when their parents say they cannot. So the message is - lie to your parents, do what you have to do to ensure that you get a happy ending- whatever that may be. And where do they get this idea? From your sister aka whiney little Bella Swan - for that is how she lives her life.
Is this in keeping with her religious beliefs? I doubt it. It isn't in keeping with mine. I am an author myself and when I am asked by the kids I teach creative writing to if they can know the names of my books, they don't even get the name I write under. Why? Because I do not believe they should be reading what I write for adults and I feel the responsibility to make sure they don't. Does your sister feel any responsibility at all? Does it bother her that probably 95% of the parents of her readership have no clue what is inside these books. You know that old adage, at least they're reading, right? WRONG. Not in MY book. Why doesn't she come clean with them? Put out information so that parents can make the responsible and right decision? Why do kids feel the need to lie and hide the contents from their parents? I don't have a young daughter, but I have a 13 year old great-niece and your sister's books are nowhere in her home. Nor will they ever be. She is being raised better than that. Do your young nephews lie to their parents the way Bella Swan lies to hers???
I don't even care about the fact that your sister has committed the cardinal sin of writing three books in a series and then completely negating them in the fourth. I don't want an explanation of vampire sperm. However I don't think it's a subject she need even address with 8 year olds.
I am truly sorry that all this has upset your sister's Happy Place and made you the brunt of the complaints. But since she chooses to hide and not address these issues, perhaps you might reconsider discussing it with her. Because the opposition has just begun and it is not going to go away. By the time the movie comes out, expect organized protests by parents groups. Expect empty theatres unless kids lie to their parents and sneak out to see it anyway. National organizations like the PTA and National Center for Missing and Abused children are easily rallied to causes like this. As well they should be.
The ball is in your court, Seth. Do the right thing.
Another amazon.com forum user letter:
I am well aware that you are most probably being inundated with hate filled emails from people who have signed the Petition and were offended by your response. I am signer number 8 of said Petition. However, this is not going to be a rancorous and hate-filled message to you. I am going to attempt to convey my position to you on a more personal level.
While I found your response to Ms. Foust extremely insolent and misguided, I understand that you must find the idea of a Petition a bit ludicrous. Let me assure you, it is not a joke, nor is it foolish. Every signature on that page is real. Every individual who signed it has purchased Breaking Dawn and read it in its entirety. We are not ignorant children who feel the need to jump on the newest bandwagon so we can get 1,000 new friends on Myspace. As a matter of fact, many of us are highly educated adults and even authors ourselves.
Whether or not the Petition gets a response from Stephenie herself is moot. We, as fans of Ms. Meyer's felt the need to speak out against not only the message being sent in the book, but general complaints about the plot. And as each and every one of us paid money to read the much anticipated conclusion to the Twilight Saga, each and every one of us have the ability to state our opinions in any manner we see fit. An opinion, libel does not make. Libel, libel per se, slander, and defamation do not apply to this Petition. As Stephenie is now considered a 'celebrity', she would have to prove malicious intent on the part of the signers and/or creator in said Petition as the laws for public figures are different than those for regular, private citizens such as myself.
I'm not going to get into the gaping plot holes, mishandled character developments (my brother, my son...whatever the line is), botched interviews that continue to insult the fans intelligence (The "Rob Effect"...seriously?), or even the book itself. I want you to know that your response was read by every person who signed that Petition and then some. Your accusation that Heather's Petition is libelous could be intimidating to someone who doesn't understand the law, but to me, an attorney, I find it silly and juvenile. Much like the ranting my 2 year old does.
Seth, Stephenie isn't the only role-model in your family. People talk about the things you post on your website in a fanatic manner. You are able to keep up with what I am quite sure is a VERY busy website. You do a fantastic job of it as well. You have to understand that you are almost as caught up in this as your sister is. You have to field thousands of emails and sort through goofy "I love Twilight!" emails as well as disappointed ones like mine. I'm glad you enjoyed the book, but dismissing real problems that people are having by saying "These books are fiction. They are filled with FICTIONAL characters that Stephenie made up all by herself," is once again, a bit mystifying to me. Of course they are fiction. But that isn't a very valid argument for a 13 year old girl who can't understand what just happened to the series she loved. (FYI I did find humor in this statement on your page and I hope you can find the humor in it as well: "Also, as an addendum, I can't do anything with typos in the books or copyrighted PDFs, so please don't send those to me. Just typos or mistakes on the site, please. Thanks.")
I am going to close this message by asking you to please try and understand that we are in fact going to voice our opinions regardless of what you and/or Stephenie feel about it. Just as Stephenie is able to say what she pleases in each and every interview she does, and each and every book she writes.
Sincerely,