When asked about the bestselling success of E. L. James‘ Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy (a series that began as Twilight fan fiction) Twilight creator Stephenie Meyer told MTV News: “Good on her — she’s doing well. That’s great!”

In the short video interview embedded above, the novelist admitted she hadn’t read the erotica bestseller, but wished her old fan luck. Even though the book has its roots in fan fiction, Meyer said James would have been a writer no matter what inspired her. Here’s more from MTV:

“Fifty Shades” follows the sadomasochistic affair of college graduate Ana Steele and dominant billionaire Christian Grey … Christian represents Edward Cullen, a brooding, self-deprecating and impossibly good-looking man with a few secrets, while Ana is an adaptation of the clumsy and shy Bella Swan. Without Meyer’s novel, “Fifty Shades” might not exist. “It might not exist in the exact form that it’s in,” Meyer said. “Obviously, [James] had a story in her, and so it would’ve come out in some other way.” (Via Book Riot)

Summit Entertainment has released the first teaser trailer for The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2. We’ve embedded the trailer above–what do you think?

The 15-second clip has drawn more than 116,800 “likes” on Facebook. The film comes out in November, and the full trailer will be available on the movie’s Facebook page on March 26th.

Stephenie Meyer‘s novel Breaking Dawn features an elaborate plot inspired by two William Shakespeare plays: A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Merchant of Venice.

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Wish you could tune out the world while reading your favorite book? The free “Go Away, I’m Reading” book covers will send a blunt message, customized for your book.

Erin Bowman, Sarah Enni and Traci Neithercott created the simple but inspiring dust jackets pictured above–what cover will you pick?

They have built “Climbing Mount Doom” for fans of J. R. R. Tolkien‘s Lord of the Rings trilogy,  “In Narnia BRB” for readers of C. S. Lewis‘ The Chronicles of Narnia, “At Hogwarts” for aficionados of J.K. Rowling‘s Harry Potter series, “In Forks, Send Help” for fans of Stephenie Meyer‘s Twilight series and finally, “In the Arena, BRB” for readers of Suzanne Collins‘ Hunger Games series.

Here’s more about printing: “These covers will fit the traditionally-sized YA book. Take the PDFs to your local FedEx or Staples and get them printed on tabloid paper (11x17in). We suggest a matte cardstock (you could print on something glossy, but sometimes that causes light glares at certain angles and you want people to be able to read that Go Away message without incident). Choose a weight between 60-80lb for the paper. Anything lighter and the page will be too thin, anything heavier and folding it around your book will be difficult.”

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Do negative reviews stop people from reading your books? Over at her blog, novelist Shiloh Walker disputed that claim in a passionate essay.

Check it out: “That negative review isn’t going to kill your career. Will it stop a few people from buying your book? Possibly–because that book may not be right for them. And FYI, one of the rants lately was that negative reviews discouraged people from reading … readers aren’t discouraged by ‘bad’ reviews. And guess what–that negative review may be the very thing that entices another reader to buy your book.”

We were so inspired by her post that we checked negative reviews of ten authors at Amazon–follow the links below to the many one-star reviews received by bestselling authors. Twilight topped the list with 669 one-star reviews. Read this list before you complain about your next bad review.

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Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 adaptation broke the bank this weekend, earning an estimated $139.5 million at the box office.

Box Office Mojo has the complete report on the adaptation of Stephenie Meyer‘s popular novel: “As is typical for the Twilight movies, its weekend was incredibly front-loaded with 51.6 percent of the gross coming from Friday showings (including its $30.25 midnight tally). The audience was 80 percent female and 60 percent over 21 years old … Breaking Dawn received a “B+” CinemaScore, which improved to an “A-” among females.”

Last week, Goodreads produced the infographic embedded above, revealing The Twilight Belt–the parts of the country with the highest concentration of  Meyer fans.

Twihards around the world will watch The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 this weekend. In the latest installment of the blockbuster series, fans can expect to see a dramatic vampire wedding and eventful honeymoon.

We caught up with screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg to talk about writing scripts and the adaptation process. The highlights follow below…

Q: Describe the writing process when you are charged with adapting a book for a script versus writing an original script.
A: Each comes with its own challenges, but nothing is more difficult than starting with a blank page, as a writer does with an original project. I had the good fortune to start with an already fully fleshed out universe and mythology. But an adaptation comes with its own challenges: Honing a 500 page novel into a 110 page script. Externalizing very internal character arcs. Not pissing off the millions of fans around the world who don’t understand, or frankly care, that a book and a movie are very different animals, and that one can’t simply transfer the entire text into screenplay format and shoot it.

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As fangirls prepare to dress up in their Katniss Everdeen costumes for Halloween, a Hunger Games spoof will be published on November 15th.  The video embedded above features the book trailer for The Hunger But Mainly Death Games–what do you think?

Curious readers can access the first chapter on Scribd. Here’s more about the book: “[This is] the only book brave enough to suggest that The Hunger Games was way more about death than food. Or at least this is what Bratniss Everclean discovers, when she shortsightedly volunteers for a teenage death tournament. But she soon realizes there are fates worse than death…like having to kiss her fellow competitor and lifelong stalker, Pita Malarkey.”

On Amazon, “Bratniss Everclean” is listed as the author, but the cover image lists Aaron Geary and John Bailey Owen as the authors.  According to Amazon, Harvard Lampoon will publish another spoof  in 2012, The Hunger Pains.

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Just in time for Halloween, novelist Anne Rice wrote a Facebook post critiquing Twilight–comparing Stephenie Meyer‘s vampire characters to Rice’s famous Lestat de Lioncourt and Louis de Pointe du Lac.

Rice wrote: “Lestat and Louie feel sorry for vampires that sparkle in the sun. They would never hurt immortals who choose to spend eternity going to high school over and over again in a small town —- anymore than they would hurt the physically disabled or the mentally challenged. My vampires possess gravitas. They can afford to be merciful.”

What do you think–how do the two vampire books stack up? The post has already generated more than 8,000 likes and 1,800 comments on Facebook. (Via)

Summit Entertainment has released a sneak peek of Edward and Bella’s wedding from The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1. In the video embedded above, the cast talked about the scene.

Kristen Stewart (who plays Bella) commented: “I’ve sorta been ramping up to do that scene for three years.” Ashley Greene (who plays Alice Cullen) said that William Shakespeare‘s A Midsummer Night’s Dream inspired the wedding.

Author and co-producer Stephenie Meyer has revealed in past interviews that the book drew inspiration from The Merchant of Venice as well. Facebook users can sign Bella and Edward’s wedding guest book before the film’s November 20th release date. (via CinemaBlend.com)

A full theatrical trailer for The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 has been unveiled.

The trailer has already received more than fifty-eight thousand “likes” on the movie’s official Facebook page, We’ve embedded the video above–what do you think?

The trailer has been released in bite-sized pieces. Back in June, the MTV Movie Awards featured a two-minute teaser trailer. Just last week, Entertainment Weekly released a sixteen-second snippet from the theatrical trailer. (via Shelf Awareness)