I am Italian, married and with a grown son. Recently I became a grandmother. I used to write a lot, in Italian and English, but not fiction. My field was environmental policies. In 2008 I got twilighted, bad, and discovered fan fiction. Albeit English is not my native language I managed to write 18 stories for Twilight, posted on twilighted net (There my pen name is just Camilla), here and on A Different forest and TWCS. I have translated many of my fics in my own language, and some are posted here.

Since, due to the Volturi, many authors set some scenes in Volterra or other places in Italy, and they insert bits of dialogue in Italian, I am helping with that. Mine is a hell of a language to master and mistakes are frequent. So, feel free to contact me for editing Italian: I'll be pleased to do it. A number of people in the Twilighted and ff communities have helped me with English, so ... In particular, for my last stories Stefanie, aka the hobbitivy, has been my incredible beta editor. My recent pre-readers are Meilleur Cafè, Raum, Jmolly and Miakuancha, wonderful ladies.

I am on twitter now: camillau1

Ah, by the way, the photo above is nothing much, but for the fact that I just got Rob's back when he was exiting the Cantine Redi after shooting a scene of New Moon in Montepulciano. I am a lousy photograper, but I was there.

And now I take the opportunity to air my opinion about the Twilight saga. I was prompted to write this spurred by a reader, who wrote what she felt were the main criticisms from people in America.

Ist criticism: Bella doesn't have the qualities Americans expect in a good heroine. In all but the last book, she ends up getting rescued instead of doing her own fighting. That is a big turn-off because the character author should allow the main character to learn and grow enough by the climax to overcome the obstacle herself instead of relying on a knight in shining armor.

Bella is put against impossible odds. She has not the physical means to fight against mythical creatures. But she is not passive at all. She is ready to die so that James will not kill her mother. So she is in fact fighting for her mother’s life, whatever the outcome. And, she does the same when Edward is fighting with Victoria (The first wife stunt). That her only possibility to fight is putting her body out as an offering, is due to her physical nature and the nature of the beings she has to deal with. Not to speak of her trip to Volterra and her braving a powerful vampire coven (To my happiness, the film New Moon makes it even more explicit, one of the things I liked)..In Breaking Down, when she is finally strong and at the same level of the others, she wins the day. But the potential was clearly there. Furthermore, she is morally strong all along the saga, She knows what she wants and she gets it, going for it step by step, never faltering. For instance she is not putty in Edward’s hands, she wants her baby (her choice, right or wrong) and she manages an unholy alliance with Rose to be able to carry on with the pregnancy. In Eclipse she fights with Edward about her right to keep Jacob friendship, and wins. So the critics should re-evaluate their concept of heroine. OK, she is not Calamity Jane. So what?

2nd criticism: Her relationship with Edward is the most important thing in Bella's life, yet it has no platonic foundation. They don't have inside jokes. They don't have common interests. They don't seem to have any extra-curricular projects (except for applying to college) that they do together. They don't seem to do much but moon over each other. By contrast, her friendship with Jacob has most of those things.

Romeo and Juliet did not have inside jokes too, not common interests, probably. They had not the time to develop both. Also in this case, E&B story should not be evaluated as a model for a modern American marriage. Ridiculous. Apart from the first summer – the one between Twilight and New Moon- which is not described by the author - they are never at peace, they are overwhelmed by impossible problems, they both are dealing with impossible odds. Sill, in the early part of their courtship, they share a lot, about music, books, other things. In a normal couple that would have led to inside jokes and common interests. But then there is the birthday party from hell, Edward leaving (a mistake, but quite logical with the past he has), both almost losing their reason, then Volterra, and then the events in Eclipse. Their relationship is by no means healthy during Eclipse. He is jealous (with some reason), and the unfulfilled sexual tension is devastating both. She wants to be changed (but has no idea exactly of what it implies) and he is dead set against it, he is conventionally Edwardian and she is more modern (up to a point). In addition, a vengeful vampire is threatening her life. The miracle is that their love survives such torments. They manage to really understand each other only at the end of the book.

Ah, by the way, Bella has a dark side too. She loves Edward also because he is a monster.

Finally, we have Breaking Dawn. They have barely found a way to physically love each other, when the monstrous pregnancy creates another impossible conflict. Then they are concerned about Renesmee future, then the Volturi are coming… Not exactly a climate conductive to the buildup of a normal husband and wife relationship. Still, there are signals of it, particularly in the graceful way Edward bows to her, accepting that she is in many ways stronger than him.

It is only at the end of BD that they finally have a chance to start their (eternal) life together and here is where finally they could start to have jokes and common interests. Stephenie has not written it, though.

And now, general comments on the saga and what is great in it:

Twilight is about redemption. It is not something you find easily in contemporary literature (highbrow or popular). It is very thought provoking and very inspiring, not only to me but to other fan fiction authors. Whatever your religion is, or even if you are not conventionally religious, to be made to think about redemption can only be beneficial to your spiritual life.

Twilight is the ultimate romantic tale. Not sentimental, not fluffy. Romantic in the proper literary sense, as explored by European writers, most of them German, in the first decades of the 19th century. The essence of romanticism is when the characters are torn by conflicting absolute imperatives. (Kant had thought about the imperatives, but his 18th century mind could not imagine them being in conflict). Now, according to Von Kleist, the Prince of Homburg has been told by the supreme commander, who happens to be also his father, that he should not march into the battle until the order is given. Whomever goes against the orders will be executed. But the Prince, during the battle, sees that by entering in it he will win the war, thus saving a lot of lives, both on his side and on the other side. So he gives to his men the order to move. He has a fiancée whom he loves, and by his action he is forfeiting the chance to marry her, despite a promise he should be honor bound to. His father is also torn, he should execute his son, because, if orders are not obeyed, chaos will ensue, but his son has won the war for him. So what will he do? The essence of romanticism indeed.

Another case in point is a classical myth, Antigone. Her brothers have moved against the Tyrant of their city and are executed. Part of their penance is that they must lie unburied, anathema for Greeks. Now, Antigone is in love with and plans to marry the tyrant’s son. She was not particularly sympathetic with her bothers’ attempted coup (The Tyrant, according to ancient Greece politics, is not that bad). But she cannot accept that they remain unburied, it is her sisterly duty to bury them, so she will do it, knowing that she will die for it. Her fiancé is going to kill himself and the poor Tyrant is desperate, but he has to ensure that the law is respected, even if his son is going to die as a consequence. Conflicting imperatives here too.

Now, you are a vampire, and the call of your nature is to kill men and drink their blood. It is what your species is designed for. But you were human, once, and you have another imperative: human life is sacred… So you abstain, even if you will never be completely satisfied by animals. Carlisle’s choice, extended to his family, is therefore extremely romantic. And there is more:

You are a vampire, and you are desperately in love with a human girl. Nothing of what you are dying to do, namely, at first, to have her blood (as she is your singer) and, later, to have her body, is allowed (or, at least, you think so). So you suffer for the unfulfilled desires, and then you even wrench yourself from her, because you think you are endangering her. When this fails, because your reciprocal love is too strong, you still refuse to make her like you, like you are craving, because you fear for her immortal soul, so you are prepared to destroy yourself, when she will naturally get old and die…

So, you see, romantic, impossible conflicting imperatives …

Family life. The Cullens are a fantastic family. The remain together by choice, they love each other, they look out for each other, and they have even fun together. It is a family much, much better than many normal human families. Very inspiring too. In the first chapter of The Parachutist's sequel Carlisle will say:

But of course it is not the exchange of blood and venom that makes us a family. I am not even the sire of some of us. It is the willingness to stay together, to support each other, to resist the horrific call of our nature, it is the belief that we have choices, that our physical reality does not define us totally and that we are capable of friendship and affection, that is what makes us a family and not a coven.

In case some of my fics are kicked out from fanfiction net I post also on Twilighted net, TWCS and A Different Forest. On those my pen name is just Camilla. On TWCS in particular you can see the banners, blinkies and images I selected for each story.