StephanieQueen
01-14-2003, 06:01 PM
(I had this posted originally in the wrong forum probably.)
What's your best guess as to the terms of the author--Armstrong's-- option (money in hand).
Do you think that there is a high likelihood of a movie culminating from the option and that an A-list actor like Angelina Jolie will star? Article below:
By Sandra Coulson
London Free Press
Her novels are filled with werewolves snarling and stalking their way through graphic, action-filled lives. "(The fiction) is absolutely nowhere near Aylmer," she says from the farm home where she lives with her Ford-worker husband and their two young children.
Armstrong's books -- Bitten came out in 2001 and Stolen was released last month -- are not true horror stories. Her plots could be as easily defined as action-adventures and thrillers. They're set in contemporary Toronto. And her protagonist is hip, young Elena Michaels, the world's only female werewolf.
Bitten has been published in 10 countries and caught the eye of Warner Brothers, which has optioned it for a movie that, if made, will star Angelina Jolie. It was heady stuff for a first-time novelist.
She'll share some secrets of her success when she appears as the guest speaker at workshops this Saturday and next in London and St. Thomas.
The workshops are run by Brian Henry, a Toronto editor and creative writing teacher. Armstrong says she's doing them as a thanks to Henry, who taught her and introduced her to an agent. She also praises writing groups such as Fine Lines, a monthly London group to which she belongs.
"They've all been writing for years, years, so it's not a case of me being (given the higher status) of the published writer," she says. "You still want them to be cutting up your work." In groups like this, Armstrong worked methodically on details of the fantasy world she created.
Her werewolves would look like real wolves, not half-human freaks. They would have the a wolf's instinct to hunt prey, but not its fear of humans. Some would live in a strict pack; others would be lone wolves called mutts. In Bitten, Elena tries to live a human life in Toronto, hiding her occasional urge to transform and hunt animal prey in the city's ravines. But she's called back to her old pack to defend them from invading mutts.
Stolen (Random House, $24.95) has Elena fighting a tycoon, who captures her, and other supernatural beings to harness their powers. Although Armstrong took a screenwriting course to learn how to write action scenes and dialogue, she says she tries not to think about possible movie deals while writing her books.
"I keep it out of my mind, otherwise I'd be sitting there going, 'Hmmm, if I was doing a screenplay, I'd cut this whole section out.' You start self-editing too much and end up with a 100-page novel." The new novel adds vampires, demons, shamans and witches to Elena's world.
Armstrong says she dedicated the most time to creating the world of witches because one of them is the narrator of her third novel. It's currently at the publisher's, while she works a fourth book at home.
The plan is for Armstrong to write this "women of the other world" series with a new narrator taking over every couple of books. Armstrong says she'll stick with the genre. "I'm having fun as long as they let me keep on writing and publishing."
What's your best guess as to the terms of the author--Armstrong's-- option (money in hand).
Do you think that there is a high likelihood of a movie culminating from the option and that an A-list actor like Angelina Jolie will star? Article below:
By Sandra Coulson
London Free Press
Her novels are filled with werewolves snarling and stalking their way through graphic, action-filled lives. "(The fiction) is absolutely nowhere near Aylmer," she says from the farm home where she lives with her Ford-worker husband and their two young children.
Armstrong's books -- Bitten came out in 2001 and Stolen was released last month -- are not true horror stories. Her plots could be as easily defined as action-adventures and thrillers. They're set in contemporary Toronto. And her protagonist is hip, young Elena Michaels, the world's only female werewolf.
Bitten has been published in 10 countries and caught the eye of Warner Brothers, which has optioned it for a movie that, if made, will star Angelina Jolie. It was heady stuff for a first-time novelist.
She'll share some secrets of her success when she appears as the guest speaker at workshops this Saturday and next in London and St. Thomas.
The workshops are run by Brian Henry, a Toronto editor and creative writing teacher. Armstrong says she's doing them as a thanks to Henry, who taught her and introduced her to an agent. She also praises writing groups such as Fine Lines, a monthly London group to which she belongs.
"They've all been writing for years, years, so it's not a case of me being (given the higher status) of the published writer," she says. "You still want them to be cutting up your work." In groups like this, Armstrong worked methodically on details of the fantasy world she created.
Her werewolves would look like real wolves, not half-human freaks. They would have the a wolf's instinct to hunt prey, but not its fear of humans. Some would live in a strict pack; others would be lone wolves called mutts. In Bitten, Elena tries to live a human life in Toronto, hiding her occasional urge to transform and hunt animal prey in the city's ravines. But she's called back to her old pack to defend them from invading mutts.
Stolen (Random House, $24.95) has Elena fighting a tycoon, who captures her, and other supernatural beings to harness their powers. Although Armstrong took a screenwriting course to learn how to write action scenes and dialogue, she says she tries not to think about possible movie deals while writing her books.
"I keep it out of my mind, otherwise I'd be sitting there going, 'Hmmm, if I was doing a screenplay, I'd cut this whole section out.' You start self-editing too much and end up with a 100-page novel." The new novel adds vampires, demons, shamans and witches to Elena's world.
Armstrong says she dedicated the most time to creating the world of witches because one of them is the narrator of her third novel. It's currently at the publisher's, while she works a fourth book at home.
The plan is for Armstrong to write this "women of the other world" series with a new narrator taking over every couple of books. Armstrong says she'll stick with the genre. "I'm having fun as long as they let me keep on writing and publishing."