|
-
News
- Features
- Events
Calendar
- Editorials
- Monthly
Zine
- Offworld
Report
- Our Daily
RSS Feed
- Movie/TV
Reviews
> Recent movies
> Movies by year
> Movies by title
- Book
Reviews
> Recent books
> Books by year
> Books by title
- Home
- Worlds
- Biography
- Bibliography
- Appearances
- Reviews
- Blog
- Community
- Press
- Links
Become
an Advertiser
- Web
Site Directory
- Search
the Net
- StephenHunt.net
- WoodenRocket.com
- Check
your E-mail
- Non Sci-Fi
News
|
Kelley Armstrong Interview
01/06/2005 . Source: Orbit Books Team 
Author Kelley Armstrong talks about her last book, Industrial Magic, why supernatural fiction is so popular, and why if you write characters that don't ever surprise you, you may not yet have fully-formed characters. Ezine talks to the supernaturally talented Kelley Armstrong!
Without giving too much away can you tell us a little bit about Haunted?
I'm horrible at summing up my own work (the only thing I'm worse at is summing up my own life for bio blurbs!) In my last book, Industrial Magic, we finally met Savannah's mother, Eve Levine, a half-demon witch, who is now a ghost in the afterlife. To help Savannah's new guardians, Eve made an open-ended deal with the Fates. In Haunted, the Fates come to collect. They want her to play "afterlife bounty hunter", tracking down and recapturing an escaped demi-demon who can cohabit with the living and incite them to murder.
Your novels are all linked to a greater or lesser degree, aren't they?
Was this always your intention or did it just kind of work out that way? I'd originally intended my first book, Bitten. as a stand-alone novel. After it sold, the question of turning it into a series arose. I decided I would, but it had to be a series about more than werewolves--as much as I liked the characters, I couldn't envision writing about them for umpteen books. So I came up with the idea of rotating narrators within a common world. In the second book, Stolen, I introduced a witch, Paige Winterbourne, knowing I'd "spin-off" to her story for book 3. She also got book 4. Then I looked at the series for another woman whose story I wanted to tell, and I chose Eve. With book 6, I'll circle back to my werewolf, Elena Michaels. That's what I love about doing the series this way, that I can explore other lives, all within the same world, leaving narrators, then returning to them when I have just the right story for them to tell.
Do have a personal theory on why supernatural fiction is so popular these days?
The rise in this kind of "urban supernatural fantasy" in the last few years or so has been phenomenal, and I'm constantly seeing new names entering the genre, so there must be something influencing the popularity. I've heard theories that it's related to 9/11, that in the wake of that people are hungry for escapism that remains within the bounds of a recognizable contemporary society. But that doesn't explain the pre-9/11 success of shows like Buffy and authors like Laurell K. Hamilton. With modern media, we see the problems of every corner of the world in Technicolor (crime, war, disease, natural disaster, famine, etc). Sometimes, you just can't help but feel overwhelmed and powerless to help. Supernatural fantasy lets us, for a while, escape into a world where evil flourishes, but good usually triumphs, and no one is ever powerless. Perhaps more than that, though, this genre is just entertaining fun, combining nearly every other genre (action, adventure, mystery, romance, drama, comedy, fantasy & horror) in a form of storytelling that rarely takes itself too seriously.
Do you have any particular favourite authors who have influenced your work?
I always claim Stephen King and Anne Rice as my biggest influences. Yes, very unoriginal, I know. From King I learned how to put the "natural" into supernatural i.e. how to make this stuff work in an otherwise ordinary world. From Rice I learned how to get into the skin of the "other", and see the world from the eyes of the so-called monsters.
If you could make one book compulsory reading what would it be?
I'm going to make what may seem a strange choice (especially for someone in my genre) and say the Christian Bible. I'm not very religious, but I doubt there's a book that's had a bigger influence on Western society--our outlook on life, our belief systems, our cultural mythology. I'm sure my choice wouldn't be popular with school systems (one side would object to including a religious tome in public schools and the other would object to including it as a work of literature divorced from the religious context!) But it really is an essential building block to Western literature, very closely followed by Greek & Roman mythology.
Do you have a set writing routine and if so, what is it?
Ummm, does "whenever I have time" count as a routine? Seriously, these days, that's it exactly. I would love to have a routine--work in a certain place, at a certain time each day, but with a young family, that's not possible. I have pens and pads of paper scattered all over the house, one of each beside pretty much any chair I can sit and write in, so whenever I have a chance to grab a few minutes of writing time, I don't waste it searching for tools!
Some authors talk of their characters 'surprising' them by their actions; is this something that has happened to you?
I often tell new writers that if their characters don't ever surprise them or, at least, refuse to do everything they're told, they may not yet have fully-formed characters. A fully-formed character is like a real person, with a past life, future dreams, motivations, likes and dislikes, that will dictate their choices every step of the way, even when their choices don't mesh with my plot plans! For example, I may have a plot where I've decided my main character will face down the armed villain, but when I reach that point in the story, my protagonist "tells me" she's not facing him down, she's running for her life, and that's because the character I've created would naturally make that choice. And when I talk about this with writing classes, casually discussing my characters "talking to me", I know I'll see two reactions from the audience: the nods of agreement from those who know exactly what I'm talking about, and the looks of complete confusion from those who probably think I'm in need of psychiatric help. Even as a writer, it's best not to talk about hearing voices!
If any of your books were ever filmed, do you have a wish list of directors and actors you'd like to see involved?
I get asked this a lot, especially when readers find out that Bitten is in development with Warner Bros. Honestly? I have no thoughts about actors, directors etc. I see potential movie versions as someone else's interpretation of my work, and the characters would be an actor's interpretation of my characters, not actual representations of those characters. So I don't have an preference for a certain actor for a specific role. I can say that physical appearance would be least important to me--I'd just want the roles played by actors who honestly want to bring these characters to life, however they might interpret them.
Our sources tell us that you're planning on a second stream of novels that will be a bit of a departure from what we're used to. Care to tantalise us with some hints. . . ?
"Ex-cop turned ethical hitwoman". That's what one of my publishers used as the description for the new books, so I'll toss out that as a teaser...though I strongly suspect "ethical" isn't a descriptor you can ever use with anyone who kills people for a living! The main character is a contract killer for the Mafia who, in the first novel, teams up with other professional killers to stop a hitman-turned-serial-killer.
Thank you very much, Kelley Armstrong!
You can find out more about Kelley Armstrong's books by visiting her website: www.kelleyarmstrong.com
Thanks to Orbit Books for permission to post this interview. For more details of their SFF authors and books, visit Orbit at www.orbitbooks.co.uk 
|
|
