Vampires are not Dead!

Vampires are not Dead!

And just when you thought “VAMPIRES” were long dead after ‘Twilight’ hit the big screen, and dominated the paranormal romance world. Apparently, Richelle Mead’s Vampire Academy novel series is going to be turned into a motion picture. Casting for the first movie has begun for this summer’s shoot.  I posted the article below.

 ‘Vampire Academy’ Film Takes Flight; Mark Waters Directing Daniel Waters’ Script

By MIKE FLEMING JR. AND NANCY TARTAGLIONE | Friday February 1, 2013 @ 8:04pm ESTTags: Daniel Waters, IM Global, Mark Waters, Reliance, Vampire Academy: Blood Sisters

EXCLUSIVE: Hoping to tap a new vein in the young adult vampire genre that made Twilight Saga such a global hit, Reliance Entertainment and IM Global are co-financing the first installment of a new film franchise based on the six-volume Richelle Mead young adult novel series that will come to the screen as Vampire Academy: Blood Sisters. Daniel Waters, who wrote the iconic Sundance black comedy Heathers, has written the script for the first movie. His brother, Mean Girls helmer Mark Waters, will direct the film. Casting is in full swing for a summer shoot.

An international search led the producers to Zoey Deutch (Beautiful Creatures) and Australian newcomer Lucy Fry. They will play lead characters Rose and Lissa alongside Russian star Danila Kozlovski (We Are From The Future,) who will play the role of Dimitri.

The film will be produced by Michael Preger and his Preger Entertainment banner, Angry Films’ Don Murphy and Susan Montford, and Kintop Pictures’ Deepak Nayer. IM Global’s Stuart Ford is executive producer.

All six books have been bestsellers on The New York Times young adult list since the series debuted in 2007. Two of the books have been turned into graphic novels. The books tell the tale of Rose Hathaway, a 17-year-old girl who has a mental and spiritual bond with her vampire best friend Lissa. The two girls attend a special school for Vampires who struggle to retain some humanity while other Vampires become more feral.

“Tonally this so different from all these movies that are so solemn and serious,” IM Global’s Ford said. “This is as much Mean Girls as The Hunger Games. “It is snappy, irreverent, sexy and just a lot of fun. And we got the right director for that kind of movie.”

The Vampire Academy books were corralled as a film property by Miami-based Preger Entertainment. Preger is currently in development with a contemporized version of the sci-fi classic The Day Of The Triffids, with Sam Raimi and financier Good Universe. He brought the project to fellow Triffidsproducers Montford and  Murphy and the trio partnered to bring the books to the screen.

“I was a fan of Richelle’s and have read all of her books,” Preger said. “She writes in way that is riveting no matter what your age. The key was to get people to read the books. Once they read one they want to read them all.”

They turned to Daniel Waters, looking for a tone to which teenagers could relate. His script for Heathers hit that mark so well that it’s often identified as the inspiration for anything teen that aspires to mix humor with angst and edge. Waters took on the project, and drafted his brother, who boarded the project as director.

“It was the best first draft I had ever read, and that includes other screenplays by my brother,” Mark Waters said. “This is a dream project for us, since we have wanted to work together for so long. Richelle’s mythology and the world she creates is so real and her voice so clear. These kids have real life, modern day problems. And they drink blood.” The popularity of the series was evident when they started a Facebook page for the film and got 238,000 signed up, a number much higher than a lot of films that have already been released.

At that point, Nayer, who previously produced Bend It Like Beckham, brought in Reliance and IM Global. “On a creative level we love the story and the creative team,” he said. “We also love the potential to do a series of six strong movies based on this beloved series of novels” he said. There could even be more as Mead has spun off characters from her Vampire Academy books into a second series, Bloodlines, two of which have already been released.

Reliance will finance the film and sister company IM Global’s Ford is handling foreign sales and will broker domestic.

On Stephen King

I think most of us who either read or write short stories, and novels would agree that Stephen King is an amazing writer with many of his novels becoming box office smashes, and television miniseries.  

I have often wondered while writing myself, what in the world goes on in Mr. King’s mind when he writes. His imagination is superb, describing every little detail, pulling the reader inside the story as if you were a part of what’s happening  But for now, I think all of us who wonder what goes on in such a mastermind of writing will have to keep guessing.

But with writing 49 novels, and everyone of them becoming bestsellers, with earnings in the high millions, is quite an accomplishment. Mr. King’s success makes me to try and strive to be the best writer I can. As with any writer, all of us strive to set goals for ourselves, to be the best that we can, and to be able to deliver great readable stories for many to enjoy.

Below is a list of twenty tips, quoted by Stephen King for writers to consider when they write. I hope this information is helpful for those that have not read his book, On Writing.

1.      “I’ve written because it fulfilled me. Maybe it paid off the mortgage on the house and got the kids through college, but those things were on the side–I did it for the buzz. I did it for the pure joy of the thing. And if you can do it for joy, you can do it forever.”

2.      “Writing isn’t about making money, getting famous, getting dates, getting laid or making friends. In the end, it’s about enriching the lives of those who will read your work, and enriching your own life, as well.”

3.      “You can’t please all of the readers all of the time; you can’t please even some of the readers all of the time, but you really ought to try to please at least some of the readers some of the time.”

4.      “You can approach the act of writing with nervousness, excitement, hopefulness, or even despair–the sense that you can never completely put on the page what’s in your mind and heart. You can come to the act with your fists clenched and your eyes narrowed, ready to kick ass and take down names. You can come to it because you want a girl to marry you or because you want to change the world. Come to it any way but lightly. Let me say it again: you must not come lightly to the blank page.”

5.      “I remember an immense feeling of possibility at the idea, as if I had been ushered into a vast building with closed doors and had been given leave to open any I liked. There were more doors than one person could ever open in a lifetime, I thought (and still think).”

6.      “If you’re just starting out as a writer, you could do worse than strip your television’s electric plug wire, wrap a spike around it, and then stick it back into the wall. See what blows, and how far.”

7.      “If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot.”

8.      “Put your desk in the corner, and every time you sit down there to write, remind yourself why it isn’t in the middle of the room. Life isn’t a support system for art. It’s the other way around.”

9.      “All the arts depend upon telepathy to some degree, but I believe that writing is the purest distillation.”

10.  “Paragraphs are almost always as important for how they look as for what they say; they are maps of intent.”

11.  “Writing is refined thinking.”

12.  “Write with the door closed, and rewrite with the door open.”

13.  “We need to experience the mediocre and the outright rotten; such experience helps us to recognize those things when they begin to creep into our own work, and to steer clear of them.”

14.  “This isn’t the Ouija board or the spirit-world we’re talking about here, but just another job like laying pipe or driving long-haul trucks.”

15.  “ We've all heard someone say, ‘Man, it was so great (or so horrible/strange/funny) … I just can’t describe it!’ If you want to be a successful writer, you must be able to describe it, and in a way that will cause your reader to prickle with recognition.”

16.  “Not a week goes by that I don’t receive at least one pissed-off letter (most weeks there are more) accusing me of being foulmouthed, bigoted, homophobic, murderous, frivolous, or downright psychopathic.”

17.  “There are lots of would-be censors out there, and although they may have different agendas, they all want basically the same thing: for you to see the world they see… or to at least shut up about what you do see that’s different. They are the agents of the status quo.”

18.  “Try any goddamn thing you like, no matter how boringly normal or outrageous. If it works, fine. If it doesn't  toss it.”

19.  “You undoubtedly have your own thoughts, interests, and concerns, and they have arisen, as mine have, from your experiences and adventures as a human being. . . . You should use them in your work.”

20.  “While it is impossible to make a competent writer out of a bad writer, and while it is equally impossible to make a great writer out of a good one, it is possible, with lots of hard work, dedication, and timely help, to make a good writer out of a merely competent one.”

First Chapter

The first chapter of Death Howls is posted for your reading pleasure. Just click on the tab along the top, and enjoy reading. Don't forget to post a comment, and sign up to follow all post. 

Teresa Waltman: Death Howls

Teresa Waltman: Death Howls: CHAPTER ONE THE DREAM There he stood in the midst of the forest, in front of a raging fire. The flames soared well above his head...

A Long Journey

I'm writing today with blood on my lips.

 Well, let's say I have a taste for blood since it's been a long road while writing Allured, and editing underneath her body. The novel started out with 500 spine tingling pages. Now, after putting Allured through the shredder, she clocks in at 444 gripping pages of excitement. 

It really blows me away when I think how much work and time this novel took to get ready to shop out to agents. Three years to be exact. I am sure it will be all worth it in the end. 

Vampire Craze Rocks Our World

Vampire lure has come a long way since Bram Stoker Gothic horror novel “Dracula.”

We've enjoyed the novels from Anne Rice, “The Vampire Chronicles,” that jumped started the vampire craze during the 1990’s with the movie “Interview with a Vampire.” Since then, it seems that the public all around the world has a craving for vampires and it does not seem to stop. Many new authors are coming out with different twist about vampires, causing many novels being turned into motion pictures as “Underworld” and “Twilight” Others, as “True Blood,” a story based off Charlaine Harris; Sookie Stackhouse novels are a large hit, thanks to HBO’s producer Allan Ball. And let us not forget the TV series Vampire Diaries originally written by L.J. Smith that has young and old viewers begging for more.

But where does it end, or does it? Will the public eventually get sick of vampires or will this craze be an ongoing legacy that will continue at the box office for many more years… 

Why I Write

I always dreamed in becoming a author.

 When I was twelve, my uncle gave me a book called: 'Notes To Myself'.' I had already started to write short stories and shared them with my family and friends before reading the book about a personal writing journey about the author applying short stories, poems and personal thoughts of his life.

As I began writing my own journey about my personal experiences while making that 'huge' transition into adulthood, through a teenagers perspective, the muse started speaking! I started writing poetry after my first real boyfriend broke up with me that lead to be the turning point that boomed my love towards writing.

But I didn't stop with poetry. I started writing songs. I wrote daily journals throughout my teenage years, placing my thoughts down on paper, the words I would never share so I could reflect on my youthful life at a later time.

As I became an adult, I wrote for an escape. I escaped into a different world. A world that I created, controlled and mastered. And sometimes, mastered me. Characters I have found do this. You start writing a story, have your plot outlined in your head and begin... to discover as you're writing that one of your characters decides to change the way you have intended him to be. Happens to me more often and all for the better.

I enjoy writing. For me it's like someone who sits and plays 'WOW' or another type of 'Roll Playing Games' where you escape into another dimension and into a world that has no limits. You set the theme and plot, develop the heroine, decided on the villain and go from there. I really love this!

When I write, I explorer taboo's and elements I normally would never touch in real life taking it by the horns and running with it! This I find very enjoyable.

In closing, I simply write because I not only love to, feeling the freedom to explore all I can in worlds and lives my imagination permits, but allowing myself to let loose from the world around.