Kelley Armstrong's Blog, page 145

I signed up for your virtual event but something came up so I didn't listen in as I had planned. Regardless I would like to learn the answer to my question: In "BItten" Clayton actively pursues Elena, how possessive is he towards her? How does this possess

Hmm. Terminology is the key here. He’s protective of her, because that’s his nature, but she’s equally protective of him, and in both cases it’s “I want to watch your back” rather than “I want you to stay in the cave while I guard the entrance.” He’s possessive of her time and attention, which is an ongoing issue that he’s worked to resolve since Bitten—he’d recognized it there and realized it needed to change. He’s not possessive of her as a person, as in “you are my property.” She’s his partner. Nor is there sexual jealousy, because once she’s committed herself to him, he knows she’s not going to stray, no more than he is. Again, that’s their wolf nature.

I signed up for your virtual event but something came up so I didn't listen in as I had planned. Regardless I would like to learn the answer to my question: In "BItten" Clayton actively pursues Elena, how possessive is he towards her? How does this possess

Hmm. Terminology is the key here. He’s protective of her, because that’s his nature, but she’s equally protective of him, and in both cases it’s “I want to watch your back” rather than “I want you to stay in the cave while I guard the entrance.” He’s possessive of her time and attention, which is an ongoing issue that he’s worked to resolve since Bitten—he’d recognized it there and realized it needed to change. He’s not possessive of her as a person, as in “you are my property.” She’s his partner. Nor is there sexual jealousy, because once she’s committed herself to him, he knows she’s not going to stray, no more than he is. Again, that’s their wolf nature.

Is there any possible way to read the short stories, like Chivalrous, in Reese's point of view? I know the book it was in is sold out, but I was wondering if there was a way to be able to read the story. I just love all your stories and am trying to read a

There are 3 Otherworld anthologies coming. I sold those when I decided to end the series, so they’re scheduled for 2014, 2015 & 2016. They’ll contain all the current SubPress stuff and a big selection of the other short stories, plus some new material. The first one comes in Nov next year. Chivalrous is due to be included in that.

Do you think using Canadian cities as a setting, or Canadian characters as a focus, impacted the marketability of your books? I'm working on a UF novel, but I'm hesitant to make the setting in Canada since 95% of UF take place in the U.S. and I'm looking a

While writing Bitten, I was told, repeatedly, to make Elena American and get rid of the Toronto settings. Told, I might add, by instructors and other writers—not by folks who wanted to buy the book. I decided the Canadian content was important to me so I’d leave it, but if someone said “Change this and we’ll publish you” I’d reconsider. No one ever said that. It was a non-issue and continues to be a non-issue. I set a lot of my scenes in the US, but there are other reasons for that, namely a bigger population to more believably support things like werewolves and serial killers :)

Do you ever get a large bit of writing done and then just not like how it's going? If so, do you have any advice for me as to what you do at that point? I unfortunately often give up- and thus haven't finished writing anything in a long time. I love your b

"Do you ever get a large bit of writing done and then just not like how it’s going?" All the time. That’s what editing is for :) If it’s just a part that I’m not thrilled with, I make notes on what’s bugging me (boring! awkward! ugh!) and continue on. If the whole story doesn’t work, then I sit back and consider my options—can it be fixed? can I restart? or does the whole idea suck? The main thing is not to stop when the going gets tough. You need to finish so you can look back objectively and make decisions. 75% of writing is fun and easy for me, but 25% is real work, and it’s not always because that 25% isn’t working—it can just be a "necessary but less than thrilling" part of the story. Get past it, finish the story, go back and reassess.

Will you be doing a book signing tour in the UK?

I should be there in August. Watch my site for details—probably late spring.

As a Canadian, I loooove when your books take place in Canada. I'm also so excited that Bitten was bought by a Canadian production company, and that it is being filmed here in Canada by Canadian actors. Agree with you on being happy about that, and I'm gla

I would be better if I answered those questions in a timely fashion :) Working on it! My goal is to be “pretty much caught up” by the end of January.

anne-ominous:From what I recall the guy burning it is a model...

anne-ominous:

From what I recall the guy burning it is a model who had to wear that shirt for a shoot, and once it was done he burned the stupid thing.

Hi Kelley! I was wondering if you were planning on coming to Kingston anytime soon? I heard you're in Belleville in October but I was hoping you could come here at some point. Thanks!

No Kingston on my schedule right now. I don’t get out that way as often—my schedule is a lot of “south-western Ontario” (i.e. the 401 corridor to Toronto) If you check my appearance page every 6 months or so, I put events in as soon as they’re confirmed.

I see your coming to Halifax on the September 14 (yay!) Is it okay to bring a book other then Omens to the signing?

Yeah, SO FAR BEHIND. I’m answering this anyway because 1) I’m publicly hanging my head in shame for being so backed up and 2) if anyone else wants a basic answer to this “Is it okay to bring other books to a signing?” it’s a qualified yes. In other words, it’s absolutely okay with me. I will sign whatever you bring. If it’s a suitcase full (yes, that happens) I’ll ask you to wait to the end. The qualification there is that sometimes stores impose limits themselves, so you need to check with them first. But most will still let you hang around and get the suitcase-full signed at the end :)