Ellen Block's "The Definition of Wind"

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Ellen Block is the award-winning, internationally published author of five books, and she is also the recipient of a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts as well as the Michener-Copernicus Fellowship. Block lives in Los Angeles, where she is currently at work on a new novel.

Here she shares some ideas for casting a big-screen adaptation of her latest novel, The Definition of Wind:

As an author living in LA, I'm no stranger to playing the "who would you cast" game. In fact, I often find myself describing the characters via actors in order to bring them to life for people unfamiliar with my past books. The Hollywood-style pitch for my latest novel goes something like this...

Imagine Sandra Bullock...she's a grieving widow, haunted by the loss of her beloved husband and son in a tragic house fire, so she retreats to a quaintly quirky little island in North Carolina's Outer Banks to become the caretaker of an old lighthouse and recuperate. But she quickly discovers that the lighthouse may be as haunted as she is.

With the summer tourist season ushering in sizzling temperatures along with crowds of tourists, our heroine realizes that the hectic world she fled has landed on her doorstep and she isn't sure she can stand the heat. When visitors and natives alike start buzzing about a sunken treasure located off the coast and clues to it's location supposedly being hidden in the lighthouse, she soon becomes the focus of everybody's attention, including a handsome, seductive bachelor...think Aaron Eckhart in aviator shades and khaki shorts. Meanwhile, an attractive, but brooding local fisherman she has a connection with...picture Mark Ruffalo...starts acting strangely. Is he interested in her or is he after the treasure too? Amid the swarms of tourists, it's hard to tell harmless vacationers from those harboring dark intentions.

As Independence Day draws near and she faces fireworks of her own, Sandra Bullock must decide: should she stay on Chapel Isle—risking another heartbreak and even her own safety—or allow the ghosts of her past and the dangers of the present to chase her away?

Learn more about the book and author at Ellen Block's website.

--Marshal Zeringue