Utah author James Dashner hits it big with book series, possible film deal

For James Dashner, each leap he's taken in his life has been a big, important one.

He was born and raised in Austell, a small Georgia community, so going to Provo — to attend Brigham Young University — was "really big."

"At that time, that seemed about as huge a jump as I could possibly make in my life," the 37-year-old LDS novelist said with a laugh.

But that was only the start of a series of "really big things." After spending a decade working as an accountant, and writing, Dashner finally made the transition to full-time author.

And in the process, hes been a best-selling author, and may now be Hollywood bound as well.

Major movies studios have been sniffing around Dashner's books, in particular, "Maze Runner," his 2008 young-adult adventure about Thomas, a teen who awakens amid other teens in a dystopian society called the Glade.

Despite some original trade-paper reports that said a deal was signed with Fox to bring "The Maze Runner" to the big screen, that deal is still in the negotiations process.

But for Dashner, any interest at all in making movies out of his books is "exciting."

"I've always thought that my writing was a bit cinematic, to be honest," he said by telephone while preparing to head off on his latest book tour.

In fact, Dashner's dream profession is filmmaking. He says he's a big movie fan, "including anything from Peter Jackson's 'Lord of the Rings' films to Martin Scorsese. I try to see everything, or at least most of it."

Also, he tries "to imagine what anything and everything I create — characters, creatures and worlds — would look like on a movie screen. It helps with my writing."

Obviously, a "Maze Runner" movie is a long way off. And if and when Fox really does acquire the film rights to the book, there are no guarantees that he'll be involved with a cinematic adaptation.

That's fine with Dashner, though. "I wouldn't want to meddle with things. I'd just love to linger around the set and see what's going on," he chuckled.

Dashner doesn't have much free time for those sorts of diversions anyway. He's embarking on a cross-country tour to promote his latest novel, "The 13th Reality: The Blade of Shattered Hope" (Shadow Mountain, $18.99).

The novel is the third in his series, which features a protagonist named Atticus Higginbottom, or "Tick."