Darren Shan's Blog, page 187

A different approach

I did a re-edit of the first book of what will hopefully be my next long series after The Saga of Larten Crepsley. Even though I haven't revealed what the series will be about (and won't for quite a while yet, probably), I have mentioned on this blog before the fact that it deals with racism, especially in the first book. I sent the first three books to my agent recently, and while he liked the overall thrust of them, he was very concerned about the way I dealt with the racist angle in book 1...

Step carefully

A fan called Lily sent me the following question today:

When you were sending stuff out to agents (like a query), how did you go about saying you wanted to have a series? I've heard several people say that saying, "I have a (number) book series waiting to be published" or something along that line will get you rejected. So how did you go about getting 12 of your books in the Cirque du Freak series published?

I think a series normally IS problematic in the majority of cases. I actually didn't...

To film or not to film?

I read an interesting letter from a 70 year old film and book fan in the San Francisco Chronicle today (isn't the internet incredible?!?). He wrote:

Author Pat Conroy ("Prince of Tides") once told thriller author Tom Clancy, when the latter complained how one of his books had been "adapted" to the screen, "It's their movie and your book"; frustrating to say the least for authors everywhere. Hollywood has improved greatly since then in adapting books, one of the most well known is the "Harry...

Obviously!!

I finished my latest edit of what will hopefully be my next adult book today. I can't say anything about it yet, except I've got a very good feeling about this one! I think it's my most mainstream adult book to date, and hopefully it might prove to be my breakout novel in that field. While I'm not overly concerned if I never make it big in the adult market, it would be nice to kick up a storm — like any ambitious writer, I always want MORE!!! I think it's good to challenge yourself, to ask...

It could be YOU!!!

Had a nice, relaxing Saturday. We went to the Milk Market in Limerick in the morning, an outdoors market which sells everything from local produce to second-hand drills!! We enjoyed the food stalls more than the drill stalls — I had a delicious hog roast bap, and bought some pies for later (one for today, one for later in the week — I'm not so much of a glutton that I'd eat two pies in the same day!! although, having said that, I DID once eat two kebabs in the same night — I felt so...

Back to work

So, Bas and I flew home on Sunday. We enjoyed our last few days in Dubai. We didn't do much, just visited Aquaventure every morning, rested from the midday sun, then pottered around in the afternoon, before tucking into a scrumptious meal later on. We stayed at the Atlantis hotel, which was incredibly OTT — it makes the hotels in Las Vegas seem modest!! It was an amazing experience — we had a lovely view looking back over the Palm, which is one of the strangest, most remarkable man-made...

Goodbye, Fr Donnellan

Bas and I are back home now from Dubai. I'd meant to write about our last few days there, but tonight I found out that one of my favourite teachers from the old days of secondary school had died. He was called Fr Donnellan, and he taught me English. He also taught me a lot about football and humility and editing and decency and a while lot of other things. I was asked by the Times Educational Supplement, way back in February 2000, to write an article about my fave teachers, and Fr Donnellan w...

Dreamy Dubai

Bas and I returned to Dubai on Wednesday morning for a short holiday. We've been having a lovely time, sunbathing, swimming, goofing around in the fabulous Aquaventure water park, and eating lots of good grub. Happy days!!! On St Patrick's Day we went to the Irish Village, a pub beside a small pond, where they had bands playing outdoors — it was great fun, and packed with people from all sorts of countries. We did quite a bit of dancing and singing — my favourite bit was when one of...

Much happier in Hong Kong!!

Did a couple of excellent schools events this morning in Hong Kong. Great crowds in a great venue. I also had a nice little room this time, where I could relax beforehand. I think that was one of the problems yesterday — there was nowhere for me to chill before my events. That might not seem like a big thing, but it actually made a big difference. Instead of calming down somewhere nice and secluded before I took to the stage, I had to wander around, steaming. I also did a signing...

Mr Grumpy in Hong Kong!!!

Flew to Hong Kong on Saturday. Had a day off on Sunday. Spent it sightseeing — walked round the Soho area, then caught the ferry over to Kowloon. I've been to Hong Kong before, but didn't get a chance to see a lot of it, so it was nice to wander a bit. Today I started in on my events, and while the events themselves were all enjoyable successes, behind the scenes it's been a real topsy turvy day!!! First, I wasn't able to get into my first venue when I arrived — I was left standing...