Emily Wolenski-Charbeneau
asked
Darren Shan:
Out of all the books you've written, do you have a favorite character that you've created? Is there one that is the most like you? Darren from Cirque the Freak would be the obvious guess for this latter question, but I'm curious if that's actually the case.
Darren Shan
There are elements of me in all of my main characters (the bad guys as well as the good). None is an exact representation of me, but the one that probably comes the closest in many ways is Kernel Fleck from my Demonata books.
As for a favourite character... Mr Crepsley obviously ranks very highly. I always enjoyed writing the Vancha March scenes a lot. I have a fond spot for Dervish too. But the pair I'd probably pick as joint "winners" are Jebel Rum from The Thin Executioner, and B Smith from my Zom-B books. I love the story arcs that they went on, how they started as very flawed characters and grew over the course of their journeys. Their flaws put quite a few readers off early on, I think -- most people seem to want nice main characters that they can emphasise with immediately -- but for me they were the key to what made these such interesting characters to work on.
As for a favourite character... Mr Crepsley obviously ranks very highly. I always enjoyed writing the Vancha March scenes a lot. I have a fond spot for Dervish too. But the pair I'd probably pick as joint "winners" are Jebel Rum from The Thin Executioner, and B Smith from my Zom-B books. I love the story arcs that they went on, how they started as very flawed characters and grew over the course of their journeys. Their flaws put quite a few readers off early on, I think -- most people seem to want nice main characters that they can emphasise with immediately -- but for me they were the key to what made these such interesting characters to work on.
More Answered Questions
Maryam
asked
Darren Shan:
Hi Darren! I watched 'Jojos Bizarre Adventure: Phantom Blood' the other day and noticed some similarities between the ending of that arc (episode 9) and 'Ocean of Blood' - it made it SO much more emotional for me because I was reminded of OoB's ending. I was wondering if you'd ever watched the anime series/ read the manga? and if so, did they inspire OoB a bit? If not, it's just a bizarre (haha) parallel!! - Thanks
رزی - Woman, Life, Liberty
asked
Darren Shan:
Hi! I'm Zahra, a HUGE Iranian fan of yours. I just recognized I can ask you questions in goodreads and you'll answer (I hope). so... Here's the question has haunted me for years: In the end of the Cirque Du Freak series, Evanna talks about some monsters so scary and wild. She said that even Mr Tiny fears them. What are those? For a very long time my theory was that they're the same as Demonata's demons. :D
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