Darren Shan's Blog

Our holiday in Sharm El Sheikh is almost over — this is our final night, before we fly home in the morning. The week has flown by, and it’s been one of the most relaxing weeks I ever had. Normally I like to do as much as possible on holidays, to see lots of sights, visit old monuments and buildings, climb mountains, etc. But this week we just lazed by the beach and pool, went snorkeling almost every day, had a few swims in the pool, lazily prepared for dinner in the evenings, ate leisurely meals, then either watched a movie or flicked through TV channels, depending on what time our meal finished at. I usually get itchy for action if I’m that inactive, but this was just what the doctor ordered this time round — after all the writing, editing, touring and moving of house of the last few months, a week of downtime was delightful. Now we’ll have a few days of shows and seeing friends in London… we’re going to a wedding on Monday, and I’ll take in a Spurs game next Saturday… and of course we’ll celebrate New Year’s Eve with a party in our flat which overlooks the London Eye. Then it’ll be back to work — boo!!!!! Oh well, the good times can’t last forever — they wouldn’t be so special if they were the norm…

Merry Christmas, everybody!!!! I hope you all have a fun time this yuletide, and aren’t affected by the dreadful weather which has hit much of the globe this year. I’ve been chilling out here in Sharm, taking things easy. In fact, I’ve been taking things even easier than I had originally planned — we had a few excursions planned over the last few days, but we were enjoying our time at the hotel and pool and sea so much, that we ended up just staying here and taking things lazy!! I guess I’m getting old and boring — I used to try to pack every single holiday with as many activities as possible — but you know what? I’m quite enjoying a more sedentary pace!!!! It’s nice to just turn off for a while and let life drift by…o

Getting back to business briefly… I had an early Christmas present today when a fan called Devin emailed me to draw my attention to an article in the Telegraph in the UK listing the Top 10 bestselling authors in the UK over the last decade. Number 69 on the list was none other than Darren Shan!!! Yep — book industry bible, The Bookseller, tallied up sales over the first decade of the twenty-first century to find out who had sold most books in the UK, and I clocked in at Number 69!! That might not seem like a very high placing, but it’s virtually impossible to crack this sort of list, so I was delighted to see my name on it!!! To check out the full list of the 100 bestselling authors, you can find it on the Telegraph site by CLICKING HERE.

I read the following news article, about a man who allegedly broke into a library and stole some demonically interesting books, with great fascination today!! It appears that, whatever else, if he is indeed guilty of the alleged crime, he has excellent taste in books!!!

http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20091222/ARTICLE/912221027/-1/NEWSSITEMAP?tc=ar

All jokes aside, this article really touched me. It reminded me that, even with Christmas coming and most people getting excited and going on holidays or catching up with family members, there are plenty of folk less fortunate than us who are trying to just get by and stay off the streets and find enough money to pay for a bit of food or other creature comforts. This poor guy looks like he will be spending Christmas Day in custody, and that can’t be fun for anyone. Sure, we ALL know there are people out there who are struggling in life, but I think most of us probably don’t spend that much time thinking about them unless something happens that makes it more personal. I often pause and think that I should be doing more to help out the less fortunate in this life, but to be honest, it’s very rarely that I act on such thoughts. Hopefully Mr Griffin and his alleged failed burglary and arrest might help spur me on to actually follow up on those thoughts sooner rather than later…

Moving on to brighter news — Bas’s suitcase arrived safely this morning, so it truly was a case of Christmas coming early for her this year!!! We’ve been having a nice, relaxing time here — just sat by the pool and read for most of today, which is very unusual for us — we’re not the most patient of people, and normally cram our holidays with excursions and activities!!! And, to be fair, we’re going to a Bedouin dinner later tonight, and out for a full day trip to a Coloured Canyon tomorrow — but, hey, we’re TRYING!!!!

Take care, folks!!

Bas and I flew to Sinai on Saturday night, arriving very early Sunday morning. The flight was perfectly on time, and we positioned ourselves on the plane so that we could get through security swiftly, thus avoiding the long line that often builds. We were feeling quite smug when we were among the first people to get to the luggage belt, but pride, as they say, often comes before a fall — in this case, Bas’s luggage failed to fall off of the belt!!! It had gone missing in transit, which meant we had to wait for every single bag to come off, then go to try and sort it out with the airport staff!! They were very helpful, but the bag never materialised, which didn’t make for the best ever start to a holiday!! Anyway, we went to our hotel, which is lovely, and spent the next few hours sleeping. We rose in the afternoon, went for a bit to eat and dip in the ocean and hotel swimming pool. Then we went in to Naama Bay to try and find a few bits and pieces for Bas to wear over the next few days (it will be Tuesday at the earliest before her case arrives). This proved far more difficult than we thought it would be, but eventually we managed to find a couple of shops which had what she wanted, so we were able to enjoy our dinner, explore the area a bit more, then come back for bed.

This morning we slept in late, then had a yummy breakfast and went for another dip. We also did a small bit of snorkelling next to our hotel — not a great area for it, but we saw some fabulous fish regardless. In the afternoon we went quad biking, which was fun but not as much fun as I remember. I came to Sharm on my first ever foreign holiday 10 years ago, and one of my fondest memories was of quad biking. I recalled us tearing through the desert at top speed, sailing over dunes, our guide stopping to tell us about the desert and the country’s history, etc. Today we just joined a convoy of bikes and made our fairly slow way around a well worn route. The scenery was spectacular (I absolutely LOVE deserts), but because of the way we were organised it felt overly commercialised. This often happens in areas which become more popular with tourists, so I guess I can’t complain too much, but still, I regretted not being able to open up and get away from the tourist track a bit more… The price of progress, I suppose.

Answered my final batch of fan mail this morning, and put it in the post this afternoon — I can do no more than that!!! So I have now replied to everything I received by December 9th — anything that came to me after that will have to wait until the new year.

Went to see A Serious Man, the new Coen Brothers film, yesterday. VERY strange, even by their standards!!! I mean, it wasn’t a weird or overly complex plot — it was just made in a very quirky way. Hard to describe. I came out scratching my head afterwards. I liked it a lot, though I can’t quite say why… Also saw Me And Orson Welles, which was fun. Welles was a true cinematic genius (and theatrical genius too), though he only made 3 real classics in my opinion — Citizen Kane, The Magnificent Ambersons and Touch of Evil. Everything else was seriously flawed for a variety of reasons, some his own fault, many the result of studio interference — although even his messiest films were fascinating on one level or another. As a person, though, he stands out as one of the most interesting directors ever, so I’m always curious to see films about him, and this was a nice addition to the canon.

Today I saw Law Abiding Citizen, which promised more than it ultimately delivered, though it was intriguing throughout. And now I’m off to finish packing for a short holiday in Sharm El Sheikh — weather permitting!! Southern England has been hit by bad snow over the last couple of days, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed that our flight doesn’t get affected by the weather…

Went for a meeting and lunch with my agent on Tuesday. Had a very pleasant time — a bit of business and a lot of pleasure!!! I’m lucky to have wound up with one of the best agents in the field. It’s 14 years this month since he first got in touch with me to say he was interested in my work, and in that time he’s worked hard, first to help me develop, then to steer me in the right direction, then to ensure that I got the best possible deals for my work. A really great agent is always prepared to put a lot of time and effort into their authors — they don’t just coast along with you when times are good, but stick with you through the bad times and help you generate the good times. There were plenty of opportunities along the way where Chris could have justifiably let me go and focused on writers who were doing much better than I was. But he had belief in me, he gave me the time and support I needed, and he never let me down. I always thank him at the start of every book, since without him my career almost certainly would never have taken off — but you can never praise the important people in your life enough, so I’m never averse to gushing about him a bit more when the opportunity presents itself!!!!

Answered lots more fan mail — I’m trying to get through as much as I can, to get my replies to fans in time for Christmas. I still have a small mound left, which I plan to get through by Friday, all going well. Today I went to see Where The Wild Things Are at the cinema. I enjoyed it a lot — a very dark, quirky movie. I never read the book when I was growing up — I don’t actually have many memories of reading picture books, though most of my memories start when I was 5 or 6, so I’m sure I must have read picture books when I was younger. Can’t for the life of me recall what they were, though I’m sure Wild Things wasn’t one of them. I did read it when I was older, to my cousins when I was babysitting them. But I think it’s the sort of book you need to have read when you were young to really fall in love with — I think it’s great, even reading it as an adult, but it didn’t feed into my dreams the way I think it would have if I’d encountered it earlier in life. That’s often the way with books (and films and lots of other stuff too, I suppose) — timing can be everything. The age you are, the mood you’re in, the people you’re with… these can all have an influence on how you react.

It snowed a bit in London today. I always love walking through the snow in London — it gives the city a completely different feel. It wasn’t particularly heavy, so I got the best of both worlds today — because London doesn’t get much snow, it’s not very well equipped to deal with it, so heavy falls can brings things to a halt, which can be a pain. Today it was just pretty, nothing stopped because of it — good times all round!! And the good times got even better when I made the trek up to Spurs to watch them play Man City — we won 3-0 — hurrah!!!!! It was my last home game before Christmas, and a better present I couldn’t have asked for!!!!

Flew over to London on Thursday with some of my cousins. Took them up to Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park on Friday to go skating and on some of the attraction. It was very Christmassy, a lovely place to visit, although the prices are definitely on the steep side — in Hyde Park, Christmas comes at a cost!!!! Went to see Billy Elliot again on Friday night — I think that’s the third time I’ve seen it. It’s uneven, with some numbers which could have been excised, and a storyline that could have been beefed up a bit, but at its best it’s peerless and takes viewers through a whole rollercoaster of emotions. On Saturday the only emotion I went through was numb disbelief, as I watched Spurs lose at home to Wolves, a team in the relegation zone. To be honest, it didn’t come as a huge shock — we have some fantastics players at Spurs, as we almost always have, but very few strong, gritty, fighting players, and we often lose to teams much lower down the table than us. It’s been the curse of Spurs since the early 1960s — we produce some great football and stunning players, but have never quite managed to find a way to put a sturdy, league-winning team together. Oh well — like fans of every club, I live in hope…

Didn’t do much in the day on Sunday, but went for a nice breakfast with my cousins in Le Pain Quotidien (whose praises I have sung here on many an occasion), had a swim, then went out for dinner in the Oxo tower with Bas and one of her friends called Liz. It was Liz’s birthday (29, of course!!! ahem!!!!!), so we had a nice bottle of Rose bubbly with our meal, a couple of cocktails, and a grand old time was had by all!!! Today I went for lunch with my new editor, Nick, who will be keeping me on the straight and narrow from the first Mr Crepsley book onwards. I hadn’t spent much time with him before this, so it was nice to share a meal and just chat about stuff, writing and everyday things. We both decided that the children’s books world was too “nice” and it was time to start a punk-like revolution — though that might have been the cocktail and beers talking!!!! I think we’re going to get along nicely…

Tonight I went to see a promenade version of the David Mamet play, Edmond, at Wilton’s Music Hall. A promedade play is where the action takes place in lots of different locations in a theatre, not just on a stage. I love them, as it’s a completely unique experience. In some, you’re free to wander as you please. In this one you stayed as part of a group, and were ushered from room to room (and even outside the building!), but you still got to choose where you stood, and each scene was viewed from a different angle. It was brilliant!!! An extra part of the pleasure came from the old, faded majesty of Wilton’s Music Hall, the oldest surviving music hall in London, and indeed the world. I’ve been there before and it’s a stunning building, with loads of atmosphere — I think it would have been the perfect place to film the Cirque Du Freak scenes of the movie if it had been made in the UK. In this show, you got to see parts of it you normally wouldn’t have access to. I would normally have urged readers of this to go to the show if they had the chance, but that probably won’t be possible — it was only put together over the last 4 weeks, and is running just for 3 nights, until the 16th, although there are 2 performances each night. If you are in London and want to try to get hold of a ticket to the remaining performances, check out the Wilton’s site by CLICKING HERE. But you’ll need to be swift, before a truly magical production disappears into the night….

I have uploaded my seasonal short story about Shanta Claus to my web site, so if you want a warm, freaky, demonic chuckle this Christmas, you know where to go!! I’ve made a few changes to the story, as I usually do every year, and this time round I’ve added a new chapter set on the world of Makhras, which is the setting for my upcoming book, The Thin Executioner. So if you want an early, sneak peek at some of the characters of that book, here’s your chance!!! To access the link for Shanta Claus, CLICK HERE.

Finished my latest edit of the first Mr Crepsley book yesterday, having written a couple of new chapters for it, and sent it in to my new editor, Nick, who has taken over from Stella. Fans have been asking me what the names of the books are, and I haven’t given any clues so far. One very good reason why I haven’t is that the titles have not yet been confirmed!! I’ve had working titles since the start, which I quite liked but which weren’t the most dramatic in the world. I suspected my publishers would look for more exciting titles, which has proved to be the case, so I didn’t want to load the decks against them by giving out names which we might ultimately not go with. Up until tonight, I was fighting to hold onto the original titles, since I couldn’t think of anything better, and liked the simplicity and neatness of them. Then, tonight, I was watching an old silent film called Blind Husbands (directed by Eric von Strohiem). It was interesting but far from brilliant, even though it was a major movie when first released in 1919. I found my mind wandering a bit while I was watching it, and by the end of the movie I had come up with four brand new titles!!! I’ve sent them in to Nick to see what he thinks. I suspect he’s going to like them and that we’ll end up going with them, or variations thereof. If so, I should be able to share the titles with you in the not-too-distant future…

I spent today adding a lot of fan art to my site. As usual, far too long has passed since I last added any — I always mean to update those pages every few months, but it never works out that way. It takes a long time to scan in the pictures, crop and re-size them, then name and upload them to my site. I got through more than I thought I would today, and should hopefully upload the rest of the current crop tomorrow (touch wood). If you sent any art to me over the last year or so, there’s a good chance it will appear on my site (I don’t add ALL the art which I receive, but I put most of it up), so head on over to www.darrenshan.com and check out the art pages in both the Vampire and Demons parts of the site, to see if YOUR art made the cut…

I’m heading out on the town with Pablo this Wednesday night, for our annual Christmas party!! So if you happen to be out and about in Limerick, and spot a slightly-the-worse-for-wear half-vampire and demon-master staggering around the streets, do me a favour — stick me in a cab and tell the driver not to stop until we hit the first entrance to Vampire Mountain!!!!!

Edited some more of the first Mr Crepsley book today. I also started writing a fresh chapter, near the end, in response to a query my editor raised. I don’t normally like adding new material at this stage of the editing process (I’m on the 6th draft), but when it needs to be done, there’s no point griping — you just have to stick your head down and get on with it. I’d left out a very important plot arc, which was important not just to this series, but to The Saga of Darren Shan as well, explaining why Mr Crepsley was still so concerned about the people in his home city by the time of Tunnels of Blood. It wasn’t something I’d thought about a lot when writing these books, as it didn’t seem crucial to what was going on here, but my editor caught it, pointed it out, and when I thought about it a bit, I realised she was right — an explanation WAS required. So I’ve come up with one and now all that remains is to write the scene — which is the easy part. The ideas are always the hardest part of the writing process — once you know what you need to do with a story, and have the experience to do it, it’s a breeze. The difficulties set in when you don’t know where to go with a story, or if you’ve taken it somewhere but it isn’t working. A little knowledge might be a dangerous thing in most areas of life, but in books it’s the key to moving forward and knocking a story into shape. You get an idea, you work on it, you see where it takes you, you think about what you have, get a few new ideas, play around with them, and so on.

Now — moving away from ideas to a more practical part of a writer’s lot… Although I advise young writers to focus on the quality of their work first and foremost, since your primary goal as an author should be to write the best stories you can, I know that lots of you wonder about the actual money-making process and how it all works. My best advice, as always, is to read The Writers and Artists Yearbook or Writers Market. They contain all the practical advice you will ever need, and go into the specifics of all those sorts of queries. But a fan called Jenny (hi, Jenny!!!!) sent me a link to a writer’s site in which he discusses how royalty payments work, and it’s pretty well laid out and explained. So if you’re a wannabe writer, or just curious about how people like me get paid, CLICK HERE and read on.