YA Books are Epic: Thanks so much for doing this with me!
Darren: My pleasure.
YA Books are Epic: What got you into reading?
Darren: I’ve always liked reading. My mother was a primary school teacher and she introduced me to books at a very young age.
YA Books are Epic: When did you realize that you wanted to be a writer?
Darren: I’ve wanted to be a writer since I was 5 or 6 years of age. I obviously wanted to be lots of other things too at that age, but as I got older, that love of writing intensified, and by the time I was a teenager I knew I was going to chase the dream.
YA Books are Epic: The Saga of Darren Shan is one of your many book series. Where did you get the idea for this series?
Darren: I’d always wanted to write about vampires, but I was looking for a fresh way to do it. One day I was sitting in a car and had an idea for telling a story from a boy’s perspective, to explore what life would be like for a child who reluctantly became a vampire, and that was my way in.
YA Books are Epic: How did you chose the names Darren Shan and Larten Crepsley?
Darren: Darren Shan is named after myself (Shan is a shorter version of my real surname, O’Shaughnessy). I don’t recall where Larten’s name came from.
YA Books are Epic: When you were growing up what fictional character did you relate to? What character do you relate to now?
Darren: I loved Dickon in The Secret Garden. Nowadays I’d like to be like Mr Crepsley or Dervish from my Demonata books.
YA Books are Epic: If Larten Crepsley and Dervish got into a fight who would win and why?
Darren: They wouldn’t fight – though I think they’d enjoy sharing a couple of glasses of ale and chatting about their adventures!
YA Books are Epic: When you are reading books what format do you prefer? Hardcover, Paperback, Audiobook or eBook?
Darren: The format makes no difference to me. The story is king, and as long as that’s strong, the format is irrelevant. I’m a collector, so I enjoy collecting physical editions, but I do a lot of my reading when I travel, and an ebook is much more convenient in that respect.
YA Books are Epic: Another one of your series is The Demonata. How did you come up with the idea for this series and does it relate to any of your other series?
Darren: I got the idea for Lord Loss from a poem I’d written some years before, about an eight-armed demon master, and the other books just naturally followed on from that. None of my series link together, except of course for the two vampire series.
YA Books are Epic: Will you be attending any events or signings anytime soon? If not how can we get signed copies of your books?
Darren: The only event I’m doing in the near future is at the Edinburgh Book Festival in August. But fans can send me a letter at any time – the address can be found in the Contact page of my website, www.darrenshan.com – and I always respond with a handwritten, autographed reply.
YA Books are Epic: The Saga of Darren Shan was made into a movie called The Vampire’s Assistant the movie only covered the first three books. Are there any plans to cover the other books in this series or any of your other books? Maybe The Saga of Larten Crepsley?
Darren: There are no plans for any more of my vampire books to be adapted in the near future, but hopefully they will be rebooted for film or TV one day. We’re in talks to try and get a Zom-B TV show off the ground, and there’s also interest in making a Demonata movie, but we’ll have to wait and see if anything comes out of those talks.
YA Books are Epic: Are you currently working on any books? If so, what can you tell us about them?
Darren: I finished my latest long series, Zom-B, last year, and I’m currently working on a new, multi-book fantasy series, but I can’t say anything more about it just yet.
YA Books are Epic: Have you ever thought of wringing a crossover book or series?
Darren: No, I think crossovers tend to be too gimmicky.
YA Books are Epic: Thanks for doing this with me!
Darren: Thanks for interviewing me!
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