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FACTFILE
Name:
Darren Shan
(real name
Darren
O'Shaughnessy).
Age: 34.
Occupation:
Author.
Third-level
education:
Degree in
sociology and
English from
Roehampton
University in
London.
In the news
for: Shan,
whose 16th book,
Bec, will
be launched on 7
October, will be
doing a book
tour of the UK
and Ireland
for the rest of
October. He will
be giving a
reading as part
of
the Children's
Book Festival
which runs from
4 to 28 October.
Shan, who lives
in Co Limerick,
is the author of
the children's
books series
The Saga Of
Darren Shan
and The
Demonata.
Elaine Larkin
(EL): What was
your first
paying job ever?
Darren Shan
(DS): When I was
at university, I
used to work for
the
summers in a
factory in
Shannon.
EL: Did you
always want to
become an
author?
DS: Ever since
the age of five
or six,
it was what I
wanted to do. It
was
the one thing I
really loved
doing. I
used to daydream
about other
things as well
but that's the
main
thing I wanted
to do.
EL: Who would
you say
influenced
the course of
your career?
DS: I think one
of the big
influences would
be my mother.
She was a primary
school teacher
so she taught me
to read and
write and she
instilled a love
of reading in
me. I read loads
and loads of
books. The more
I read the more
inspired I
became.
EL: When did you
get your break
as an author?
DS: I started
out writing
books for
adults. I had a
couple of those
published
under my real
name, back in
1999/2000. The
biggest break
was
when I got my
agent, which
would have been
a couple of
years before
that in
1997/1998. He
took a chance
on me and
he helped
develop my
writing skills.
He helped me get
the first
book published
and then I came
along with
Cirque du Freak,
my first
children's book
and the first in
the series of
The Saga of
Darren Shan
and he got that
published and I
haven't looked
back since then.
EL: What was the
best career
advice you've
ever received?
DS: I've picked
up lots of
different advice
from reading
other interviews
with authors.
One is
everybody gets
rejected, so you
have to
learn to accept
that if you're
going to be a
writer. You
can't afford to
lose heart,
you've to keep
belief in
yourself even if
nobody else
does. The other
one is the more
you
write the better
you get. It's a
case of
practice. When I
was younger, as
a
teenager, I was
waiting for the
muse
to strike and
for ideas to
come cascading
down and for
stories to more
or less
write
themselves. As I
got older I
realised it
doesn't work
that
way. The harder
you work, the
better
you get, the
more you're able
to
write.
EL: Do you think
third-level education
plays a big part
in getting
on the right
career track?
DS: It all
depends on what
sort of
career you're
going for. As an
author, I
would have to
say it
doesn't make any
difference
whatsoever.
Readers don't
care whether
you're secondary
level, third
level or
anything else.
Obviously as an
author, anything
you do helps
out. I
got things from
sociology, which
I'm
able to bring
into my books.
EL: What was the
highlight of
your career?
DS: There's been
quite a lot. One
of
the big
highlights was
getting to No
1 in Japan — it
absolutely
topped the
entire chart —
adult books as
well as
children's
books. It's made
the top
10 children's
chart on the
New York
Times
bestseller
list several
times.
Selling 10
million copies
worldwide
was a big mark.
The last six and
a half years
have been a
wonderful ride;
it's been one
highlight after
another.
EL: If you were
to change career
what would you
do?
DS: I'm a big
film buff — I've
always
had it at the
back of my mind
that I'd like to
try directing,
whether or
not I ever do is
highly unlikely,
but it's
still one of
those things I
still daydream
about every so
often.
Maybe one day.
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