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Interview
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THE IRISH
TIMES -
15/SEPT/2001 |
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interviewed
by:
Eibhir
Mulqueen |
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BITTEN BY
THE WRITING BUG
Vampires and
deadly spiders
are the stuff of
teenage schlock
horror but
29-year old
Darren
O'Shaughnessy
revels in them.
Never heard of
him? Your
teenage son or
daughter has,
and so have 11
and 12-year-olds
who like to read
ahead of
themselves.
Living at his
parents' west
Limerick home,
O'Shaughnessy is
producing a
series of books
centred around a
character who
has a
thinly-disguised
version of his
own name, Darren
Shan, and who
becomes a
vampire's
assistant. Like
a cliffhanger TV
series, each
book ends with a
"to be
continued"
reminder.
He is also using
the pseudonym of
Danen Shan,
giving an extra
sense of realism
to the novels
for thousands of
fervent
irnaginations.
"I get kids
e-mailing me all
the time, asking
me if it is
really true." So
far, he has
written four
novels, with the
fifth, Trials of
Death, due in
October and
another 15 or so
planned over the
next seven
years. "I know
how it finishes
up. There are
still lots of
blanks to fill
in in the second
half of it."
In the era of
Buffy the
Vampire Slayer,
the adventures
of the teenage
Darren Shan have
struck a chord
with both male
and female
readers. "Girls
have really
taken to it in a
big, big way,"
he says. Warner
Bros sat up and
took notice when
they received a
copy of Cirque
du Freak, the
first in the
series, from
O'Shaughnessy's
agent,
Christopher
Little. Little
also acts for
J.K. Rowling,
the leader in
young readers'
fiction with her
Harry Potter
series, and she,
in turn,
endorsed Cirque
du Freak,
describing it as
compelling. In
fact, the whole
Harry Potter
phenomenon has
buoyed up
teenage fiction.
"Harry Potter
raised the whole
thing of
children’s
books. Before
that, the
perceived wisdom
was that there
is not big money
in children’s
books. If you
were a good
children’s
writer, you
would make a
steady income
every year but
you did not get
big advances up
front."
He is still
living modestly.
The bungalow
home, on the
same site in
Pallaskenry
where his
great-grandfather
grew up, has
hens out the
back.
O’Shaughnessy
gets around on
his bicycle,
admitting that,
yes, he must
apply for a
driver's
licence. He has
retained the
boyish looks of
his readership
and nurtures
their loyalty
through his
website,
www.darrenshan.com
and through a
rapport with the
kids in Askeaton
National School
where his mother
teaches. He
spends an hour a
day responding
to e-mails,
sometimes to
fans who want to
ask him out.
"There was a lot
of publicity
when the first
book came out.
When you work on
a series,
reviews tend to
drop off. There
is not as much
of a hullabaloo
when each book
comes out. But
what is
happening is the
reader base is
growing all the
time."
He leads a quiet
life most of the
time,
socialising in
Limerick maybe
once a week but
sometimes going
for months
without a visit.
The people he
grew up with
have mostly
moved away. "I
am quite
reclusive. I
tend to sort of
go my own way. I
do have friends
and I go to
London as well.
I have cousins
and uncles that
I like to meet
up with but most
of the time I
stay in." Born
in London, he
moved to the
ancestral home
at the age of
six, went to the
local schools,
played some
hurling along
the way and did
a degree in
sociology and
English back in
London. He
worked for a
while with
Chorus, the
cable television
company, before
devoting himself
full time to
writing.
He writes for up
to six hours a
day, preparing a
rough draft and
editing the
script several
times before
being satisfied
with the result.
"When you have
been writing for
a few years, you
find that it's
not the quota
that is the hard
thing, it's
saying what you
want to say. I
can write 10
pages no
problem. I go
through them
later on and
maybe I cut
eight or nine of
those out. I
always think it
is good to get a
first draft
done. When I'm
writing a first
draft, I don’t
think about the
quality."
Fantasy and film
are ever
present. The
front living
room has a Conan
the Barbarian
replica sword
leaning against
the fireplace, a
55-inch
television, and
about 2,500
films and TV
series such as
Cracker, The
X-Files and The
Sopranos, on
video and DVD.
"I watch films
more than TV.
When it comes to
film I will
watch anything."
Buffy, however,
has barely had a
look in. He saw
the original
film but ignored
the series.
He is coy about
giving details
of the
five-figure sum
he received for
selling the
option rights to
his first three
books. It will
become a
seven-figure sum
if David Heyman,
producer of Hany
Potter and the
Sorcerer's
Stone, decides
to make a film.
"So far, there
has not been any
script produced
... I don’t
think,"
O'Shaughnessy
says. He admits
to doing "very
well"
financially as
the publishing
rights get sold
in the US,
Japan, China and
Germany [among
others]. "It has
done very well
in Japan. It did
a first print
of, I think,
50,000. They
have gone to a
second print of
40,000."
He is not
worried about a
film version
bastardising his
stories beyond
belief " la la
Captain
Corelli’s
Mandolin. He
points to the
"terrible" films
based on Stephen
King novels.
"It's a
different
industry.
Raymond Chandler
said that back
in the 1940s.
Somebody said to
him, ‘Are you
concerned with
what Hollywood
has done to your
books?' He said,
‘They have done
nothing to my
books. Those are
my books on the
shelf.' Most
people who go to
see a film are
not going to
read a book
anyway." |
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