Received the following email from a fan called Georgia:

I'm currently writing a book right now and I've got it to just over 17,000 words only now I cant help but feel slightly bored of the book. How do you keep your writing entertaining to write? I realise if I'm finding it boring to write it's going to be boring to read. I introduce new ideas to keep it exciting but then the plot seems to change and I have to re-think everything again. It's like the books never going to end. Do you come across this problem or is it just me? And if it is just me do you have any idea what-so-ever of how to overcome it?

The bad news is -- writing CAN be boring, especially when you're first learning how to do it!!! As much as I love writing, to do it well, I have to treat it like a job, and all jobs have their downsides and stretches of dullness. There are times when I feel lethargic, when a story doesn't seem to be going anywhere, when I'm restless and bored and just want to do anything in the world except write!! When I was starting out in my teens, I used to find it even more boring -- I'd often find excuses to drag myself away from my typewriter, just so that I wouldn't have to draw more words out of myself. Writing's difficult. It requires a lot of time and concentration. Unlike most office jobs, where you can cruise through a lot of the working day on auto-pilot, writing demands that you be "ON" for every minute that you sit there. There's no hiding in this business -- if you drift through an afternoon, looking like you're working but not really doing anything, you won't have any work to show for it, and the only person you'll be fooling is yourself.

The problem is that a lot of would-be writers think it's easy, that it's something you should be able to spit out when the muse takes you, without having to work hard to make it happen. One of the things I'm constantly pointing out in this blog is how difficult it actually is to produce high-quality stories. Films and TV shows make it look simple -- you'll often see a scene where a writer is struck by inspiration and speeds through his novel or poem or play in record-breaking time, and every word's perfect. Well, that's bull!!! Good stories need to be dragged uo from deep inside you and beaten into shape. Some come easier than others, it's true, but all require hard work and oodles of dedication. You need to think of writing in football terms -- footballers have to spend a lot of boring time training and travelling around in order to play 90 minutes of top-flight footie. People accept that -- every one of you KNOWS that you can't just turn up and play for your favourite team on a whim, that professional footballers are highly trained athletes who have to dedicate themselves body and soul to their sport. Well, writers have to do the same. This is a vocation, not just a job -- since you're your own boss, you have to force yourself to do the work. If you put in the hours and weeks and months and years, you'll reap the rewards. If you don't, you'll always be one of those people who "wants" to write, and thinks and believes they can write -- but who never actually gets around to doing it.

I know some people frown when I talk about the realities of writing, because they think I'm trying to put young writers off. But I'm not. I just think you have to know what you're letting yourself in for. This is a hard, ruthless business, and you need to go into it with your eyes open. You need to know that hard work is required, and if you're a true writer, that will actually lift your spirits, not dampen them, because you'll realise that YOU can do what writers you admire are doing. When I was starting out, I was frustrated that I couldn't write to the level of Stephen King or Clive Barker or any of my idols. But when I realised that THEY couldn't write to that standard either when they were beginning, that they'd had to work hard to get where they were, I was filled with hope -- because if they could work hard and succeed, then so could I. The difference between an established writer and a beginner isn't usually talent, but experience. We all start out full of potential -- those of us who put the hard work in will realise that potential. Those who don't, won't.

But to finish on an upper, I will say that the more work you put into writing, the more you'll get out of it, and the more you'll start to enjoy it. I know it can be frutrating early on, because the ideas will be clear in your head, but you won't be able to bring them to life they way you want. Over time (and it's normally years as opposed to weeks or months, so be patient!!), if you work hard, you'll find yourself able to do more, and the stories you create will be far beyond anything you thought you could do when you were 16, 17, 18. And at that stage you'll probably enjoy the process a whole lot more -- although, as with any job, there will of course be "bad hair days"!!!

One final point -- just because you're not having much excitement writing, it doesn't mean what you're writing is boring! It's hard to be objective when you're in the middle of a story. Some of my best scenes have been the hardest and dullest to write. Action scenes, for instance, are often incredibly tedious, because I have to describe so many details and angles and blows. They read fast and snappy, but they're a pain in the ass to create!!! Don't ever judge your story negatively just because you're not having fun with it. Take it to the end. See the process out. Give yourself a break. Then have a look at it again. Chances are, you'll find the story you hated so much bringing into the world will impress you much more now that you've brought it to life!!!

On Monday, September 4th, 1995, when I was 23 years old, I wrote the following in my diary entry for that day: "Had an idea for a new book. It's a mystery novel called Hell's Horizon. I'm a bit hazy on the finer details at the moment, but I think it could be good ..." Today, almost 13 years later, at the ripe old age of 36, I did my final bit of work on it!!! 13 years ... Bloody hell!!! It doesn't seem so much when I write it down, but when I think about the actual time, how I was then, all that's happened since, the days and weeks and months and years which have passed ... Of course, no book could really justify 13 years of a person's life, but I didn't work on it exclusively for all that time, so I don't feel too guilty -- indeed, there was a period of about 7 years where I did no work on it at all, after it had been printed for the first time in early 2000. At the same time, there's something incredibly satisfying about being able to create a story that can stay fresh in your imagination for that long. Very few of my books could hold me the way this one has -- the thought of going back to most of my early work to rewrite it gives me the shivers!!! But there was always soemthing special about HH and Ayuamarca and City of the Snakes. Even when I moved away from adult books, into the world of teen fiction, I always had a feeling that I'd return to these stories one day, that I had unfinished business with Capac Raimi, Al Jeery, The Cardinal and co.

And now that day has come -- and passed. 13 years later, the story of Hell's Horizon has finally, properly been completed. I was very happy with the original published version. Unlike Ayuamarca, I hadn't had to rush this book, and I felt it gave a very good account of where my writing stood at that time of my life. But since I revised book 1, it made sense to revise this one too, and I was amazed by the number of small changes and fixes I was able to make. Even though it's a fairly large book by my standards (just under 400 pages), it's a tight, compact work, where everything ties together neatly and no lines are wasted -- everything feeds into the story, moves it forward, keeps it ticking over. I know some fans will prefer the more fantastical realms of Procession of the Dead, but to me there's no doubt that this is a superior work, featuring more fully fleshed out characters, and a plot that functions exactly the way I wanted it to. That's really the whole aim of writing -- advancing to the point where you're able to tell a story exactly the way you want to tell it. With Procession, I love what my imagination came up with, but there are flaws there, things I just couldn't fix, no matter how many times I went at it. It's a damn fine book regardless, I think, but I do look at it and wish I could have done even more with it. That's not the case with HH. I've got this book down to a tee. If people don't like it, fine, that's their opinion. But I know I've done the best possible job in this case that I could do, and I'm as proud of this as I am of anything I've yet to produce. I think City of the Snakes will be even better once I've had a couple more passes at it -- it combine the tight narrative of HH with the more fantastical elements of Procession -- but for the moment I'm going to sit back and give myself a rare pat on the back for a book that I've lived with for a long time, and which I'm now ready to send out into the world for the second but final time.

13 years ... Wow. Hard to believe that much time has slipped by, and how my life has changed. Looking through my diary for that entry brought back so many memories. I was still working in a TV cable company in Limerick when I started HH -- I would quit later that month to try writing full time. It was an exciting but scary time of my life. I was taking a great leap, with no guarantee that it would lead to anything. I believed I could fashion a career for myself as a writer, but what if I was fooling myself? What if I wasn't as talented as I thought? What if it all went wrong and my dreams were crushed and the world laughed in my face and I ended up looking like a fool? I'm not a terrible brave person. I always say that my central characters in my books are a lot braver than I am in real life, and for the most part that's true. But taking that step -- leaving a job, risking all, challenging the world from my lonely bedroom in the arse-end of nowhere ... That was the bravest thing I ever did, and I'm proud that I found the strength to do that. It's a strength every writer must find when they make the decision to chase their dream. It isn't easy. It isn't nice. It's bloody horrible and terrifying actually, and there's nothing anybody can do to make it any easier for you, to help you find the strength within yourself that you'll need to make it in this business. But find that strength you must. It's a huge part of what separates the real writers from those who just play with the idea of doing it. The hardest part is making that initial leap, accepting that you might fail, but pushing ahead regardless. If you can find the strength to do that, everything else will come with time. But this is a tough business, and you have to start out tough if you want to force your way ahead in it.

13 years ...

It's a lifetime for most people, but for writers it's just the blink of an eye, the flashing of your imagination, the turning of a page.

Edited another big chunk of the page proofs of Hell's Horizon -- 130 pages!! Going through the proofs is the closest I ever get to "reading" any of my novels, and I go along at almost the pace that I would if reading someone else's novel, just a little bit slower. It's a crucial test -- after all the edits and re-writes, the months and years spent immersed in the world of the story, it's really only at this stage that you can experience the book in much the same way that readers will. If there are flaws in the pace or structure, things that you missed out while editing, but which bug you now -- tough!!! It's normally too late to go back and change them!! But if you've done your job right, everything should flow smoothly, and I'm happy to report that that's the case here. HH is probably the tightest, most polished of any of my books, since I've spent more time on it than on just about anything else I've ever worked on. I'm proud of all the books I've published, but I'm especially pleased with this one.

I got an email from a would-be writer called Samantha last week:

I just want to say first of all, that I am a big fan of your books. I have enjoyed them so much. I have two sets of the vampire saga and I have convinced my mum to read them after a few months of nagging. She also really enjoys your books and has hardly put them down since I introduced them to her. But that isn't why I'm writing to you. I know that you have answered some of this on the questions page, but I have something a little extra to add. The question I want to ask is not just how to write a good story, but how to develop my ideas. I have been writing stories for as long as I can remember. My mum even made me a game to encourage it. My main goal in life is to write a good book. It has always been a dream of mine. I can get a few ideas, and most of the time I remember them until I can write them down, but I can never seem to develop them. It is like I have permanent writers block. I love to write, I could write for hours, but when I can't develop my ideas I'm stuck. I know that you may not reply to this email due to your work, but if you can I look forward to your reply.

Ah yes -- the development of ideas!!! The timing of this email couldn't have been neater, since Hell's Horizon was one of the most troublesome books I ever had when it came to developing the central ideas! The first draft was virtually nothing like the book which will be released next March. It was a straightforward detective novel, a pastiche of Raymond Chandler that just didn't work. The second draft was better, but it didn't work either. It was only on the third or fourth go that I began to really develop the ideas and take it in a new, exciting, fresh direction.

There's no simple answer to Samantha's question, except the one I offer up to so many queries of this nature -- practice. You just have to get in the trench and start digging. Ideas are like quicksilver -- they flash all over the place and are hard to pin down. Sometimes a story will come together neatly inside your head, but usually it's not that easy. The best way to develop is to start jotting ideas down on paper. I've always found that when I write something down, it helps me focus on the idea. I then start questioning what I've written, playing around with it, bouncing other ideas off of it. That usually helps me take the ideas a bit further. And then I start writing, and in the writing process more ideas come to me. If at the end of all that, the story hasn't worked quite the way I want, I either move on to something new, or go back, examine it, pick at it, and try again. You have to prepared to get messy when you write. Writing is often about discovering answers as you go along, not just coming up with them at the beginning and then committing them to paper. You have to believe that a story will come together as you work on it, and if it doesn't, you just have to work even harder!!!!

Now that I've concluded the lecture for the night, a couple of light YouTube clips to finish up on. As I said in my last gew blog entries, I saw lots of great shows and comedians at the Edinburgh Festival. One of my favourite shows was a new piece called Crocosmia, by 3 young actors. You can see a trailer for it on YouTube, a very cleverly put together clip of bits and pieces from the show, which gives you a neat idea of its style: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIhDbml_LOk

One of the comedians who made a big impression of me was a Dutch guy called Hans Teeuwen. I didn't see his full show, but he was part of a late-night show I went to. The highlight was a song he did about Nostradamus, and I managed to find a clip of it on YouTube. This will put a BIG smile on your face, but be warned -- you're going to be humming this to yourself, and out loud in front of other people who will look at you strangely, for the next couple of days or longer!!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PatELskRWWA

I started editing the page proofs of Hell's Horizon (my next D B Shan book) today. By this stage an author shouldn't have much to do on the book -- if all has gone according to plan, you should merely be on the lookout for small errors or printing typos. If you find yourself wanting to make important alterations at this point, you've probably let the book go to print too soon!! That happened to me on Ayuamarca when it was first published. I was still learning how to edit a book, and when it went to the proofs stage, there were still a lot of things I wanted to change in it. The trouble is, once you get to the proofs part of the process, changes are costly and difficult to implement, so the book had to be published flawed. These days I have a much firmer control on my work, and I make sure I do enough edits before the book has to be proofed, so that I'm completely happy with everything. I'm happy to report that I've found nothing of note to change in the proofs of Hell's Horizon, bar one or two extremely minor things. It's always a relief (for me anyway) when you realize you have nothing left to do on a book, that you can put it aside at last and move on. I'm sure some writers feel a sense of loss, that they don't want to let go; you can get so wrapped up in a novel that it can be scary to finally finish with it -- but since I always have several books on the go at the same time, I'm never faced with a "What the hell will I do next?!?" scenario, so I'm always delighted when work wraps, as it leaves me free to go on to something fresh!!!

I received an email last week from a librarian named Melanie in Arizona which made me smile:

Three years ago I sent you the email below about visiting my school. I was a new librarian and didn't know much about you or your books, only that the kids requested that I ask you to come visit. Now with the past three years experience, I know how hugely popular you and your books are. They're always flying off the shelves. I am now a fan too.

Well...... I'm so excited to say that through perseverence, you are scheduled to come to Shepherd on October 29th!!!!!! I'm thrilled and my students are ecstatic. If we can do any thing to make your visit be just perfect, please let me know.

I always tell people who are interested in trying to arrange a Darren Shan event that it's by no means an impossible task. I tour a LOT, and I'm always willing to go to places where there's a demand. While it's not possible to respond positively to every request that comes in (I'd need 3 or 4 times the number of days in a year to do that!!), if you're organised, and determined, and keep trying, you CAN get me -- and Melanie is proof of that!!! I do what I can to help you guys. I make myself accessible, I provide links for my publicists, I give you tips on how to approach them and what they're looking for. But ultimately you've got to do a lot of the ground work yourself, seize the initiative and make things happen.

Back home after my week at the Edinburgh Festival. Like every year, the time flew by -- I always get there, start making plans for each day, and worry that time will drag, that I'll get bored of shows and comedy routines, and that I won't enjoy myself. But every year I get sucked into the magic of the Festival and end up wishing I could have stayed a few days more!! I'm exhausted, to be sure -- I pack a lot in when go there, probably more than I should -- but already I'm missing it and looking forward to the madness of next August when I'll hopefully be returning once again ...

Saw lots of goos plays and comedians over the last few days, along with a few weaker efforts. We saw Andrew Maxwell twice, MCing multi-comedian line-ups, and like last year, he was hilarious, one of the best comedians I've seen at work in a live situation. I've never caught a full show of his, but hopefully I'll set that right next year if he's doing another run. Paul Merton Improv and Ed Byrne were both fun, but ... I dunno ... they've both been around for a long time now, and while they're still funny, they don't feel as fresh as they used to. I think it's very hard for a comedian to maintain their edge for a long run of time, the same way it's hard for bands to sustain a career over 5, 10, 15 or 20 years. If you're good, and lucky, you get several hot, career-defining years, and then you either fade away swiftly or tip along at a nice, even pace like Merton or Byrne -- their shows were sell-outs, but attended largely by the sort of quieter, more discrete audience members that they would have made fun of in their prime. Comedy's really a young man's game -- I think that the truly great comics are those who are still fighting to secure their place, who have to work hard to get an audience on their side. Once you establish yourself, it's difficult to invest your gigs with the sort of energy and imagination that every great show needs.

One comedian who has no problem staying out there on the edge is Jerry Sadowitz. The foullest mouth in comedy, a man who has been shunned by television, his show is a unbelievably fast and furious rant at the world. He attacks everyone equally, all races, all religions, all heroes. He plays the part of the bigot to perfection. Some think he isn't playing, that this is how he really is. I dunno. Maybe he is. But I don't think so. A lot of what he says strikes home. He highlights the hypocrisies of the modern world, the way we buy a lot of what we believe simply because we think it's the way we SHOULD believe. Sadowitz shocks and offends, certainly, but he makes you think too. Does he go too far? Indisputably. But I think comedy needs him, someone who will never compromise, who won't play the game, who'll say whatever the hell he wants to. It helps that he's funny (and he really is -- if you ignore the content of his act, and just focus on his delivery, he's one of the best performers you'll ever see), but I don't think that someone this offensive could still be drawing large crowds after 25 or so years in the business unless there was more to his act than simple racist rants. A lot of people dismiss Sadowitz out of hand, but I think he's like Lenny Bruce -- a comedian who might be hated by many, but who'll be remembered long after he's gone. He's a damn fine close-up magician too!!!

A young comedian who's building nicely to his prime is Andrew Lawrence. We saw him a couple of years ago, when he first came to Edinburgh, and were very impressed. He was even better this year. If he keeps improving, he should be blistering hot in another year or two -- my advice is to catch him now, before he mellows out and starts playing huge venues to middle-aged crowds of polite punters!!

Anyway, the good, bad and indifferent all came to an end this morning, when we went to see a horror show for kids called Echo Chamber (I saw it a few years ago, but couldn't remember much about it, so I fancied catching it again). Then we caught a taxi to the airport and flew home. As I said above, I'm feeling very tired right now, and I can't wait to hit the sack. But it was a fab, fun, fascinating week. Edinburgh delivered the goods, as it always does, and I'm already making my plans for what I want to see there in 2009 ...

My event went nice and smoothly. I enjoyed reading the extracts. I think the book 8 scene might become a regular staple of my routine, and possibly (to a lesser extent) the extract from the book of my 4 book series, but I doubt if I'll do the book 9 scene too many more times -- it was hard to put it in context for those who hadn't read the books. It was an almost full tent -- close to 500 people -- my biggest crowd yet in Edinburgh, I think!!! Signed for more than two and a half hours afterwards. I think everyone went away happy -- I know I certainly did!!!! Since then I've been enjoying the Fringe, seeing lots of comedians and shows. The standouts have included a new show called Crocosmia, which literally moved me to tears, and then made me beam with delight -- a wondrous little gem of a play!! Russell Kane did a very funny hour of stand-up. Another show called The New Electric Ballroom moved me far more than I thought it would. 66a Church Road was another fab one-man play by the ever-reliable Daniel Kitson. I also went to see a double-act show which included Kristen Schaal, the lady who plays Gertha Teeth in the Cirque Du Freak movie -- it was very funny! The next day I spotted Kristen in the Pleasance courtyard, so I went up to say hello. She knew who I was as soon as I introduced myself and we had a nice, short chat. She said she'd loved the filming, and had had a great time. She also said Chris Kelly is excellent as Darren, that he's been a real find. Then she turned round to show me what she was wearing -- a Cirque Du Freak hoodie from the film!!!! I walked away with a BIGGGGG grin on my face!!!!!! Right, I'm off to catch my next show -- toodle-oo!!!!!

Flew over to Edinburgh yesterday (thank heavens for the direct Shannon to Edinburgh route -- it used to be a right pain for me to get up here in earlier years!) and went straight into Festival mode. After checking into our hotel and chilling out for a while, we went to see Absolution, by Owen O'Neill. He's one of my favourite festival performers, and this was a first-rate show. The subject matter was VERY dark -- it was about a guy on a mission to kill child-abusing priests -- but it was masterfully handled. A great start to our stay!! After that we met with Geraldine, my publicist, and had a tasty meal in Gusto (good pizzas!!!). Then Bas and I went to see Josie Long, a comedian who has received great reviews over the last few years. It was a nice show, but nothing spectacular, and I came away feeling disappointed. But after that we hit a Best of the Fest show, featuring a variety of comedians, and that was brilliant! They were all good, but Andrew Maxwell and Adam Hills were especially excellent, and Nina Conti and her swearing puppet were fascinating, much darker than I expected them to be! It was a late night -- it was after 2 in the morning before we got to bed -- so we slept in, then got up and went to see a children's show called Heartbreak Soup, about a boy who is getting his second heart transplant. It was uneven -- I didn't really feel involved for much of the show -- but the ending was lovely and I came away thinking about it, which is always a good thing. Now I'm off to do my own event -- which, needless to say, will be the highlight of the entire festival for everyone involved!!!!! :-)

Spent the last couple of days fine-tuning my Edinburgh extracts, tightening them up as much as possible. I never read out an entire scene from any of my books -- I always edit them down for greater impact. Reading a piece of work out live is very different to reading it to yourself from a book. Ideally an extract should work as well for someone with no knowledge of your work as it does for hardcore fans. That's one of the reasons my CDF and Lord Loss scenes work so well -- since they come from the first few chapters of their respective books, people listening don't need to know anything about the books at all to appreciate them. Given that I'm going to be reading from books 8 and 9 of a series this time round, it isn't going to be possible to make these particular scenes work as well, but I've whittled them down to their bare essentials, so they should hopefully be accessible to most of the people, including those who've never read any of the books and know nothing about me.

Performing -- i.e. reading out loud to an audience -- is very different to writing, and I think that's why a lot of writers struggle in a live situation. They think that if they simply read out an entire passage from their book, they've done enough. In truth, that's rarely the case, although most audiences will act as if it is. People in the book world (I'm including readers here as well) tend to be a very polite bunch, and I'm sure audience members sit very quietly at virtually all author readings, listen attentively, and clap at the end. It's not like live stand-up, where a comedian will get heckled if they don't do enough to entertain. But I think it should be. I think a lot of author events are very boring, because nobody ever tells the authors that they're BEING boring!!! Sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind! I think author readings can be funny, exciting, thrilling, scary -- all the things, in short, that the books themselves can be. At the best author events I've been to, the authors bring the stories alive and act them out and create the sort of atmosphere you can get at a concert or at a really good play. It's not exactly the same, but close. At others they simply drone on, and everyone responds politely, and I find myself stifling my yawns.

Not every writer is suited to a live environment. Many are better off sticking to the shadows, only doing press interviews or signings. There's no reason a writer SHOULD be good at performing live, since writing is a very solitary, anti-social affair. A lot of writers aren't confident reading out live in front of an audience, and I don't think pressure should be put on them to do anything they aren't happy to do. But if you DO make the decision to put yourself up in front of a crowd, I think you need to do your best to make it as entertaining as you can, to give them value for money (even if, as at many of my events, they're actually not being charged anything to come in!!). If you're going to play the game, play it as well as you can! I'm lucky in that I enjoy performing live, and have done since my very first event. I'm not a very social person in day-to-day life -- I'm quite shy, and I find it hard to make casual conversation, even with long-time friends, never mind strangers!!! Sometimes people who've just met me think I'm being aloof and unfriendly, but that's not the case -- I just often find it very hard to make connections and carry my end of a chat. I'm fine on certain subjects, like travel, art, books, films. But if I don't make an immediate connection with someone who shares the same tastes as me, I struggle -- and sometimes struggle big time!!! But, oddly, I'm totally relaxed in my "role" as Darren Shan. I sort of slip into an act when I get up in front of a crowd, and "become" a public-speaking author. I'm very theatrical and at ease, I joke around, I love reading out -- I have fun!!!

That makes it fairly easy for me, and I see touring as a natural part of my job. But even so, I try to put a lot of work into preparing for events, to keep things fresh, both for myself as well as for the audience -- but not doing exactly the same thing all the time, I stay interested in the material I perform live, and I like to think that shines through. I think you need to do that if you're a touring author, especially in this day and age. I'm always conscious of the fact that there are so many other things people could be doing rather than sitting in a tent or hall at one of my public events -- they could go to the cinema, a concert, the theatre, a comedy show, just sit at home and play a computer game... I genuinely appreciate the effort people make to come see me, and I do the best I can to reward that effort, to give them the most I can from my readings. It would be easy to just pick a chapter and read it out "as is" -- but that would be doing fans a disservice. You guys are entitled to a good show, and I think you should always demand it -- there's nothing wrong with a bit of politeness, but not if it leads to boredom!!!!

Anyway, what I'm saying, in short, is that I've done my best to make this a cracking good show, so I hope all of you coming have a good time. If you don't, please feel free to boo and throw rotten vegetables at me!!!!!!

Yesterday I sat down at my PC and settled on the three extracts that I'm going to read out at the Edinburgh Festival later this month. For those who are coming, the exciting news is that I'm going to be treating you not to one world exclusive reading ... not even two world exclusive readings ... but three, yes, THREE world exclusive readings!!! I'll be starting with a short, bloody scene from Wolf Island, following it up with a reading from book 9 of The Demonata, and then, after a hopefully lively and engaging Q&A session, I plan to finish up with a reading from my new four-book sereis (it won't be the same extract that I did last year). How's that for a one-two-three whammy?!?

The only downside to doing all-new material is that, since I haven't read it out in a live environment before, I'll probably make some mistakes, and it won't be as engaging as something I've done lots of times before. After 8 years on the road, I know what works best for an audience, and the "classic" Darren Shan show would run as follows -- open with my Cirque Du Freak scene where the wolf man bites off a woman's hand and Mr Tall sews it back .. swiftly onto the scene from Lord Loss where Grubbs first encounters LL and his familiars, in his parents' bedroom; Q&A; then finish up with the reading from the first book of my four-books series that I've been performing at most of my public events over the last year or so. I know, if I do those three extracts, that everyone's going to go home happy. I'm confident on all three pieces, I can act a bit and interact with the audience since I don't have to look at the words on the page very often, and all three extracts work perfectly in that order -- a humourous start, a dark middle, a necessary pause for Q&A, then the surprise punch at the end.

But Edinburgh's different. This is my ninth festival in a row, and although I get lots of new fans coming each year, quite a few come back to see me year after year. I'm always conscious of those repeat fans, and eager to give them something new, something different, so that they won't go away humming and hawing, saying "Different year -- same old routine." So I tend to make Edinburgh a place of experimentation and previews. I've tried out all sorts of new material up there over the years. Some of it hasn't worked, and I've never done it again. Some gets used for a year or two, then slips from my repertoire. And some bits become standard parts of my show, which I use at various times when on the road. The thing is, I never know in advance which is going to be which!!! I normally have a good idea, but there have been times when I've gone up with a scene I'm sure is going to blow people away, only for it to fall flat; and other times when I've been unsure about a scene, only for it to go down brilliantly with the crowd. I think this year's trio will work pretty well, though The Demonata extracts will only have full impact on fans who are up to date with the series, while the last reading will go over the heads of anyone who hasn't read my vampire series. Still, no matter what, they're still world exclusives, and those who come will be able to go away smug in the knowledge that they're a few steps ahead of everyone else in the world when it comes to knowing a bit of what comes next in the world of Darren Shan!!!! I doubt if this will be the most entertaining show I've ever done, but it's probably going to be one of my most revealing...

p.s. I'm going to need a couple of vounteers to help me out on stage with two of the readings. If you're a strong, confident reader, and aren't phased at the thought of getting up in front of 400-500 strangers, be at the entrance to the yurt (that's the author's tent in the corner of the square -- you turn right once you come through the entrance) twenty minutes before my event is due to start (i.e. 4.10pm). If I choose you, you'll get to hang out with me in the tent a bit before the event starts!!!

I've spent a good chunk of the last couple of days working on my DVD collection, organising DVDs alphabetically and/or by director, moving out the videos they're going to replace, making space for them on my shelves. It's a time-consuming process, but a necessary evil -- I have over 4000 films in my collection, so they have to be carefully organised or I won't be able to find anything!!!! Had a break from that this afternoon though, when I went to see Wall-E with Bas, my cousins Meara and Olivia, and my youngest next-door neighbour, Liam. I loved it!!! Very skillfully made, thoroughly engaging, funny but moving too. Definitely worth all of the praise it's been getting. I especially liked how it harkened back to the days of silent cinema -- its very dificult to tell a good story using only a minimum of words, but this one managed it beautifully.

I received the following email a couple of days ago:

I read your last few blogs and have noticed this 'Greater Good'. When you spoke about Robert Cormier, I realised how much alike your messages can be to his. His book 'Heroes' is a must-read in my eyes, small but very powerful, questioning the title of 'heroes'. We studied it as part of our English Language GCSE.

There was one question about your books that keeps coming to my mind, however; the way in which you create and develop your characters is quite unique, for example the 'Saga' vampires being different from people's stereotypical views. Is the way you do this by taking traditional items and then making small changes, or do these ideas come as a whole? In my writing, I find that whenever I get an idea, I instinctively find ways to change it to make it different and more interesting. I'm not sure whether that's just me.

As I've said many times on this blog, each writer is different. Each develops his or her own way of working -- it's a process of experimentation, finding what works best for YOU. There's no one over-riding "right" way to write -- every writer must develop in their own unique way, in order to write stories that are unique. But for me, the process generally works a bit like this. I'll get an idea and decide I'm going to do a certain type of story, e.g. with Cirque Du Freak I realised early on that I wanted to mix vampires in with a circus. I'll usually have a rough idea of what I want my story to achieve, but I don't often know more than that. As I go along, the story reveals more to me, and I play around with ideas and characters and plot lines.

For instance, originally Mr Crepsley was going to be travelling with a regular circus, which had only a tent of "freaks", like the side-shows of olden days. But as I started to write the story, I realised he needed a more fantastical backdrop, that his character would seem more natural if I placed him in a self-contained world of similarly mystical performers. That led me to ditch the regular circus and develop the freak show aspect. It ended up becoming an integral part of the story, but that wasn't planned in the beginning.

I knew from almost the start that I didn't want to do a traditional type of vampire. I wanted to play around with ideas of vampirism, and explore what it would actually be like if you lived that long, had to drink blood, but weren't evil. I had a vague idea that I wanted my vampire to be a bit like the samurai I'd seen in films by Akira Kurosawa (one of my favourite directors of all time), but I didn't have much of an idea of what the vampires in the series were going to be like when i was writing the first draft of the first book -- I wasn't even sure if I'd bring other vamps into it, or if we'd only ever see Mr Crepsley. It was only when I came to write the second book that I started to really tackle the issue, and began to develop my view of how exactly my vampires would live and behave. Because of the way I write (juggling several books around at the same time), I was then able to go back and re-write the first book, to make sure it tied in with book 2 and the others. Indeed, if I remember correctly, I was still developing my ideas of how my vampires would be all the way up to the Vampire Mountain trilogy!!

In short, no, I don't think you DO need to have everything clear in your head when you begin a story. Part of the fun of writing for me is finding out things as I write, of letting my stories lead me off in directions I hadn't thought about before, to explore new ideas. I like to be flexible when I'm doing a first draft. The most important thing about a book (in my opinion) isn't the attention to detail, but the rhythm and pull of the story. If you're writing a fantasy book, nobody's going to care if you develop a long genealogy for every character, and describe all the fantastical creatures in exquisite detail, unless you can find a good, involving story for them. The pace of the story should be your first priority. The details will come later, maybe in the second or third draft. You should be prepared to experiment first time round, to take the story in different directions, to try different things. Some will work, some won't. The stuff that does work, you can explore even more fully in subsequent drafts. The stuff that doesn't work, you can dump -- but it's better to make a mistake and dump it, than not make a mistake at all. Sometimes you can learn more by doing something wrong than you can just by taking the safe route and doing the "right" thing all the time.

Explore. Experiment. Have fun.

In my view they're three of the prime rules if you want to lead an interesting, satisfying life, and I think they're just as important if you want to write something interesting and satisfying.