I came across the photo below on the Daren Shan Discussions Facebook page and thought it was too sweet not to share! The writer, Maria, definitely has much nice handwriting than mine -- I think, if I ever released a page of handwritten quotes, very few people would actually be able to read what I had written!!! :-) Here's what she said about the photo: "I have a habit of scribbling down quotes I like when I see them in books to save for when I need some positivity. I have about ten pages across various notebooks with Darren Shan quotes on them..."

I love it when fans like Maria highlight old quotes of mine, not least because I'm often surprised by them -- there are very few that I actively remember, and sometimes I have no memory of them at all and have to ask myself, "Did I really write that?!?"

I try not to labour too long over the lines that I write. My goal is always to set a good working pace when I sit down to write, and I find that when a story is going well, nice lines tens to unravel almost by themselves. Sure, I go through my drafts over and over and over again (at least 6 or 7 times before a books sees print), and I do a lot of rewriting and tweaking and fine-tuning, but more often than not a truly decent line springs naturally out of the story and needs little if any shaping by me. Indeed, I'd go so far as to make a musical allusion and say that with a really good story, I feel more like a composer than a conductor...

To keep the musical allusion going -- if you'd like to check out my 243rd Shanville Monthly symphony, you won't need to shell out for an opera box, you can simply click on the folllowing link -- I hope that proves to be sweet music to your ears!!! :-) https://www.darrenshan.com/news/shanville-monthly