|
BOOK
9
-
Killers
of
the
Dawn |
PLOT OUTLINE
Book 9 of The
Saga Of Darren Shan.
The
hunters have become the hunted. Pursued by human forces,
they are now wanted fugitives. Before they can hunt for
the Lord of the Vampaneze again, they must first outwit
and outpace the mob on the streets of the city. If they
survive, they face their longest night and most testing
challenge to date. Will any of them live to see the dawn?
Killers
Of The Dawn is the third and final part of "the
Hunters trilogy". The Saga Of Darren Shan continues in Book 10:The Lake Of Souls.
AUTHOR
NOTES
!!!PLOT
SPOILERS!!!
Some
readers on
my message
board have
compared the
structure of
the Saga to
Star Wars!!!
This
actually
isn’t as
crazy as it
might
sound!! I
was thinking
about those
movies when
writing the
books,
though I
wouldn't say
they were a
huge
influence.
Though I did
pay homage
to them with
the "May the
luck of the
vampires be
with you"
line!!!
I
actually had
to write
most of book
9 twice!!! I
was doing
the first
draft not
long before
book 1 was
released.
(Yes, I was
that far
ahead of
schedule!!
Though I
would spend
the next few
years
editing it.)
I had most
of it
written,
maybe 100
pages or so
(the books
normally
come out at
around the
130 page
mark on my
PC) -- when
my computer
crashed!!!
Once I had
it fixed,
and checked
my back-up
copy, I
realized I
hadn't been
as cautious
as I should
have been --
and only had
something
like the
first 20
pages saved
to disc!!!!!
Rather
than get
depressed
about it, I
just
accepted
that it was
my fault and
resigned
myself to
having to do
an almost
total
rewrite. I
was about to
go on
holiday (to
Sinai -- my
first trip
abroad since
I was a
teenager),
so I left
the book
until I
returned,
then sat
down and
wrote it all
again. I
have to say
it was for
the best --
since I'd
already
written most
of it, I
knew where
the problem
areas were,
so I was
able to do a
very strong
new first
draft,
probably the
closest to
the final
version of
any of my
books.
Though it's
not
something
I'd like to
have to face
again!!!
These days I
backup to
disc at the
end of every
writing
session --
something I
recommend
ALL writers
should do,
since you
never know
when that
fatal crash
is going to
happen!!!!
I loved
the idea of
setting the
action
within the
space of 24
hours -- it
allowed me
to crank up
the pace and
have
everything
happen
really
quickly.
(I've used a
similarly
fast style
in Lord
Loss,
the first
draft of
which I
wrote not
long after
writing book
9.)
I knew from
far in
advance that
XXXcensoredXXX
was going to
bite the
bullet in
this one, so
that wasn't
a hard scene
for me to
write,
though my
stomach did
clench a bit
when I was
doing his
final speech
(as it did
every time I
read through
it when
editing).
The one bit
of the book
which
troubled me
was the
scene just
after his
death -- the
fake rescue.
This was in
the first
draft, but
every time I
came to edit
the book, I
was intent
on removing
it. I just
felt it was
too cruel,
that I'd be
hitting
readers
twice with
his death --
giving them
hope that he
was going to
survive,
then killing
him off
again. But
every time I
came to that
scene and
re-read it,
I saw that I
had to leave
it in -- it
drives home
the fact
that he
really is
dead, that
there isn't
going to be
some
miraculous
resurrection,
either in
this book or
the others.
Sorry,
folks!!! |
