Derek Landy – number one bestselling author of international smash hit series Skulduggery Pleasant – hosted a stellar event at Seven Stories this Saturday. It was the perfect opportunity to hear from Derek and ask tons of questions…our work placement Bethany had a ball. Here’s what she had to say…
The event was part of a tour to launch Derek’s new title Demon Road – a brilliantly fast-paced novel for lovers of supernatural YA fiction. The story follows Amber Lamont, a teenage girl with a dark family secret and, let’s just say, ‘turbulent’ relationship with her parents. When Amber discovers her mother and father are trying to kill her (I did say it was a turbulent relationship, didn’t I?) she is forced to go on the run in a desperate attempt to save her own skin.
Skullduggery Pleasant even showed up!
As with many of Derek’s books, horror is a running theme throughout the novel. In his own words, Demon Road pays homage to many classic American horror archetypes – like the killer car of Stephen King’s Christine and cult film favourite The Blair Witch Project. Derek is a passionate fan of the genre, and recalled that when he was younger he didn’t pay attention to age restrictions on literature. “When I was a kid we didn’t have YA, we didn’t have the range of books,” he said, “I went straight from The Hardy Boys to Stephen King.” Always conscious of how far he can push the boundaries of dark themes for his audience, Derek described his work as “graphic violence in the best possible taste!”
There was chance to ask Derek questions and many of the YA audience wanted to know about Amber as a character – mainly surrounding body issues and identity. Derek explained that he reads as much as he can of his fans’ tweets, Facebook messages, blogs and emails and wanted to reflect what he had learned to help him develop Amber’s character. He wanted to challenge the idea that “people who aren’t immediately beautiful are ugly,” and has done so in a relatable way. He also touched upon the importance of creating strong female characters – citing Buffy the Vampire Slayer as a huge influence, and why he chose to write about a teenage girl, joking “I was never a teenage girl… that phase just passed me right by!”
Young writers in the audience will have been inspired by Derek’s in-depth discussion of his writing process. From forming the bare bones of an idea, to scrapping everything he had written a month before his deadline (!) in order to re-work it. Derek reassured budding authors that it’s okay to take a breather if something isn’t right, as well as sharing tons of other valuable writing tips.
A brilliant evening was had by all – even though Derek failed to deliver on his promise to explain the plot of his new novel entirely through interpretive dance! Derek really brings the humour of his novels to life when he speaks and also took the time to sign copies of his new book for all his fans. After a hilarious and hugely entertaining event, I can’t wait for the next instalment of Derek Landy’s new series and hope to see him again very soon!
What else I learnt…
- He found Dying of the Light the most fun to write in the Skulduggery Pleasant series
- He has no plans for a prequel to the series because he “has seen Star Wars!” (We’re secretly a little gutted about that but you just can’t fault his reasoning!)
- If Derek could have a superpower, he’d choose teleportation – so that he’d never be late for anything again!
- The favourite line he has ever written is, “I’ve always been a bit of a Baroque chick!”
LoveYA 