Elias
Elias asked Darren Shan:

Where did you get the idea for Cirque Du Freak, and how much of the Darren Shan character is based on yourself?

Darren Shan Hi Elias,

the idea came to me one day when I was sitting in a car, babysitting a young cousin who was asleep. I was flicking through a Goosebumps book and reflecting on the fact that I would have enjoyed those books if they'd been on sale when I was a child, but at the same time noting that they were very formulaic and throwaway. I started thinking that what I REALLY would have loved as a child and teenager was a book that was as easy and catchy to read as Goosebumps, but that held more surprises in terms of its structure, and that was as dark as a Stephen King book. Then I had an idea for a boy who meets a vampire at a circus and reluctantly becomes his assistant... and it all exploded from there!

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