During conceptualization, he pondered if he should set the story in the real world or in a fantasy one.

Derek Landy first came up with the series in the summer of 2005.The Hero of Drumree: A Beyond the Stars Story (2014).Doctor Who: The Mystery of the Haunted Cottage (2013).

Skulduggery Pleasant series (2007 - present).(In an autobiography he wrote that 'he has taught countless children how to defend themselves in the hopes of building his own private munchkin army'.) He attended Drogheda Grammar School and that he is also a black belt in kenpo karate. He said that he, prior to writing the Skulduggery Pleasant series, foiled a giggling maniac's citywide crime spree, wrestled a grizzly bear, and found the lost city of gold, also saying that he promptly lost the lost city of gold, because he was unable to remember which big tree it was next to. He also mentions that for the earlier part of his life, he was raised by foxes. Nothing much is to be found about Derek Landy's history as his autobiographies are very vague (In most of them he writes 'The reason Derek writes his own biographical blurb is so he can finally refer to himself in third person without looking pompous or insane'. A story he wrote on Twitter may or may not be canonical to the Skulduggery Pleasant Universe. He wrote two stories that are not set in the Skulduggery Pleasant Universe: One for a Hallowe'en anthology and another for the Doctor Who Universe, celebrating 50 years of Doctor Who. He currently lives on the edge of Dublin with his many cats and dogs. He has so far wrote 11 'main books' along with 3 novellas and a short story collection. The first novel of the series was Skulduggery Pleasant (Later re-titled as Skulduggery Pleasant: Scepter of the Ancients for the paperback release in the USA) was published by HarperCollins (which according to The Sunday Times paid €1million for the publishing rights). Later he moved on to writing the Skulduggery Pleasant novels. He himself was nominated for an IFTA for Best Script. (In a biography he refers to them as 'a zombie movie and a slasher thriller where everybody gets killed') The IFTA award winner Dead bodies and a IFTA nominee Boy Eats Girl. He has written two screenplays that have been made into films. He went to art college but left after a year. Derek Landy was born in 1974 in Lusk, County Dublin, Ireland.

Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy