Interviews
On Tuesday, January 13, 1998, barnesandnoble.com on AOL welcomed bestselling author Dean Koontz. Weaving fear, compassion, evil, courage, hope, wonder, and suspense into every novel, Koontz has sold more than 200 million copies of his 33 books worldwide, produced a dozen No. 1 New York Times bestsellers, and earned him the devotion of fans around the world. His latest book is FEAR NOTHING.
JainBN: Mr. Koontz, thanks so much for joining us this evening! It's truly a pleasure and an honor to have you.
Question: Do you plan on being personally involved with any movies or miniseries based on your works?
Dean Koontz: PHANTOMS, which releases January 23rd, uses my screenplay, and I served as executive producer. I think the film works extremely well, and I'm finishing a screenplay for another project on which I intend to have equal power. ABC is currently filming MR. MURDER as a miniseries to air in May, and I chose the screenwriter, Stephen Tolkin, who has delivered a tremendous script. So to some extent, I'm turning into a movie monkey.
Question: I love the way you use animals, particularly dogs, in your novels. Do you have any pets?
Dean Koontz: Right now, we are dogless, but that will change sometime this summer. My big problem is what to name the pooch: Einstein, Scootie, Orson (the dog in FEAR NOTHING), or Woofer.
Question: I loved the short story "Twilight of the Dawn." Did that story reflect your own religious views?
Dean Koontz: To the extent that I believe life has meaning, purpose, and a spiritual dimension, yes, the story speaks for me.
Question: Do you read a lot? What are you reading right now?
Dean Koontz: Lately, I've had so little time to read because of all the film work I've been doing, and because Bantam Books has the strange idea that I should remember my contract with them and deliver the sequel to FEAR NOTHING.
Question: Was there a book that was particularly hard for you to write for some reason? Which book and why?
Dean Koontz: They're all difficult to one extent or another. But they're all a joy at the same time.
Question: Are you a big fan of surfing the Internet?
Dean Koontz: I'm a big fan of surfing. All of the characters in FEAR NOTHING are surf mongrels. I don't dare let myself leap onto the Internet, because I am an obsessive-compulsive. I would probably not want to get up from the keyboard, and be found decomposing by the housekeeper.
Question: Were you happy with Katherine Ramsland's biography of you?
Dean Koontz: Reading two pages about oneself is embarrassing. Reading 500 pages about oneself is mortifying. I am the last person on earth to be able to judge Kathie's book. People whose opinions I trust tell me it's a very nice job.
Question: You used to write under a ton of pseudonyms. Was that your own idea or the publisher's?
Dean Koontz: It wasn't multiple-personality syndrome. My agents and publishers always wanted me to use a different name every time I wrote in a different style. I've absorbed all these identities within myself and will henceforth use only my name. I am, however, having a little trouble keeping all these personalities under control, and the biggest problem is that twice a year I have to buy new wardrobes of women's clothes to satisfy the Leigh Nichols in me.
Question: Are you going to revise and release any more of your earlier novels, like you did with DEMON SEED?
Dean Koontz: Ultimately there might be a couple additional titles of that nature. Right now I am finishing book number two for Bantam, and an unusual original novel that, like TICKTOCK, might appear in paperback.
Question: SOLE SURVIVOR was truly disturbing. Do you have any fears of flying?
Dean Koontz: Yes, I have spoken on the "Late Late Show with Tom Snyder" of an incident aboard an airplane that turned me off flying for the foreseeable future. You know your flight is in trouble when the nun across the aisle is screaming, "We're all going to die!"
Question: I understand you researched XP [xeroderma pigmentosum] for more than six years. What exactly did that research entail?
Dean Koontz: Obtaining every medical paper I could locate on the subject, and speaking with physicians and family members of those with the affliction.
Question: Your latest novel is about a man with a rare skin condition called xeroderma pigmentosum. How did you become acquainted with the existence of this condition?
Dean Koontz: The condition is not just of the skin, but of the eyes as well. Light of virtually any kind, even fluorescent lights and ordinary lightbulbs, can cause cumulative damage to people with this condition, leading to an early death from cancer. I read an article in an obscure journal about someone with XP, and as I became interested enough to research it, I also saw a story about two young girls similarly afflicted. The serendipity of seeing these two pieces close together seemed to me like an omen, and I knew I needed to write a book about it.
Question: Mr. Koontz, obviously you love to write. What other creative outlets do you explore?
Dean Koontz: Some of the work I've been doing in films, as an executive producer with teeth, has proved to be creatively satisfying. My wife and I really enjoy interior design, which is why from time to time we need to gut a house and remake it. I also enjoy making statues of Richard Simmons out of such ordinary household items as sugar cubes, dried beans, toothpicks, and cocktail weenies.
Question: Who are some of your favorite current authors?
Dean Koontz: I really like Jim Harrison, Anne Tyler, Elmore Leonard, and the host of writers who are my friends, so I dare not mention any of them, because if I mention some and not the others, I'll get no more dinner invitations.
Question: Even though it's the first of a trilogy, does FEAR NOTHING stand on its own?
Dean Koontz: Yes. In fact, each of the books in the trilogy should be readable in any order, and each should stand entirely on its own. This is proving to be an interesting challenge, but so far, I think it's working. Of course, all of you will tell me whether I'm right or wrong about that.
Question: Do you have any plans to return to writing short stories? I loved your collection STRANGE HIGHWAYS.
Dean Koontz: At the moment, I have no short stories planned. One of the problems is that a short story, if it's well done, takes me anywhere from two weeks to a month. A screenplay can take a month or two, and I'd much rather, at this moment, put all extra energy into screenplays rather than short stories. Writing short stories, I never get the chance to meet Peter O'Toole.
Question: The illustrated edition of FEAR NOTHING is gorgeous. Were you pleased with how it turned out?
Dean Koontz: I am a great fan of Phil Parks. I think he did a brilliant job on this. And if you check out the FEAR NOTHING Web site, you'll see two more paintings by Phil of other characters in the book, which were not included in the limited edition.
Question: What can we expect to see from Dean Koontz late in the year? What are you working on now?
Dean Koontz: Currently I'm polishing my shoes.
Question: At what point in your life did you know you needed to write?
Dean Koontz: I was writing from the age of 8, but I didn't know that I needed to do it until I was about 20. By the time I was 25, the act of writing itself was nearly as necessary to me as food.
Question: Do you retain any control of your story line when you sell the rights for a movie?
Dean Koontz: These days, I refuse to make a deal unless I've got a strong measure of control. I either want to write it myself or choose the writer, and have intimate involvement all the way through the cutting process. If I could clone myself, I would serve as the projectionist in every theater showing the movie.
Question: I was wondering if there would ever be a movie based on your novel LIGHTNING? I have to say, that was an incredible novel!
Dean Koontz: Thank you. I have never allowed LIGHTNING to be offered to film, because there are an infinite number of ways that Hollywood could screw it up. Currently I'm working with a producer to find a way to realize a production of this book, either from a script of mine or one by a writer I admire. Stay tuned.
Question: Have any of your books scared you as you were writing them?
Dean Koontz: I wrote half of INTENSITY while hiding under a bed.
Question: Do you have someone whose personal opinion and critique of your work you value more than others?
Dean Koontz: My wife. And then, depending on the project, I like to have a roundtable session with the neighborhood dogs to see what they think of it.
Question: How long does it take you usually to write a novel from start to finish?
Dean Koontz: I work from 7:30 in the morning until dinner with no lunch break, and those long sessions can be very productive, because you stay focused and more easily fall away into the story. Working under that schedule, I can spend anywhere from five months to a year on a novel. Although the average is probably between five and seven months.
Question: Dean, have you forgiven your father, or at least exorcised him through your books?
Dean Koontz: I exorcised him by learning all the lessons he had to teach me about how not to live a life. By living a life in opposition to his, the exorcism took place. Forgiveness is not essential, and forgetting is impossible. One simply decides to move on and to choose to be happy.
Question: Mr. Koontz, I loved TICKTOCK, and at the end of the novel you stated that you might consider writing shorter stories using the same characters. Will you still be doing that? If not, could you just do one more novel with those characters, dog and all?
Dean Koontz: I would like to write a sequel to TICKTOCK. But currently I am engaged in a series featuring the characters in FEAR NOTHING, and since one of them is also a dog, I think it might be too much of a good thing to revisit TICKTOCK in the near future.
Question: Where do you come up with most of your ideas? (Dreams, comments, things you have seen, perhaps?)
Dean Koontz: I own a time machine. I travel forward into the future and steal all my ideas from bestselling writers in the next century. That answer, believe it or not, makes no less sense than any other I could give you. I think ideas come so easily to me because I'm always working and, therefore, always exercising imagination.
Question: Mr. Koontz, first I would like to thank you for your company on all those nights of insomnia. Was there ever a time when you wanted the antagonist to win, where in the book he did not?
Dean Koontz: I truly believe that while evil can win in the short term, it rarely triumphs in the long term. In my experience, those people who live life in a way that causes pain to others eventually pay for it with great unhappiness of their own. People who live with consideration for others often live happier and more rewarding lives. I'm trying to take over from the late Mother Teresa. Is that what I sound like?
Question: Mr. Koontz, I have read all of your books and enjoyed them all. My question is, Will you follow King and Saul by writing a miniseries?
Dean Koontz: The only miniseries I might write would be for television. I understand why readers might like serial novels published in volumes, but it just seems too messy and expensive to me.
JainBN: This will be our last question for Mr. Koontz tonight.
Question: First of all, I want to thank you for all the enjoyment I received from reading your books for the last 15 or so years. Second, I would like to know, Which of your books was your personal favorite, and why?
Dean Koontz: For many years, I said that WATCHERS was my favorite of my own books. Others that came close were LIGHTNING, THE BAD PLACE, INTENSITY, and MR. MURDER. But right now, at this minute, I feel that FEAR NOTHING is probably the best thing I've done. Why? Because I love the characters in this book, and for me, the characters count more than anything else.
JainBN: Thank you, Mr. Koontz, and please come again upon the publication of your next book! Any closing comments?
Dean Koontz: I thank you for giving me your questions tonight. I hope you enjoy FEAR NOTHING. And please remember that extraterrestrials cannot be trusted with your credit cards.