Author Q&A

Dean Answers ‘Burning Questions’ on New Manga & Comics

Recently, Diamond Comics interviewed Dean Koontz for their Burning Questions feature.  Here’s what Dean had to say about his upcoming manga prequel, IN ODD WE TRUST,  based on his bestselling character Odd Thomas and a comic book series based on Dean’s FRANKENSTEIN:  THE PRODIGAL SON. 

BQ: What was it about the comics medium that convinced you to use it for these stories, and why should fans of your prose work make the crossover with you?
(Robert Scott, Owner Comickaze & AFC Studio, San Diego, CA)

Dean Koontz: Comics and graphics novels are visual media that, unlike film, do not require 643 producers and others to muddle-up a story during its adaptation.  Just a couple of comics writers and an artist keep it truer to the source and more powerful.

BQ: Dean, most of your novels are self-contained stories that begin and end in a single volume. What was it about Odd Thomasthat made you want to revisit him so many times? (Anonymous)

DEAN: I love the guy.  I knew he was on a journey, but I didn't know the purpose of the destination — and I had to find out.  It'll take six books to fulfill his destiny.  I all but bounce up and down in my chair with excitement every day when I'm in the story with him.

BQ: Do you feel having a mainstream author creating stories specifically for the comic-book market benefits both the book and comics markets? (Anonymous)

DEAN: Sure.  Maybe.  I hope so.  Who knows?  Besides, I'm mainstream in sales, but I don't share the views of the fiction establishment.  In their postmodern nihilism, my views are heretical.  The day I am "mainstream" as it's now defined will be the day I've lost my soul.

BQ: Have you thought about having Demon Seed revisited as a graphic novel?
(Steven Leaf, Brand Manager, Diamond Comic Distributors, Inc.)

DEAN: That's an intriguing idea.  But it would have to be based on the rewritten version I reissued about a decade ago.  It's immeasurably better than the original novel.

BQ: You have two big books listed in the same Previews.  What was it like to work with the Dabels and Del Rey?

DEAN: Del Rey’s In Odd We Trust is a Manga, focused more on character and tone than on slam-bang story.  The Dabel Brothers adaptation, Frankenstein: Prodigal Son #1 is, like the books, full-on action and thrills, but moody.  I like both of them for different reasons, and everyone was great to work with.

BQ: You have such a way with your characters' dialogue, it seems to flow naturally and always rings true.  How do you go about making your characters "speak"?  Is it purely an internal process or is it more involved?

DEAN: I give my characters free will.  The story is never outlined.  They go where they want — and surprise me.  When they speak, I don't force them to feed information to the reader and advance the story.  If they want to digress, I let them.  If each is a vivid individual, his or her dialogue will be unique.  And often in the digressions, we learn about them and discover new dimensions in the story.  When a character says something funny, I laugh out loud because it’s as if I'm hearing it, not writing it.

BQ: I won't get on an airplane without a Dean Koontz novel (Odd Thomas is next).  On a recent flight, I read Ticktock and absolutely loved it.  If you were allowed to cast the film adaptation of the book, who would you cast in the role of “Deliverance Payne”? (Marty Grosser, Editor, Previews)

DEAN: That's tough.  She's such a hoot.  If you could cross a young Goldie Hawn with a young Katherine Hepburn, that would be it.  Of those are current actresses of whom I'm aware, there are some who are tomboy sexy and sufficiently smartass, but I can't think of one who combines those qualities with the killer intelligence and drop-dead sophistication that Deliverance also embodies.  Suggestions?

BQ: Was Ben Affleck truly "The Bomb in Phantoms, yo?"
(Jason "Jay" Derris & Robert "Silent Bob" Blutarsky, Leonardo, NJ)

DEAN: I couldn't take my eyes of Joanna Going.  Was Ben in that movie?  Fact is, Ben and a lot of good people were in it — not least of all Peter O'Toole, a great guy — and it drove me crazy how the suspense would be cranked up in one scene and vitiated in the next.  I'm sure it made Ben nuts, too, though he was able to go straight from our little project to a huge hit!  I have written about the painfulness of film adaptation, and some day I will write much about my bizarre experiences on this one.