 | 27 Oct 07 |
Over at Novel Journey yesterday, they interviewed master storyteller Dean Koontz.
I’ve been a fan of Koontz for years. Not only is he prolific, he has an amazing voice and the way he says things is almost as important as the story itself–except you don’t lose yourself in the words to the detriment of the story. He often inserts dogs in his books, and WATCHERS is probably one of my all-time favorite books. However, THE DARKEST EVENING OF THE YEAR may come up there because it’s another dog book, this one the protagonist rescues golden retrievers.
Ironically, I hadn’t read anything about this book until this morning, but yesterday Karin and I (with the help of Officer Friendly) worked through a story-essential plot point (one of those plot points you need to know before you start . . . though already I’m starting to change some things. I just needed to know that my “what if” worked. If does, so I can play around 
. . . anyway, Karin and I were chatting about Claire O’Brien, my heroine, and what type of person she would be. Her father murdered her mother (she believes) while her mother was in bed with a lover. Claire knew about the affair and feels guilty because she told her dad about it. She blames herself–and her mother for sleeping around and her father for losing his temper–and grows up bitter and lost–a lost soul, Karin says. We figured out she’s a fraud investigator because she assumes everyone is lying and she can dig out the truth. And it popped into my head: she loves animals. Humans, she can’t trust–they lie, commit adultery, kill–but animals, particularly dogs, inspire trust and love unconditionally. So she has a houseful of animals she’s rescued and is trying to find homes for–which I hope will redeem her for some of the not-so-heroic things she does.
Anyway, Koontz doesn’t plot and I thought the interview was fascinating on many levels. Enjoy!
© 2007 – 2009, Allison Brennan. All rights reserved.
Allison Brennan is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling and award winning author of seventeen romantic thrillers and several short stories. She lives near Sacramento, California with her husband and five children. Recently, RT Book Reviews called Allison "A master of suspense." And Lee Child said of her Kincaid series launch, "A world-class nail-biter ... Brennan is in the groove with this one." For fun Allison enjoys wine tasting, swimming, kids sports, playing video games, and "of course" reading. Her most recent release is IF I SHOULD DIE, book three in the Lucy Kincaid series. Watch for SILENCED coming on 4.24.12.
Subscribe to Posts 
I love Koontz. He does high concept brilliantly, and has the story to back it up. I remember reading Watchers, back when he was Dean R. Koontz, LOL. Why did he drop the “R,” by the way?
I’m off to read the interview now. Thanks!
by spyscribbler October 27th, 2007 at 9:09 amI just read The Good Guy by Koontz. He’s a master writer.
You have a great backstory for Claire. In my wip, I have 4 women protagonists. Two of them have pets and it’s such a pain for me to remember to include the pets when we’re at their homes, lol. I know I’ll have to add mentions in during my revision. Have fun with that.
by Edie October 28th, 2007 at 5:41 amWATCHERS still scares me!
by Karin October 28th, 2007 at 9:50 amWatchers is my favorite Dean Koontz. Strangers was kinda cool too. His stories always go off on a tangent I never see coming. Makes reading his stuff so much fun.
by Amanda October 28th, 2007 at 3:36 pmugh. out of all of koontz’s books that i have read, watchers still hasnt reached me yet lol
by Heaven November 20th, 2007 at 10:16 pmDean Koontz Interview…
Bookmarked your post over at Blog Bookmarker.com!…
by the darkest evening of the year January 23rd, 2008 at 4:30 am