For His Writing Only

Suspense writer Dean Koontz, who turns out about one bestseller a year, inserted poems into about 20 of his novels. The dark, mysterious verses were credited to “The Book of Counted Sorrows,” leading many of his fans to search in vain for copies of the tome.

Recently, Koontz revealed that he is the author of the poems and that “The Book of Counted Sorrows” is a product of his imagination. A collection of the verses was released this week on the Internet as an electronic book that can be downloaded for $4.95 from https://www.barnesandnoble.com. The e-book, which also includes an introductory essay by Koontz, can be read on a computer screen or a portable e-book device. It also can, after downloading, be printed onto old-fashioned paper.

Koontz, 56, and his wife live in Newport Beach.

DESKTOP: I have a Compaq with an oversize NEC monitor. The whole setup is getting kind of old--I’ve had it for about four years, maybe longer. Once I get comfortable with something, I’m reluctant to change it too much. I’m the same way with clothes.

Q. Did you get into computers late?

No, I was one of the first writers I know to get a computer. In 1981 I had just finished a novel with a manuscript that ran 800 pages. My wife figured out that because I do so many drafts when I’m writing I had used an average of 31 pieces of typing paper for every page. Generally, I retype a page every time I make changes. She said, “Just imagine if you could make your changes without retyping the whole page every time.”

I got an IBM Displaywriter that was a dedicated word processor. It was an elephantine machine, but it worked very well for me. I kept it until they couldn’t repair it anymore.

When I first got a PC I struggled with the software. I was using WordPerfect, which I still use for letters and some other things. But it wasn’t good for manuscripts. I had a meeting with the director John Badham--he was sort of a computer buff--and mentioned that I didn’t like what I was using. He said I should be using Word. The next day I got a call from John Badham’s assistant saying that John had bought a copy of it for me and was going to have it installed. I was so astonished--I had not experienced much generosity of spirit or wallet in Hollywood.

The guy came down and installed Word 5.0, and I’ve never updated.

Q. How did using a computer change your writing?

I’m the sort of writer who does one page at a time. I might go over it 40 or 50 times before I go on to the next page. So for me it was a godsend because it increased the amount of polishing I could do. It allowed me to be more excessive. I assume that’s the benefit, that you could make a book more and more perfect until you reach the ultimate. Then you die and go to heaven.

Q. You are known for working 70 hours a week on a book. Has the computer made you any faster as a writer?

Probably not. I think that the speed it saves is more than eaten up by the time I take to do additional polishing and drafts.

LAPTOP: I don’t have one. I work so much already, and I worry that if I had one I’d take it with me those few times I get away.

HAND-HELD: My assistant has one for addresses, but I’m about as low-tech as you can get. I don’t have e-mail either. I get 12,000 to 18,000 letters a year from readers, all of which get a response. We also get business mail. I decided I don’t really need to be easier to reach.

Q. Wouldn’t it be easier to handle much of your correspondence through e-mail?

I don’t think so. We send readers an 8- to 12-page newsletter we produce here about books coming up and so forth. They also get answers to frequently asked questions that cover a lot of what they ask about. And I manage to write a line or two in response to about 2,000 of the particularly good letters. It would be hard to send all that by e-mail.

Plus, it would not be as much fun to receive.

Q. How do people reach you? Through your publisher?

That’s the way it used to work. But they don’t always get it to you on a timely basis, and then you might get a huge bundle you have to deal with all at once. If there are delays in getting out responses, it looks to people like you took all that time.

Now I print an address on the back of the books. It has not really increased our mail.

BOOKMARKS: I have never been on the Web. My computer does not even have a modem.

I’m an obsessive person, and every time I become interested in something I become interested to the point of obsession. My guess is that I would react to the Net in that way.

Q. It doesn’t make you feel old-fashioned or not connected to the world?

I don’t write by candlelight. We do have electricity. But there is only a limited amount of time in life, and I figure I could probably be on the Net two hours a day. I don’t have those hours.

Also, I’ve been told many times that there are a lot of sites dedicated to my work. But I really don’t want to know what’s on them. I don’t want to be too influenced by what people say, whether it’s positive or negative.

Q. In interviews you have talked about having a difficult childhood and that for you, books were an important refuge. Is that part of the reason you are not much interested in electronic media?

I love books. It’s true that books resonate very strongly with me, and that is probably part of the reason I stay off the Net.

But I think the main reasons are time and looking at what people say about you. There are some writers who write from the outside in. I write from the inside out.

--As told to DAVID COLKER