Newport Coast author Dean Koontz says goodbye to a beloved character

February 8, 2015

Dean Koontz will never forget the moment he was kissed by the inspiration that would possess and obsess him for a series of eight books about a goodhearted fry cook with a supernatural talent for fighting the forces of evil.
What he’s never been able to figure out, though, even after more than a dozen years of writing about the uncommonly monikered character of Odd Thomas, is why: Why did this idea blossom from his imagination; from where had it come?
“I was sitting in my office, perfectly happily working on a book called ‘The Face,’ and having a good time with it,” Koontz says, sitting in a lounge chair at his home in Newport Coast, his golden retriever Anna asleep at his feet. “And the words, ‘My name is Odd Thomas, I lead an unusual life,’ popped into my head as if somebody in the room had spoken.”
It made no sense. It had nothing to do with “The Face.” But the name and the sentence intrigued him. Koontz picked up the yellow legal pad he keeps on his desk to make notes as he’s working and wrote it down and spent the rest of the afternoon writing longhand, ignoring the manuscript in progress on his computer screen, until he finished 30 pages, a first chapter.

Read the full article @ The Orange County Register.