Dean Koontz has a drawer stuffed with ideas he will never use.
The prolific novelist often scribbles down possibilities and tosses them in the drawer, where he estimates he has 80 plots collected. He needs about two a year.
Koontz's "The House at the End of the World" came out in January and "After Death" hits stores this week. He already has completed a couple of novels to be published next year, with "The Bad Weather Friend" due in January, by which point his output will be well over 100 books.
"Another idea occurred to me yesterday. So, as long as they're coming, I don't need to go to that drawer," Koontz, 77, said by phone. "And I don't think I ever will."

"After Death" is about Michael Mace. As a result of an industrial accident, his brain functions as if it's always plugged into the internet, accessing its information at a moment's notice. He becomes involved in the struggles of a woman and her son, trying to escape a violent ex who's been released from prison.
That plot grew out of reading about the "singularity," when humans and machines become one. Koontz's ideas also come from listening to Simon & Garfunkel songs, overheard conversations and deep dives into books that he impulse-buys. But he says he didn't always love that process.
Q: Do you enjoy doing research?
A: In high school and college, I hated it. I faked everything and got away with it. But as I started writing novels I discovered that if you made a mistake you would get mail about it. And I have this aversion to being called a fool. So I decided doing the research was essential and what happened over time was it became part of what I liked most about this job.
Q: How does that work?
A: Over the years, if I saw a book on an esoteric subject, I'd think, "I'm never going to write about that but, just in case, I'll buy the book." Same thing when a reader would write and say, "I like your books and my field of expertise is this and here's my business card. If you need questions answered about helicopters, I happen to be a military pilot." I save those cards and now I have this group of hundreds of people I can call.