by Bavo Dhooge

Author Bavo Dhooge

I’ve been a professional writer/author now for 15 years, writing all kinds of books, from crime novels to science fiction. Next year I’ll celebrate the publication of my 100th book at the end of 2016. Every one of my books has a title that begin with the same letter: S. Yes, everybody has a thing. Maybe this thing will even get me in to the Guinness Book of World Records one day. Who knows? Anyway, because of these titles, in my homeland, I got a funny nickname, ‘The S-Express’. It’s a gimmick that holds all 100 of those different books together, from my LA-set noir series, to my latest novel coming out in English, STYX, a story about a zombie cop hunting after a serial killer.

At lectures or signings, I often get asked: why the hell does anybody want to write 100 novels? I always give the same answer: I consider writing a craft. Just like a carpenter can make 100 good chairs, a writer can write 100 good books. The more important question is: how were you able to write so many novels (without turning into a zombie yourself)? Every writer has a different process, but perhaps mine will help you. For each of my 100 novels, I’ve created an extensive “Pre-production” stage. Before I even set finger to keyboard, I go through each of these X steps: