Wil-Low Series: FAQ
Why did you create the Wil-Low Series?
TL;DR: I created this series so that people can no longer use the excuse that they lack the time to read books and/or that they only read non-fiction.
Long version of the answer:
I started my career in software. I created the open-source PDF library iText. Together with my wife founded a startup to build a business for the software. We grew the company into a scale-up with offices in Belgium, the U.S., and Singapore. In December 2015, we sold three quarters of our shares, I left the company in September 2018, and I sold my last shares in February 2020.
After leaving the company, I was looking for a new goal. On the first day of 2019, I made one—and only one—New Year's resolution: I would win at least one writing contest. I wrote dozens of short stories, and at the end of 2019, I had already won three contests.
Gradually, I elevated the bar, setting higher goals. I wrote non-fiction books such as Nijlpaard voor Kerstmis (2020) in Dutch and Entreprenerd: Building a Multi-Million-Dollar Business with Open Source Software (2021) in English. I also published short stories in Dutch and Flemish anthologies (EdgeZero, Godijn Publishing, LetterRijn...) and magazines (Fantastische Vertellingen, HSF, SF-Terra, In Tenebris, Weirdo's...). All these stories are registered in my personal Short Story Management System. In 2025, the Flemish Publisher Poespa Producties released Onvoltooid toekomstige tijd, a selection of 42 short stories.
Oftentimes people ask me: "What is your current job?"
I usually answer: "I'm a writer now. I write fiction."
I try not to show it, but that answer immediately makes me want to leave the conversation.
Instead, I ask: "Can I ask why not?"
The number one answer is: "Because I lack the time to read."
That makes me even more angry because people who give me that answer lie, not only to me, but also to themselves.
When I was CEO of my company, I had to manage offices in three continents, yet I still found (and made) time to read.
When people use the 'I have no time'-excuse, I often want to confront them with the fact that they'd better read a good book rather than waste their time reading and watching AI-slop on social media.
Other people say: "I read books, but I only read non-fiction; fiction feels like such a waste of time."
I don't get angry at such people, but they do make me sad.
Sometimes, there's more truth in fiction than they think.
Instead of sharing my anger and sadness, I decided to work on a solution. With the Wil-Low Series, I am providing books that can be read in a single evening; that is: stories that are about 100 pages long—which is the number of pages I read on average each day when I was the CEO of my company. For those who insist on reading non-fiction, each book comes with about 40 pages of background information, often in the form of illustrated end notes.
Why do you write a screenplay version of your stories before writing the novel?
I am perfectly capable of writing non-fiction books. I wrote two technical 500-plus-page books for Manning publications and a 400-page autobiography. But whenever I tried writing a book-size fiction story, I failed.
Writing a short story is like a sprint. I can easily write a short story in only a few houres. Most of the times, the inspiration comes during a walk with my dog. Writing a book-size story is like running a marathon, and for some reason I only had the stamina to run a non-fiction marathon.
That was frustrating, because readers of my book Onvoltooid toekomstige tijd (a selection of 42 stories published by Poespa Producties) gave me the feedback that some stories were too short. They wanted to read a longer version of stories such as Codebrekers and Ogen zo blauw. At the same time, they told me that those stories would make a great movie. When one of my stories, Precies zoals hij het wenste, was adapted into a short film, I thought: maybe I should write screenplays.
In 2025, I started writing Emperor of America. It took me quite a while to find the right technique. I submitted the screenplay to the BlueCat Screenplay Competition and the person who read it pointed out dozens of mistakes I had made. His or her advice helped me write a second screenplay, The Sisters Lovecraft. This screenplay won two honorary mentions. A third and fourth screenplay followed: Operation Downfall and Eyes So Bleu.
Gradually, I discovered the nature of my problem.
When writing non-fiction, I always started from a structure. My former publisher, Manning Publications, forbade its authors writing a single paragraph before finalizing the table of contents of the book. When I wrote my own autobiography, I also knew how I would build the story before I write the first chapter.
When writing short stories, I never cared that much about structure. At some point, I specialized in flash fiction—stories that are told in 250 to 1,250 words. You can hardly compare the structure of such a short story with the structure of a full-size novel.
The structure screenplays have to obey to, gave me the structure I lacked:
- (Prologue): Sets the stage, introduces key themes, and provides essential backstory before the main narrative begins.
- Act I: Establishes the ordinary world, introduces the protagonist, and presents the inciting incident that launches the story.
- Act II: Follows the protagonist as they face escalating obstacles, pursue their goal, and navigate a series of rising conflicts.
- Turning Point: Delivers a critical, high-stakes moment or revelation that irreversibly changes the direction of the story.
- Act III: Drives the narrative toward its ultimate climax where the central conflict comes to a head and is resolved.
- (Epilogue): Offers a final glimpse into the characters' lives after the dust has settled, providing emotional closure.
In the past, I often ended up on side-tracks, writing pages and pages that led me nowhere. I got lost in my own book. Now, I make sure every scene moves the plot forward. I also learned the discipline to make sure that every scene is in line with the theme. That's easy in a short story; it's not always that easy when you write a book.
Using this approach, I noticed that the screenplays Operation Downfall and Eyes So Blue were much richer than the original short stories Codebrekers and Ogen zo blauw. That's when I got the idea to adapt them as novels, starting with Codebrekers/Operation Downfall.
It also helps that I always visualize a story before I write it down. When writing short stories, I always wrote down what I saw in my mind. That didn't work for longer stories, but now that I use the intermediary step of writing the film before the novel, it got much easier.
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