Dan Brown on his new book, 'The Secret of Secrets,' and how he manages the writing process

NEW YORK (AP) — The plots of Dan Brown's novels have so many turns that even the author has to make sure he can keep it all organized.

“Anybody who writes a thriller needs to have a plan. There's a great saying that the thriller writer who starts a book without knowing where’s he's going is just lying,” he told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

“And certainly these books are very complicated. One way I sort of battle, trying to keep it all straight, is to write every single day, just to keep it fresh. If I go through two sleep cycles (without writing), it starts to evaporate. And, of course, I also have what looks like a detective’s chalkboard in a police station. We’ve got the pictures and the yarn and the notes and the sticky notes, all that on my wall trying to keep it straight as well