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Welcome to the eleventh episode of the Reading and Writing podcast featuring an interview with Lee Child, New York Times bestselling writer of 13 thriller novels featuring Jack Reacher. Child’s latest novels include Gone Tomorrow
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“The ever-resourceful and vengeful Reacher takes on nearly a score of the bad guys in an exciting climax to an enthralling book…complete with cover-ups and numerous intriguing twists.”—Library Journal, starred review
“A superb New York novel…. Child grounds his hero’s hard body and hard-drive brain in believable detail, and he sets the action against a precisely described landscape.” —Booklist, starred review
“All good thriller writers know how to build suspense and keep the pages turning, but only better ones deliver tight plots as well, and only the best allow the reader to match wits with both the hero and the author. Bestseller Child does all of that in spades…. [He] sets things up subtly and ingeniously, then lets Reacher use both strength and guile to find his way to the exciting climax.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review
Thanks for the Lee Child podcast. Nice interview! Good for me to hear “My advice is to ignore all advice,” as I’m trying to break into the mystery field in a setting not done before (it also helps me ignore what he said about people wanting their lead characters to be superhuman, since mine isn’t). I’m glad to hear he starts from a germ, a paragraph or an image and sees where it leads him. C.S. Lewis got into the Narnia series that way, & I’m trying it too. And it was just great hearing him viva voce with that lovely English accent. Good questions–you got a lot of stuff out of him in a short time, low key, easy going, and most interesting. I esp. enjoyed his answer about setting the series here in the US, with him being from England. Very best wishes!
Don, thanks for the kind words re: the Lee Child interview? For someone with his success, Lee was incredibly cooperative and flexible in recording the interview.
And, as you said, he has a lot of good insight on what works for him – and I think his books and success speak for themselves.
Jeff
Love this. Especially his words about not writing to committee. Thanks for sharing the link to your podcasts over on WU!
@Normandie, thanks for the kind words. Glad you liked the Lee Child interview. He has a lot of great writing wisdom to offer.
Hi: I’m going way out on a limb here, thinking you might read this message; even further out on the limb (It’s shaking under the weight of my cantilevered position now) thinking you might respond.
You see I have something in common with your prime character. I was a Marine Officer, and my rank was the same as Reacher, except in the Marine Corps that means something. We were both in law enforcement roles; he was an M.P., I was JAG – tried a lot of criminal cases.
I’m also a graduate of the Naval Academy (Annapolis), so Reacher and I have possibly, just possibly, a little bit of commonality there.
You can call me Daniel no-middle-name Grieg. (If that were my real name, I wouldn’t give it to you. You understand.)
I’ve written a novel or two, so I might even have something in common with you – the muse behind Reacher.
Why I’m writing is to commend you on work that is compelling.
You get the details right. You know the inner man. You portray a depth of reality that is prescient. BUT, you’ve MISSED something, an opportunity to display Reacher from the inside that would explain a lot.
I recently found out that I have a brain disorder on the autism spectrum. I’m high functioning so this disorder (an incurable condition) didn’t hold me back, in fact, if I were to guess, it actually led me in the direction of self- improvement.
Reacher is an appealing character to me because he has some of the same attributes that I recognize in myself. I think he is a candidate for analysis. A protégé in many ways. I mean who can believe his memory for detail is normal. He sees patterns where others see haze or confusion. Reacher is persistent to a fault, never giving up until his mission is done. AND, let’s not forget he does not fit in. He never did, as displayed in his early childhood mischief, and yet he benefited by military discipline — same as me.
Research a disorder called Asperger’s Syndrome. It will give you latitude to develop even further Reacher’s inner mind and it may give you a reason he is a comfortable loner, traveling from place to place, with no roots set down.
When I was in law school (I was given three years “Excess Leave,” after infantry training under the tutelage of Oliver North, to attend law school and return as a JAG officer) friends who got to know me called me a gypsy. They couldn’t imagine me settling down and actually practicing as a member of a local bar.
They were right. Although my sojourns in places lasted years, not days, I was always comfortable pulling up roots, selling off property (both real and personal) and moving to another state. I was a member of the bar in four disparate states, west coast to east coast. Four bar exams, four character investigations, and four sets of fingerprints on file.
The California bar was the most fun.
I share this with you not to impress, but to explain why I am convinced Asperger’s Syndrome is the root cause of my odd behavior, behavior similar to Reacher’s.
Look into it – Aspie Adults, we are called. Reacher might be relieved to find out who he really is and why he acts the way he does.
Best to you,
D. Grieg +