Chapter 5
Writing Thrillers: A Scribe’s Life
Unlike creating art or playing music, writing is essentially a solitary profession that doesn’t lend itself to public exhibition. For that reason, people are curious about how books are written. In fact, ask any writer what question they’re asked the most often, and it’s always “Where do you get your ideas?”
It’s not a question that’s easily answered, because ideas are only the starting point. The thinking that’s done long before Child sits down to write is where the heavy lifting is performed; by the time he sits in front of his computer, he knows exactly what he wants to say, and he begins writing. In quick order, words pile up: Sentences become paragraphs, paragraphs become scenes, scenes become chapters, and a book is completed.
Child’s office has the usual writer’s paraphernalia, whereas his austere residence resembles an art gallery. The office, Child told the Wall Street Journal, is filled with books and Reacher stuff, because “I need a stimulating environment to write because my books are driven at 100 miles per hour at a time. A calm environment is for after I finish work.”
Mindful of his modest roots as a writer, he keeps two mementoes that serve as inspiration and a reminder of his humble beginnings: a pencil now only three inches long, which he bought along with other office supplies when he began writing longhand to create Killing Floor; and a small sculpture, a miniature typewriter with a sheet of paper sticking up; the text therein reads, “Reacher said nothing.”
Child, who does not outline his novels, has refined his writing process to a science. Because Child’s novels incorporate key twists and turns that resolve themselves only at the end, the clues must be planted early in the novel.
Child takes up to six months to write a Reacher novel, averaging 120,000 words. He works steadily and watches the word count add up.
Lee Child Says . . .
“I write in the afternoon, from about 12 until 6 or 7. I use an upstairs room as my office. Once I get going I keep at it, and it usually takes about six months from the first blank screen until ‘The End.’”
He works on an Apple iMac. Child uses Microsoft Word software: Most pro writers do since it’s the de facto standard, and all text files can be saved in that file format.
Child, who is not a four-fingered typist, hunts and pecks using his forefingers. He also sits in an ergonomically designed chair.
Writing days begin when he sets Microsoft Word to single spacing and begins writing.
After a day’s work, he reads what’s done and makes minor corrections. He believes in working efficiently and effectively, which is a skill he learned when he wrote copy under deadline in the television industry. It has served him well: Unlike other writers, he doesn’t write multiple drafts, which he deems an inefficient use of time.
Turning out a well-crafted novel annually means there’s no time to waste. Child has gotten his writing routine down to a science; thus, his publisher can count on him to deliver on time, like clockwork.
Lee Child Says . . .
“This is a tough trade. Launching one book every year is a new mountain to climb every time, and if you can get any help at all carried over from previous years, you need it. Of course, one of the great helps is, if it is a series, the new book is kind of ‘pre-approved.’ It’s a much lower hurdle to get over. I think with people who write stand-alone books, the author’s name obviously continues and counts for something, but you’ve got a slightly higher mountain to climb.”
He turns in a finished book in March, allowing the publisher plenty of time for the publication process: book editing, copyediting, proofreading, typesetting, designing a publicity campaign, etc.
When the book is turned in, it frees Child to spend the spring and summer to take a break and let his creative batteries recharge. He takes personal trips and attends conventions, conferences, and other public engagements. Let’s face it: After writing nonstop for several months, it’s good to get out and see the world.
Child novels ship to bookstores nationwide in September, well in advance of the holiday season, many destined to be bought as Christmas gifts. Three critical months that comprise the busiest bookselling season of the year— September, October, and November—allow sufficient time for readers to start the buzz online, posting reviews on blogs, discussion boards, and on the websites of the two biggest online booksellers, Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
After Thanksgiving weekend, when the holiday shopping season begins in earnest, tall stacks of his novels are strategically placed up front in stores to catch the customers’ attention. The placement is subsidized by the publishers, who pay for the exposure. As in real estate, book sales in retail stores are all about location, location, location. In short, there’s no way you will miss the arrival of a new Reacher novel.
During this time, Child is promoting the book and already hard at work on the next book, which is due in March of the subsequent year. Then the cycle repeats itself like clockwork.
It’s a simple plan: Publish one novel a year, each approximately the same length, using a recurring character, set in a different locale, with different plot twists. It’s a proven formula for success and one that consistently ensures Lee Child’s latest novel will be on the best-seller lists. It also means the readers don’t get any rude surprises. They know what to expect, and Child does not disappoint them: He crafts each novel to meet their expectations.
Lee Child Says . . .
“There’s nothing wrong with just writing ‘he was a tall man with brown hair.’ Just tell the damn story.”
In other words, he’s got the writing down to a science, using a formula that has consistently produced best-sellers for eighteen years.
The Jack Reacher Series:
THE DEFINITIVE AUTHOR’S EDITION
According to Publishers Weekly, the eighteenth Reacher novel, Never Go Back, sold 300,000-plus copies.1 A $28 hardback, it’s an attractive book in its own right, but hardly rare: You can buy it virtually anywhere, online or in brick-and-mortar stores; moreover, its text is identical to that of its electronic brethren, the lower-priced e-book version ($6.99).
Instead, imagine holding in your hands a beautifully bound book with marbled paper on leather cover with sewn signatures. Envision opening it up to discover it’s limited to only 100 copies and signed by the author. It also has a new introduction by Child written especially for this edition.
Thanks to Otto Penzler’s small press, the imagined has become reality. A limited edition set of all the Jack Reacher novels will eventually be published.
Because each costs $150 for the numbered edition and $275 for the lettered edition, they aren’t priced for the average reader; they’re for die-hard fans who won’t settle for anything less. Only time will tell if these prove to be good investments. But in the interim, ardent Lee Child collectors will want to add these to their libraries. It’d be enough to make fellow collectors, or at least Reacher fans, positively green with envy.
Order your copy at www.mysteriousbookshop.com.