Lee Child, the author of the perennially best-selling Jack Reacher series, sits down to write each day unsure of what’s about to happen.
“I get the same shock the reader gets,” Mr. Child says, “at the end of a chapter. ‘Wow, I definitely did not see that coming.’ And the really funny thing for me is when, afterward, a reader will say, ‘Oh, I had it all figured out by Page 50,’ and I think, ‘Really? I didn’t.’”
Mr. Child is one of several prominent thriller writers who recently spoke about the writing process with Tina Jordan, an editor at The New York Times Book Review and the host of this special edition of the Book Review’s podcast. Ms. Jordan is also joined by Meg Gardiner, Megan Abbott, Lisa Gardner and Lisa Scottoline, who shares Mr. Child’s surprise at her own creations.
“I have no outline,” Ms. Scottoline says. “You know when people say, ‘Do you know how it ends?’ I don’t know how it middles, I don’t know anything. But I know the beginning.”
Listen to the episode for more, including how the Zodiac killer inspired Ms. Gardiner’s interest in crime and how Mr. Child choreographs Reacher’s fight scenes.
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