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" I'd been a thriller reader all my life. "
Lee Child
Been
Reader
Life
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" You know, women are as promiscuous as men and yet, of course, people are inhibited from having an affair or a relationship because the real-world consequences are a drag. "
Lee Child
People
Know
Men
" You mustn't fall in love with your own hero. "
Lee Child
Your
You
Own
" British crime stories tend to be very internal, psychological, claustrophobic, very limited in terms of geography. "
Lee Child
British
Crime
Geography
" I had been coming to America very frequently for many, many years, so I had plenty of exposure - and maybe the best kind of exposure, because I think first impressions are very important. Maybe I notice stuff that is just subliminal to people who live here all the time. "
Lee Child
Live
Best
America
" I have the 'thing' worked out - the trick or the surprise or the pivotal fact. Then I just start somewhere and let the story work itself out. "
Lee Child
Work
Somewhere
Surprise
" So, how to stay inside the world of entertainment without actually getting another job? I felt the only logical answer was to become a novelist. So I wrote the first book - driven by some very real feelings of desperation - and it worked. "
Lee Child
Job
World
Real
" I've discovered writers by reading books left in airplane seats and weird hotels. "
Lee Child
Left
Airplane
Books
" Male authors always take care to make their heroes at least one inch taller than they are, and considerably more muscular. Just as female authors give their heroines better hair and slimmer thighs. "
Lee Child
Take Care
Better
Care
" I do a little fact checking now and then. Other than that its impact is simply that email has revolutionized communication for me, and my website has built up a community of readers, which is a lot of fun. "
Lee Child
Me
Communication
Community
" Practically any Western has a homesteader in trouble, and a mysterious rider shows up off the range, solves the problem over two or three days, and then rides off into the sunset. "
Lee Child
Two
Trouble
Up
" I love Italian food but that's too generic a term for what's available now: you have to narrow it down to Tuscan, Sicilian, and so on. "
Lee Child
You
Down
Love
" The key to thrillers is vicarious pleasure. "
Lee Child
Key
Thrillers
Pleasure
" It's a tough case and the first time Reacher needs to recruit somebody to help him out. He uses a woman he knew in the army she's a fascinating character. "
Lee Child
Tough
Character
Help
" 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.' "
Lee Child
Office
Write
First
" She's a reflection of my fascination with the diversity of America she's totally normal in New York, but a freak in Texas. There are dozens of such clashes in America. "
Lee Child
America
Diversity
New York
" I just felt from personal observation that there is nothing more dislocated or alienated than a lifelong military person trying to cope in civilian life. It's like two completely separate planets. "
Lee Child
Life
Trying
Personal
" The thriller is not a recent invention. It probably goes back to the dawn of storytelling. "
Lee Child
Back
Storytelling
Dawn
" I have three desks. One empty for paperwork, one for the internet and email, and one for the writing computer. "
Lee Child
Three
Writing
Empty
" It's always tense when you move a character from a book to the screen. Always tense. "
Lee Child
Always
You
Move
" My mother still calls me Jim and that is about it. Everyone else calls me Lee. My wife calls me whatever. "
Lee Child
Me
Whatever
Wife
" In principle if I could not have a home I wouldn't. But not having a home would be too difficult procedurally, going from hotel to hotel, the gap of three hours where you're hungry and tired. "
Lee Child
Hungry
You
Tired
" We know we need civilization and laws and procedures, but isn't it frustrating? Wouldn't it be great if we could just do what we needed to do? "
Lee Child
Need
Civilization
Laws
" I need a stimulating environment to write because my books are driven at 100 miles per hour at a time. "
Lee Child
Need
Time
Environment
" I wanted readers to be genuinely unsure as to whether she's telling the truth or lying. It meant making her partly sympathetic, and partly unsympathetic, which wasn't easy. "
Lee Child
Telling
She
Truth
" A calm environment is for after I finish work. "
Lee Child
Finish
Environment
Calm
" Yeah, I am pretty sure of myself. "
Lee Child
Sure
Pretty
Myself
" The British regulatory system was revised, so that bigger profits were encouraged, which removed the option of big spending on programming. Quality just fell off a cliff, and all the old hands either left or were fired for being too expensive. "
Lee Child
Programming
Quality
System
" I don't know what the secret is when I am writing it - it really is a surprise to me. "
Lee Child
Surprise
Writing
I Am
" There is nothing wrong with just telling the story. "
Lee Child
Story
Just
Nothing
" Writing is showbusiness for shy people. That's how I see it. "
Lee Child
How
People
I See