7 Killer Techniques I Learned from 8 Hours Watching Lee Child's 'Writing Popular Fiction.'

Keep calm and carry on writing.

“Plot is a hire car” - Lee Child, author Jack Reacher series.

Photo by Valeriia Neganova on Unsplash

The BBC Maestro Series, launched as a competitor to Masterclass, bears very similar hallmarks to the famous education platform: brief lessons on a wide range of topics from writing to wine tasting to self improvement and cooking. All, of course, filmed beautifully. This is the BBC, after all.

I signed up to BBC Maestro over Masterclass for one reason: the writing course hosted by Lee Child. I figured this prolific author, who’s sold over 100 million books, would have some pearls of wisdom to impart.

He did, and then some.

I’ve only read a handful of Jack Reacher books– I prefer to switch my reading between multiple authors during the year. But what I read was tightly plotted, incredibly well written, sparse without being distant, and surprisingly, very human.

Despite being primarily a thriller writer, Lee Child manages to pack an awful lot of emotional depth and humanity into his books, and his kinetic writing style keeps you finger-swiping that Kindle page at the close of every chapter.

How does he do it? He reveals all in this 35-lesson course.

It’s 8 hours of profound clarity, no-nonsense writing advice, personal triumphs and failures. If anything, he makes it all sound too easy: but then again, isn’t that the true sign of greatness?

Making your life’s work look easy?

The biggest takeaway from the course was this: story is intrinsic in all of us, and we’ve read enough books and watched plenty of TV shows and movies to know when a story’s working or not. Lee’s advice? Ditch the bad advice promising to guide you through everything from the ‘inciting incident’ to the ‘all is lost’ to the ‘character change.’

You already know all of this; story is embedded deep inside all of us. Trust your instincts.

I saw this graph the other day and thought it was worth sharing as an illustration of the multiple approaches to story structure. Basically, all these approaches are a riff on a similar theme, and as a writer you’ll choose what resonates with you.

Lee Child uses the simple formula of spending the first half of a book setting everything up, then the second half resolving. Simple to say, not so easy to replicate.

What were the 7 big writing lessons I learned from Lee Child? The first…

You’re Never Too Old to Start Writing.

Lee Child didn't embark on his writing journey until he reached his 40s, and interestingly his professional transition echoes mine.

Back in the day, we were both ‘presentation directors’ at UK TV stations: Lee at Granada TV, Manchester, myself at Channel 4, London. It was a high-pressure job, where you sat at a huge bank of monitors, ensuring the commercials rolled, the shows aired on time, and you were tasked with making the big decisions on interrupting people’s favorite shows for breaking news. I remember being on shift when then first Gulf War broke out; I can only describe it as organized chaos with a side order of mild panic.

Similarly, I wrote my first book, Anglesey Blue in my late forties, and it was published when I was in my early fifties. I’ve written four books since then and working on a new , legal-style thriller set in the Bay Area. I’m still twenty-odd years and several tens of millions in sales behind Lee Child, but hope, as they say, springs eternal.

Be a Reader First

Lee emphasizes the importance of being a voracious reader and how immersing yourself in diverse literature expands your understanding of narrative styles, character development, and storytelling techniques. This lays the foundation for your own writing journey.

This echoes my opening comments on how instinctively we understand story, but that only comes from constant reading and story becomes hard-wired inside you. This isn’t new or radical advice, Stephen King says exactly the same thing, though more directly:

“If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.” - Stephen King.

How Not to Make Your Reader Seasick

Balancing action and description is crucial. Just as a roller coaster ride can make you queasy, erratic pacing or excessive details in writing can easily disorient readers.

If everything you write has a velocity of 100mph, your readers become just as bored if your writing’s plodding along at 10mph. Bouts of heart-stopping action balanced with periods of reflection and setup are crucial to keeping readers engaged.

Plot is a Rental Car

This lesson was the one that stuck with me the most.

While a strong plot drives the story, it shouldn't confine the characters, and at the end of the day, characters are what readers turn up for. Lee Child’s first agent fell in love with the character of Jack Reacher, not the 200,000 word manuscript Lee first delivered. (It’s comforting to know even the most successful authors don’t always hit the mark right off the bat).

He sees plot as a rental car because you only require plot for the length of time you need to pick your readers and deliver them where you want.

Don’t waste your time trying to develop a brand new plot that’s never been read before; chances are, it’s already been written anyway. Controversially, Lee also believes there are only two types of plot: one where the hero stays in his familiar surroundings to figure out his/her conflict, and one where the hero leaves the familiar to do battle with outside forces.

Not sure if I completely agree with this, but I love his advice about focussing more on character and how they drive that rental car you’ve hired for the plot. And as everyone knows, the rental car is yours to thrash all the way from New York to Vegas and back again. In other words, give that rental car hell.

To Plot or Not to Plot - Pantsers vs. Planners

The debate between writing by the seat of your pants ("pantsers") versus meticulous planning ("planners") will play out for generations. Lee's 'pantsing' approach—writing without a detailed outline—to me, is like jumping off a cliff, not once in a while but everyday I sit down to write.

Lee’s process is remarkable. He sits down every September with a blank page and writes. Ten months later, his first draft is done. That takes some serious discipline. Not just showing up, but showing up with purpose.

I'm very much in Lee’s camp here, but I’m more of a pants half on, pants half off kind of writer. If I plan too much, I get bored with my story, which means my readers get bored–I’ll do whatever it takes to avoid that! If I don’t plan a little ahead, I can stare at a page wondering where the hell the last two hours went.

This half chips, half rice approach seems to work for me. What’s your preferred process? Let me know in the comments section; I love discovering how other writer’s brains tick.

A Prose that Trips Forward

This is a great practical tip for ending paragraphs and more importantly, concluding chapters. Think of this not just about writing cliff-hanging sentences at the end of every chapter (which could get predictable for your readers), think of it instead as the rhythm of the words as you write that last sentence; the flow should always tip forward, so it compels readers to keep on reading.

A gradual slowing down of the pace, some meaningful repetition, words that rhythmically resonate to create an almost musical progression in the readers mind as they take a breath, reflect on what’s passed, and steel themselves for what’s coming next, turn the page, and keep on reading. (Just like I did in that last sentence).

Write the Fast Stuff Slow, the Slow Stuff Fast

Understanding the pacing of your narrative is essential. Writing action-packed sequences with precision demands a slower, meticulous approach, while infusing life into slower, character-driven moments benefits from a faster pace.

This really made me re-evaluate how I write action scenes, and it makes perfect sense. Instinct teaches you to write action in short, staccato sentences, when you should do the opposite. Write in longer, more structured sentences that allow readers to revel in the action, and you’ll keep them hooked for longer. Action scenes can be confusing; write longer and you’ll avoid the mayhem of word-assaulting the reader in your eagerness to keep them hooked.

On the scenes that are more reflective, set ups, place descriptions and the crucial exposition scenes, keep it tight, write shorter sentences so it moves quickly.

Master this balance and you’ll delight your readers.

Final Thoughts.

I thoroughly enjoyed this course, and Lee Child is a careful, methodical and very clear instructor, obviously very well read and educated, and whip smart. He’d make a great professor. I didn’t always agree with everything he said, but that’s the joy of writing; you read, you learn, then you chart your own path.

Next time, I’ll report back on Ken Follett’s, Writing Bestselling Fiction, which I suspect will be an entirely different kettle of intellectual fish.