We are very privileged to have author Lee Child visiting us here at the cafe. So grab a cup of coffee and listen in.

LEE:

First of all, thanks for the coffee — my favorite drink.

CAFÉ:

Being from the UK, why set your books in the US?

LEE:

Well, we all have to write about what excites us, and it might not come as a surprise to hear that the US is much more exciting than the UK ... the geography, the diversity, the size ... it lends itself to the kind of stories I want to tell.

CAFÉ:

Have you found it at all difficult to have an authentic American voice?

LEE:

It's not really up to me to say whether it's authentic or not, but I certainly have fun trying it. All writers love language and dialect and differences, and trying to communicate accent and background through written lines is a challenge I enjoy. Plus, I've had 29 years of extensive access to the States now.

CAFÉ:

How long have you lived in the US and what brought you here?

LEE:

I've been here 5 years, and it was a lifelong ambition. Ever since I was 4, I knew I should be here.

CAFÉ:

Well I can say as an American, we're happy to have you here. Tell me a little about your books and what genre they are.

LEE:

I think genre boundaries are kind of stretchable. My books are somewhere in the mystery-thriller-suspense triangle. They all feature my tough-guy series protagonist Jack Reacher. He's a classic knight-errant, and appeals to men and women equally, I'm glad to say.

CAFÉ:

When did you first start writing? First start publishing?

LEE:

I started the day they told me they were planning to fire me from my job as a television director. I had to make a living, and writing seemed like a fun way — no boss, lots of fun. I finished my first book in the summer of 1995 and it was sold in December 95 and made it through the sausage machine to publication in March 1997. Since then it's been a book a year.

CAFÉ:

Why do you write?

LEE:

I've always worked in entertainment — I love anything that involves pleasing an audience. Being a novelist is firmly in that sphere, I think.

CAFÉ:

Do you have a day job?

LEE:

No, I write full time — I only started because I lost my day job!

CAFÉ:

That's right. What an inspiring story for wanna be writers out there. Do you have something you wish to accomplish with the things you write? What do you want people to take away with them when they read your writing? Do you ever have a message?

LEE:

Entertainment, primarily. I want people to close the book and feel they've had a really good couple of days. The books are full of messages, although I keep them in the background ... they're mostly about honor, nobility, being fair, doing the right thing. But they're not in-your-face messages.

CAFÉ:

What time of day do you find you are most creative?

LEE:

Middle of the afternoon onward. I'm a night person. I don't get up until about 10. Some of best ideas have happened around midnight.

CAFÉ:

At last another writer who's a night person. What sort of things do you do for fun?

LEE:

Read, of course ... listen to music, watch baseball, drive my T-Bird.

CAFÉ:

Cool, a T-Bird. Do you have a favorite author/authors?

LEE:

Lots of them are friends now — this is a business filled with very nice people. I read their books and it feels like getting a letter or a long e-mail ... it tells me what they were thinking and feeling.

CAFÉ:

A book or author that influenced you a lot? Personally or professionally.

LEE:

The honest answer is a weird one — there is a book that has influenced me every day of my life ... when I was about eight I read a boy's adventure book, set in the jungle ... when the people got up in the morning, in their tents, they shook out their shoes in case scorpions had gotten inside. That made a big impression, and to this day I always shake my shoes out before I put them on, even though I've never been to the jungle or seen a scorpion.

CAFÉ:

Interesting. Favorite mystery movie?

LEE:

"Seven." Just watched it again the other night. I love the bleakness, and the very brave ending. I also like "A Few Good Men," although that's more of a legal thriller. Great script.

CAFÉ:

Favorite mystery TV show? If you don't have a favorite mystery one, then some other type of TV show that is a favorite.

LEE:

The only thing I watch regularly apart from news and baseball is "The West Wing" — same writer as "A Few Good Men," and it shows.

CAFÉ:

How do you feel about writing? And how does it feel when you are writing? Excited, frustrated, is it just business?

LEE:

It's more than a business ... it's about personal relationships, really. Although one hopes to have lots of readers, each one reads alone, in a one-on-one relationship with the writer. So most of the time I feel anxious about not letting them down ... not really because of the money — $7.99 for a paperback is amazing value, and they'll get more money in the next pay check — but because of the time ... they can't get two days of their life back.

CAFÉ:

That's a great way of looking at it. What type of book promotion do you feel has worked best for you?

LEE:

Impossible to say. When I worked in TV, obviously we spent a lot of time and money on promotion, and we had a saying — "We're sure we're wasting half our budget ... the problem is we don't know which half." That's how it is.

Something like the "Today Show" produces a big and obvious blip. But you also need to keep going with low-profile internet stuff, too. Once I bought 500 copies of my first book in paperback and had them given away at Grand Central Station — I saw a blip in frontlist sales a few weeks later. It's all organic — you have to do everything.

CAFÉ:

Can you ever see yourself not writing anymore?

LEE:

I'll always do story-telling-in-my-head. Whether I write it down on paper depends on the market.

CAFÉ:

Pets? Types and names, please.

LEE:

Right now, only Jenny, who is a mutt, maybe 12 or 13 years old — a dog from the rescue pound. She's half Labrador, half mouse. Very sweet. She replaced Stanley, a Springer Spaniel who died age 16. Now he was a dog ...

CAFÉ:

LOL-she must look interesting if she's half mouse. That's awesome that you rescued her. We just rescued a pup ourselves. What part of you shows through in your writing? What does your writing say about you?

LEE:

My world-view shows through, I guess, my values and beliefs, my sense of humor, which is very dry and laid back. And in a prosaic way, my work ethic, I suppose — I'll always do a good solid book every year.

CAFÉ:

Where do you get your character names?

LEE:

I have difficulty with them. Often I open a paper or a magazine and grab a name. At least three names came from my daughter's friends — I would be sitting there struggling, and she would walk in with a friend who would go straight into the book. She's grown up and gone now, so I'm back to struggling.

CAFÉ:

What about writing is important to you?

LEE:

The chance to make a difference to someone's day, be it trivial or profound.

CAFÉ:

Awesome. I'm sure you've made a lot of difference in many lives. Advice to an unpublished writer?

LEE:

Ignore advice, how-to books, recipes and formulas — just write exactly what you personally would enjoy reading. That way, you've got an organic product that at least one person loves — chances are many others will, too.

CAFÉ:

Anything that you would like to add??

LEE:

Just thanks again for the coffee!

CAFÉ:

You are more than welcome — hope you enjoyed it. Your website url?

LEE:

www.LeeChild.com.

CAFÉ:

Thanks again Lee for joining us here — it's been fun.

©2007 Lorie Ham. All rights reserved.