Count me in

So I'm reading my first Lee Child book. And I wonder to myself, what if Lee Child is having a bad day? Every writer has days when they think they stink. What if that's what Lee Child is thinking right now?



DEAR LEE CHILD:
YOU ARE A FREAKING WRITING GENIUS.

Some writers say they don't enjoy reading fiction as much anymore since they started writing because they can see everything the writer is doing, they can see where all the tricks and manipulations are being employed. And that's just fine, whatever works for you. But when I hear that I can't help but think, you're not reading very good fiction.


Because I can sort of see what Child is doing. If I go back over stuff I can sort of see where he's building tension, where he's racking up the plot, where he's twisting the screws to make you keep reading. But I also know he's doing a hundred other things I can't see, small things in the background that I'm not catching, and now I'm fascinated and I can't put the book down. Good fiction, no matter who you are, isn't see-through. Good fiction makes you put the book down and say, how did he do that?

There's always that mystery to writing, always more to be learned. Great writers show you how little you know.

And now I'm going to go back to it. Because I have to see how this thing ends.