12 hour Short Story - Lee Child

[James Marinero]

I don't know if anyone else here spotted this story. Reporter sits alongside Lee Child as he writes a short story in 12 hrs.

Maybe we could all do that - my problem is having the core idea to start with. But then, there are no new plots, right?

Here's the masterclass (not my word) at the Independent

 

[MaryA]

So interesting. Thanks, James.

 

[Rich.]

I second that!

 

[Paul Whybrow]

The startling thing about Lee Child is that he's written all of the Jack Reacher books while stoned out of his mind...to my mind, this explains a lot about his style and plotting (or lack thereof).

Lee Child: 'I've smoked cannabis five nights a week for 44 years and my dealer's on speed dial' | Daily Mail Online

 

[Rich.]

I should imagine he'd be only mildly high. Smoke for that long, your tolerance is going to be enormous. I don't usually drink coffee, so one cup has me twitching prodigiously; compare with friends who drink it like water, go to bed on a flat white and sleep for nine hours. Child's style and plotting must be down to something else...

As for the article, it does feed nicely into that tortured artist cliché – the romantic notion that we all create better when out of our minds. Not so sure, to be honest. Interesting read, though. Thanks for sharing, Paul!

 

[Paul Whybrow]

I used to be a very heavy drinker—27 years of pissing thousands of pounds against the wall—though, I've been clean and sober for 21 years. Back in my drinking days, after a night of monumental indulgence, when I was so inebriated that I had to hold onto the floor, which was spinning and tilting like a record player deck with a broken spindle, I decided to write a short story. I used a fountain pen and a pad of A4 paper (this was 1982) to compose quite the best thing I'd ever written. I went to bed happy, looking forward to reading it in the morning. What I found, on waking, looked like a seismograph chart—an illegible scrawl without discernible words! I sometimes wonder if that story is lurking somewhere in my memory banks, afraid to re-emerge....

 

[Carol Rose]

I can't write worth crap with even half a glass of wine in me. And I don't smoke weed or indulge in any street drugs.

 

[Rich.]

I'll often have beer before writing – just the one – but that's probably more to do with flicking the switch between modes: Daddy mode off; Writer mode on.

... I sometimes wonder if that story is lurking somewhere in my memory banks, afraid to re-emerge....

There's a short story in this! The story that mustn't come out – what if you'd found the meaning of life, the recipe for success, the secret to sobriety?

To be somewhat more serious, I'm with you, Paul. A decade of my life was fairly hazy. Being creative under such circumstances is very much in spite of the tomfoolery, rather than being enhanced by it – in my experience, at least. But getting back to Mr Child, I'd bet good money that he's one of the 'high-functioning' ones. Whatever your poison, when we think of problem users, we tend to think of the chronic ones. We forget that it's perfectly possible to lead a life of apparent normality while still being dependent on [insert appropriate ingestible vice] (William Burroughs anyone? Well, maybe not...) – I never lost a job because of my lifestyle, but that doesn't mean I'd recommend it to friends. I wryly salute Mr C if he's able to churn out bestsellers while toking away. Good luck to him!