Last week, author Lee Child was interviewed on Radio New Zealand. He said this about his writing process …
Basically, the first draft is what is published because I think that is the most honest draft and I have no real idea where the story is going at all. I don’t know any of the things that are going to happen. I don’t really know … sometimes I don’t even know what the subject is or what the crime is. I just start and I let it work itself out on the page. And then when I’ve finished I feel that’s like an honest document, you know, and that is the book.
It’s a weird thing because, you know, I’m a rational person and I don’t have a problem distinguishing fiction from reality, but while I’m doing it, it feels real. I think writers are like that. While we’re doing it, it feels real.
Click here to listen or download the full interview ( 24: 22 )
The quote above comes at 11:43