Can Lee Child (and the BBC) really help you become a writer?

A review of the Lee Child BBC Maestro online course and whether it is worth your time, and money.

Writing is a craft. Without doubt, some individuals naturally possess the skill to construct enthralling compositions or compelling stories with ease, while others like myself have to revise and rework our drafts multiple times, yet regardless of what level we are at, we all have one thing in common - we want to produce something better than our last piece of work.

That is why workshops, courses, feedback groups and even how-to guides not only exist but are a constant companion for us. While sales are nice, the sense of satisfaction we get from making our last story better than the one before is immeasurable.

However, the feeling of personal accomplishment doesn’t pay the bills, or even cover our own writing costs. It is here that this course from Lee Child enters the frame. With over 100 million copies sold worldwide, he certainly knows a thing or two, and regardless of whether you like his work, he has to be respected for what he has achieved both in terms of a lasting character and sales.

This BBC-created course comprises 35 video lessons and carries an original tag of £80, yet is often lowered to £48. To me, this devalues the product and, spoiler alert, after completing the course, I think the reduced price is where it should sit (and evidently so do the BBC).

Why did I sign up?

Several factors combined to make me purchase the course. I was curious about what I could learn from incorporating more commercial considerations into my writing, and when a price reduction coincided with the first royalty payment for my creature feature book, Killerpede, I gave it a go. Be warned though, if the BBC notice you are interested then they will serve you a never-ending stream of programmatic ads to wear you down. Perhaps it worked with me.

What did I think of it?

The BBC's marketing and Lee Child's introduction both provided clarity on the course's purpose from the outset. They would not teach me how to write, but with Lee Child as the guide, they would support me in revealing the information that I already held about writing a successful book.

The early lessons are heavily reliant on Child’s opinion, with some being overly verbose and others contradicting the guidance given in more technical how to guides or advice. With that said, Child frequently mentions taking only what you find is useful, but I would add to that and say to look deeper behind the advice given here.

One area in which I do strongly disagree with though, is his argument that a good book can only come from a single mind. One only has to look at all the partnerships that have successfully written, sometimes iconic, crime fiction.

Continuing on, the course does a lot to reinforce that this is about popular fiction, and by default sales, rather than critical acclaim. However, that does not mean to chase popularity but to consider what you write, what you buy, and to distill that into a concept that has mass appeal.

To put it bluntly, take that knowledge and make the reading experience as smooth as possible for the reader. Taken to the extreme, this is essentially dumbing it down so that as many people as possible, of all levels of reading interest and ability, can engage with your story.

Despite this, you should not resort to writing simplistic tales with repetitive, rudimentary language but gain a detailed understanding of your narrative, its characters and its significance so that you can condense it as much as practicable while propelling the reader forwards.

In the words of Einstein, “If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough” and before we judge authors such as Lee Child (or Dan Brown), it is essential to remember that “easy reading is hard writing.”

Moving beyond the general advice, at around the twenty percent mark, we start on the more technical elements of the craft (POV, tone of voice, themes and pacing etc.) and it is here that Child expertly uses his own examples to help illustrate his points.

Despite being a popularist writer, his breadth and knowledge of literature is impressive, and it does show that he is not someone who just got lucky but someone who understands story and can distill it into something that equally appeals to a broad audience. This harks back to his quote earlier.

The course goes on in this manner matching fascinating insight with strong examples, not all of which are drawn from Child’s books but one criticism I had of the course is that his opinions are just that, opinions, although again he balances this by stating that you should be free to question all rules and advice.

For example, he emphasises that character biographies are superfluous, that plotting can lead to stories becoming formulaic (hence he avoids it), and that show don’t tell is sometimes taken to an extreme.

All interesting, but it’s up to you to decide how and what you want to take and implement.

Is it worth your time?

Often coming across more like A conversation with…, the course is unashamedly motivational rather than how to, and for that reason the value derived from it will entirely depend on the learners’ expectation and requirement.

The knowledge gained from this course was more implied than explicit, encouraging students to listen, engage and reflect on the material in order to gain a better understanding.

The course handouts were made available as a downloadable PDF, and while they usually merely recapped what was in the video, they sometimes offered additional and beneficial information that delved further into the material seen in the video. Although usually they just rephrased the same content in a more concise way.

However, these documents represented a missed opportunity by the course creators, especially now we are all used to online learning and technology has moved on from static PDFs.

Who is it suited for?

People who love Lee Child’s work and/or are considering writing series popular fiction. Although anyone who just needs a motivational boost would also benefit from this.

Which was the best lesson?

For me, it was undoubtedly Lesson 21, Churning, smoothing and combing, in which Lee Child talked through his editing process and considerations. His examples of how even a minor change can have a significant impact really brought home the importance of reading through and reading out your words.

Would I recommend it?

If you can afford it, have the time to spare and are a fan of the author, then you will get value out of it. You can either have the videos on in the background (visually they are just Lee Child talking to you) or, like me, you can watch, make notes and consider the meaning behind it.

It is this approach that will see you get the maximum benefit out of it, but whether you can then turn it into actionable and practical use is another matter.

Overall, I found enough in here to make it worth my while, but that is at the discounted rate. As with many things, the old cliche of you get what you put in really is true here.

Since taking this course I have also read ‘The Reacher Guy: The authorised biography of Lee Child’ (by Heather Martin), and ‘Reacher said nothing: Lee Child and the making of Make Me’ (by Dr Andy Martin), both of which contained some of the messages contained within the course. I would recommend checking out the biography, which in the final twenty percent of the book is pure motivational gold. However, I found ‘Reacher said nothing’ to offer very little real insight into Lee’s creative process, and to be as much about the books author himself than the subject we are reading for.

Please note that a similar author, in terms of genre, sales and opinion is James Patterson, who has his own course as part of the Masterclass series, and I can’t help but think that the selection of Lee Child was a direct counter to this as the BBC have essentially taken the concept and repackaged it for a UK audience. If you are considering this course, the Masterclass course may also be of interest.