Author Lee Child decided to write a novel after he was fired in 1995. His goal was to sell that novel before his severance package ran out. With just seven weeks to go, he sold the novel and quickly became a fan favorite.

FictionAddiction.NET's Cassie Fenoseff caught up with Child in the middle of a deadline for another Jack Reacher novel. He's contracted for a Reacher novel a year through 2006 but took the time out of his hectic schedule to talk about writing, his love of words and Jack Reacher.

Without Fail goes into detail about the inner workings of the U.S. government, specifically around security. How much research did you have to do for this novel?

I did more research for this book than I usually do ... but most of it was fun - I watched movies, read books, talked to some agents ... I live near a retired politician who still gets protection, and his guys helped me out.

Many male authors don't write about convincing, strong women such as Neagley and Froelich. What made you decide to do that?

Well, all my books feature strong women. I hate the kind of decorative sidekick woman characters that the genre traditionally uses. Women are plenty strong and tough in real life, so why not portray them that way in thrillers? Plus, I like women, and for a writer, inventing an attractive character is like spending a year making friends with a really cool lady.

Why did you choose to use a series character, Jack Reacher, in your novels, instead of changing characters with each book?

It just reflects my own preference as a reader. Nothing better than enjoying a book and finding out that it's part of a series. And because ultimately, a good series character is always better than a good sequence of plots. Remember the Lone Ranger? Superman? Of course you do. Remember a single specific storyline? Of course you don't.

When will your next Jack Reacher novel be available?

In April 2003 in the UK and in May 2003 in the US. It's called Persuader and is a first-person narrative - a revenge story, basically. Those who know Jack Reacher will understand that to have him mad at you is not a good move.

What formal training did you have before becoming an author?

None at all ... but lots of informal training that included spending 30 years reading, and 40,000 hours making popular TV shows.