The manuscript of RELIC had a slow germination. Douglas Preston was involved with other writing projects, and Lincoln Child was now working as a systems analyst at MetLife. However, over the next 18 months, the novel continued to progress.

"By this time, Doug had moved to Santa Fe. Instead of living fifty miles apart, we now lived on opposite coasts. Because of this, the book progressed mostly by an exchange of faxes, which often prompted long telephone conversations in which we brainstormed new sections of the story or thrashed out problems. Frequently, I would take notes, then write up a revised outline of the story, or a section of the story, for Doug's feedback. Given our commitments elsewhere, it was a slow process."
--L. C.

The following short document, from Febrary 1990, shows a typical set of notes taken by Child during conversations with Preston during the book's initial development. Note that, at this early stage, the police investigation within the Museum had a much larger role than in the finished book. Also, at this point, note that there were two native tribes involved, the "Ki" and the "Yom." This was eventually streamlined to simply the Ki tribe.