James Patterson and wife Sue Patterson in their
backyard in Palm Beach, Florida.
“Let’s shoot the breeze for a bit,” says James
Patterson, exuding a relaxed attitude on a recent morning at his Palm Beach
home despite the fact that he has 13 books coming out this year. He had 11 last
year. To date, the 65-year-old author has published 95 books—his most recent,
“Guilty Wives,” hit shelves this week—and according to Nielsen ranks as the
country’s top-selling author.
Those numbers have added up to big business: Mr.
Patterson earns more than $80 million a year, according to people familiar with
his publishing empire.
More than a handful of those recent titles are aimed
at young adults, as Mr. Patterson continues to expand his publishing empire
beyond the thriller and detective genres. He’s also shopping projects to
Hollywood and has a new movie inspired by his Alex Cross series that will hit
theaters later this year.
Mr. Patterson works seven days a week out of a
two-room office suite at his Palm Beach oceanfront home. White bookshelves line
the first room, where he does the bulk of his writing, all in pencil on white
legal pads. There’s no computer; just a telephone, fax machine, an iPad, and a
bag of bubble gum. The second room looks like a traditional bedroom, but the
bed is covered by books, loose-leaf papers, and manuscripts.
When it comes to writing, he has a well-practiced
system: he writes a detailed outline and then hires someone—often a former
colleague from his advertising days—to write the ensuing scenes, usually in 30
to 40 page chunks. He will review those pages every few weeks, sometimes
providing notes on them and other times re-writing them entirely.
When he’s not writing, the 65-year-old author can be
found on one of Palm Beach’s premier golf courses, at the movies (he sees
almost everything), or at home having dinner with his wife, Sue, and their
14-year-old son, Jack. Sometimes, Mr. Patterson will retire to write into the
night, particularly if he’s excited—or anxious—about a new project.
On a recent morning, Mr. Patterson—still clad in his
morning golfing gear, khakis and a navy PGA championship pullover—took a break
from writing to sit down with the Wall Street Journal in his office. There, we
talked about his career and thoughts on storytelling—both on the page and on
screen.
1.
You publish so much. How does the actual writing
process work?
2.
I have a number of writers I work with
regularly. I write an outline for a book. The outlines are very specific about
what each scene is supposed to accomplish. I get pages from [the collaborator]
every two weeks, and then I re-write them. That’s the way everything works.
Sometimes I’ll just give notes….Look, this is commercial fiction. It’s a little
different from really serious literature. There, the publishers or editors will
wait until the whole manuscript comes in. With my work, I get pages early and
if the story has gone the wrong way, or if it’s losing steam, then I say, ‘hold
it—let’s talk. We’re off track in terms of what should be driving this story
ahead,’ or ‘I’m losing interest in the narrator.’ Sometimes there’s not enough
tension. I’ll do any number of outlines or re-writes on the pages. I’ve done as
much as nine drafts of a book after the original comes in.
3.
Nine drafts! So they’re really worked over?
4.
Oh yeah. This is not easy. One of the hard
things, and this relates certainly to commercial fiction as well as writing for
television and movies, is just getting the voice down. Once the voice is there,
it’s easier. That’s why you can have six writers on a TV show because there’s a
voice and a set of characters, and other writers can come in and conceivably do
a good job writing in that voice and writing those characters.
5.
How many books are out this year?
6.
I think nine this year. But let’s see…I have a
release calendar that’s color coded. We have…one, two, three, four, five kids’
titles, so that’s five plus eight adult books. So that’s 13.
7.
I like the way even you can’t keep track. You
thought you had nine books coming out, and it’s actually 13. I know, it’s sick.
8.
Do you ever get to date your books?
9.
Date? I’m married!
10.
I mean, choose their release dates, when they
hit the shelves.
11.
No, I don’t pick them, but we’ll talk, me and
the publisher. Little, Brown [and Company] will come down here to visit. We’ll
chat about everything. When you have as many books as this coming out, it’s
hard to keep getting people excited about them. I’m excited about them.
Otherwise I wouldn’t do them, but you have to make sure that the publisher is
excited and that they go out with a lot with enthusiasm because in reality they
are probably going to have 13 number one bestsellers. Maybe one or two will be
number two. But it’s a constant process making sure that everybody is pumped
up.
12.
Do you feel that you are unfairly criticized
because of you publish so much?
13.
All that I ever want to see happen is [for the
books] to get a fair shake. I don’t like it when you get people who say, ‘Well,
I haven’t read his books but I hate him.’ Read them and then hate me. And I have
discovered over the years that…people generally find the books are a lot better
than they thought they were going to be… I just want to entertain people, and I
do my best to make sure the books are as good as they can be.
14.
Do you think your books now are better than the
ones you wrote, say, 25 years ago?
15.
The kids’ books, in my opinion, are the
pinnacle. That’s the stuff I do the best. I think my kids’ books are better
than my adult books. But I’m pleased with the adult books, too: we’ve got the
three biggest detective series in the last 25 years. Some of the writing could
be snappier, but the storytelling is pretty good.
16.
Is storytelling what matters most to you?
17.
Well, it’s one thing that matters. There are a
lot of ways to write good books. You can have ‘The Corrections,’ which is very
complicated sociology, or James Joyce, where the allusions and the writing are
stunning. But my work is just pure storytelling. I don’t think there is
anything to hate here, but I also don’t sit around feeling like I should take
big bows. In terms of the number of memorable characters I’ve created, however,
I think that’s pretty cool. The rest of it—it is what it is. I just don’t like
it when people take cheap shots.
18.
But surely, those shots are part of your
success?
19.
There’s that. I’m not a writer’s writer. I’m not
a craftsman. I could be, and that would be a one-book-a-year operation.
20.
Why do you think your children’s books are your
pinnacle?
21.
I guess they fit right into my wheelhouse. I
have a big imagination, a, and b, I think I’m funnier than sh–. And that really
lets it loose. People always come up to me and say, ‘you should do standup.’
It’s nice to discover things about yourself. That keeps everything lively and
fun. I think I’m more motivated than I ever was to keep writing stuff.
22.
That’s a great feeling.
23.
It’s frightening too—especially to the literary
community. Sorry, boys!
24.
Do you think that the literary community
dislikes you?
25.
There’s kind of a misunderstanding. I get a lot
of questions like, ‘how do you feel about keeping up-and-coming writers off the
bestseller list?’ But I don’t think I’m really doing that. I might knock Tom
Clancy off a week earlier. But the reality is, unless your publisher commits to
a lot of copies, you’re not going to get on the bestseller list. The chances
against you are 500,000 to 1.
26.
What do you like to read when you’re not
writing?
27.
I read a lot of weird stuff…like Thomas Merton’s
letters. I got hooked on Merton a long time ago. Somebody just sent me his
letters. I read a lot of kids’ stuff. I have very catholic taste. It’s really
all over the map. Oh, and Stephen
King. I read his stuff. I like breaking
his balls by saying positive things about him.
28.
Do you ever talk to him?
29.
No, he’s taken shots at me for years. It’s fine,
but my approach is to do the opposite with him—to heap praise.
30.
Do you read his books pretty regularly?
31.
Yeah. I like a lot of his earlier stuff better.
Although I think his latest book [‘11/22/63’] is pretty good. It’s done well
and it’s also closer to what he was writing fifteen years ago. But if he had
written it fifteen years ago, the critics would have torn it up, said
‘schlockmeister writes more schlock.’ Instead, they ate it up.
32.
Is that because the industry has changed, in
terms of being more accepting of commercial writing?
33.
No. Commercial books don’t even get covered. The
reason why so many book reviews go out of business is because they cover a lot
of stuff that nobody cares about. Imagine if the movie pages covered none of
the big movies and all they covered were movies that you couldn’t even find in
the theater?
34.
Your books are co-written. Where do you find
your collaborators?
35.
Some of them are just people I knew from
advertising—people I knew who had talent and people I knew, once we agreed on
something, who would execute it.
36.
Do you pay them a salary, or share royalties
from the books?
37.
I don’t go into it, but nobody complains. Nobody
asks for a raise. It’s a lucrative thing. It’s a combination of monthly salary
with a bonus. It’s a very nice process. I am really easy to work with as long
as you’re trying to do your best.
38.
Where do your ideas come from?
39.
Everywhere. Sometimes I fill up a piece of paper
with a half dozen scenes. Other times, I have the idea for the beginning and
ending of a story. Other times, it’s just a loose idea of a character.
40.
Do you have a favorite book?
41.
I am proud to have created Alex Cross. ‘I Funny’
[an illustrated novel about a middle-school boy who wants to become a comedian
that comes in December] I like a lot. I think ‘I Funny’ is a very cool
distinctive book. More than anything else, it’s just having created Cross and
Michael Bennett and the Women’s Murder Club. And Private, and Maximum Ride. And
Witch & Wizard. I’m emotional about all of them. One of the tricks with so many
series is keeping them going and knowing when to end them. I do like branching
out, as with “Zoo,” which is totally off the wall and coming out this year.
Every so often, I will do something really different.
42.
Have you thought about doing more nonfiction?
Plays? Musicals?
43.
“Against Medical Advice,” which was nonfiction,
differed completely from my usual work. But I won’t do nonfiction anymore. I
enjoyed doing “Medical Advice” because I was working with a friend and helping
him tell his story, so that was very rewarding for me. But in general,
nonfiction is the wrong format for me because it’s too restrictive.
44.
How do you decide to end a series? Maximum Ride,
for example?
45.
It just—fell. I just know when it’s time. Like
when I don’t know if I have any more to say about those characters. And Daniel
X will end soon.
46.
Living in Palm Beach, do you feel that you’re
away from the center of things?
47.
Yes, but I like that. A lot of those things—the publishing
business, Hollywood—are distractions. They get in the way of creating good
books and good movies. In that atmosphere, people are just worrying too much
about what the other guy is doing.
48.
Very few of your books are set here in South
Florida. You’re not inspired by this area particularly?
49.
I wouldn’t be inclined to write too much down
here, no. Look, Washington, D.C. is a good location for Cross because a lot can
go on sort of believably. How much could really happen down here,
realistically? Maybe there could be a mystery about a jewel thief.
50.
But people whose imaginations aren’t as massive
as yours, they could get confined by living here.
51.
I always thought it would have been useful for
[Stephen] King to get out of Maine. But people do what they want.
For more go to James Patterson’s Big Overhaul
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