WRITE A BESTSELLER THE JAMES PATTERSON WAY!

{Image courtesy of Susan Solie-Patterson}

 

How exactly you ask.

 

You give the germ of the novel to an aspiring author and let him or her run with it.

 

How does that work you ask. 

 

 He produces a treatment of 60 to 80 pages, establishing the plot and characters in detail, 

 

then hires a writer to turn it into a full-length book.

 

 He sees their work every couple of weeks, sending it back with notes to speed it up, make it more real etc, 

 

and the co-writer ends up with a decent billing (although not an equal share of the cash). 

 

When asked if he’s a kind editor, he says no writer has ever quit.

 

Now, is that a clever obscure answer or what?  

 

Next, Mr. Patterson should run for President. :-)

 

I couldn't take pride in a book I did that way, but if Mr. Patterson were told that, he would frown, "Roland who?"

 

His success surpasses J K Rowling's.

 

 He is unapologetic about this collaborative process, saying it’s completely normal in most other art forms.

 

 "I’ll sometimes get on a TV show to be asked a question, 

 

and they’ll be reading off a teleprompter from something they didn’t write. 

 

In my case I’ve always been a good storyteller. I’m very good at plot and characterization but there are better stylists.”

 

 He is keen to dispel any impression he is putting his feet up while his writing drones do all the hard work. 

 

He gets up at the crack of dawn every day, 

 

and his office at his home in Palm Beach, Florida, is stacked with manuscripts of novels in progress.

He’s an active philanthropist, paying for more than 200 scholarships in 20 universities 

designed to train teachers and other educators whom he hopes will end up working in deprived communities.

 He doesn’t have a charitable foundation

 – he just does it all himself – 

and says the universities can’t believe how fuss-free he makes it.

If James Patterson asked you 

to write a novel, 

based on a 60 page treatment, 

would you do it?