What I’m really addicted to is getting people to understand that if their kids aren’t competent readers coming out of middle school, it’s really going to be hard for them in high school. – James Patterson
One of the nice things about books as opposed to television and movies to some extent is it’s not a passive entertainment. People really do get involved, and they do create, and they do have their own visions of what different characters look like and what should happen. It’s great – it means their brains are working. – James Patterson
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. – James Patterson
You know, I remember watching Morgan Freeman when he did the two Alex Cross movies, and he’s so confident that he’s going to knock the scene dead. And I’m really confident that I can tell a good story now, so I just don’t worry about things. – James Patterson
The vampire underworld is much larger than most people could imagine. It exists in all the cities mentioned in the book, but also in many, many more. Teenagers, especially, seem to like to act out vampire fantasies. – James Patterson
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? – James Patterson
I believe we should spend less time worrying about the quantity of books children read and more time introducing them to quality books that will turn them on to the joy of reading and turn them into lifelong readers. – James Patterson
Always expect the unexpected. Right around Thanksgiving, when the new Alex Cross will be out. It’s called Four Blind Mice and it’s a pretty amazing story about several murders inside the military. – James Patterson
I’m a very good storyteller; I have a lot of compassion for people. That’s very useful for a novelist. A lot of novelists are snots. They’re just mean people. I’m not a terribly skilled stylist, nor do I want to be. I want a lot of people to read one of my stories and go, ‘That was pretty cool.’ – James Patterson
I never read detective novels. I started out in graduate school writing a more serious book. Right around that time I read ‘The Day of the Jackal’ and ‘The Exorcist’. I hadn’t read a lot of commercial fiction, and I liked them. – James Patterson
I read some, and then visited with people involved in this curious, exciting and somewhat misunderstood sub-culture. I met with a fang maker, who offered to fit me for an exquisite pair. – James Patterson
My style is colloquial storytelling. It’s the way we tell stories to one another – it’s not writerly, it’s not overdone. – James Patterson
Generally I find that kids ask better questions than you get with adults. Something that kids will do a lot is, they’re so nervous, and they’re not really paying attention, so they’ll ask the same question someone just asked. And you’re trying to be nice and not embarrass them any more than they are already. – James Patterson
There are a lot of things we as individuals can’t do much about. We can’t solve global warming as individuals, or health care problems, but as individuals, most of us can get our kids reading. We can do that. – James Patterson
It seemed to me that I could write commercial fiction. I wasn’t sure whether I could, or whether I wanted to write serious fiction at that point. So I said, ‘Let me try something else,’ and I wrote a mystery – but I didn’t know much about it. – James Patterson
I’m very conscious that I’m an entertainer. Something like 73 percent of my readers are college graduates, so you can’t condescend to people. You’ve got to tell them a story that they will be willing to pay money to read. – James Patterson
The subject for a lot of non-fiction is very emotional, but if you read it, it’s the most boring, dry stuff. I wanted ‘Torn Apart’ to be extremely accessible and readable. – James Patterson
I have a folder in my office with about 400 ideas in it. So it will take me another 40 years to get through those. – James Patterson
Ultimately, a great thriller is a roller coaster ride. I like to think that’s a promise I have never failed to keep, and one that I’d say has served my books well. – James Patterson
The best way to get kids reading more is to give them books that they’ll gobble up – and that will make them ask for another. – James Patterson
I’m big on having a blistering pace. That’s one of the hallmarks of what I do, and that’s not easy. I never blow up cars and things like that, so it’s something else that keeps the suspense flowing. I try not to write a chapter that isn’t going to turn on the movie projector in your head. – James Patterson
People like to talk more than they like to act. They like to sit there and complain and vent. Somehow they think that changes things, when it doesn’t. – James Patterson
This summer, I’ll be bringing out a mystery that involves a young lawyer and a court scene the likes of which I don’t think you’ve ever seen. Hollywood said this is James Patterson meets John Grisham. – James Patterson
I did know that the book would end with a mind-boggling trial, but I didn’t know exactly how it would turn out. I like a little suspense when I am writing, too. – James Patterson
Every once in a while, I’ll have a ‘Do you know who I am?’ moment, at least in my head. I hate that. – James Patterson
For many years I had heard about an underworld consisting of people who act out a vampire fantasy while I was living in New York. Fortunately for me there are also several books on the phenomena. – James Patterson
