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James Patterson Quotes
James Patterson Quotes
James Patterson
American
Author
Born:
Mar 22
,
1947
About
Books
Love
People
Reading
You
Related authors:
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Frederick Douglass
Helen Keller
Henry David Thoreau
Joyce Meyer
Mark Twain
Og Mandino
Zig Ziglar
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
Thanksgiving
Amazing
Will
Military
Several
Out
Inside
Pretty
About
Cross
New
Blind
Around
Always
Mice
Expect
Expect The Unexpected
Unexpected
Story
Right
Four
Alex
Life is hard, and a lot of people come home tired from work. If they're gonna spend half an hour reading, they want some entertainment and a sense of achievement. So that's what I give them. That's all I'm trying to do. Is that really so wrong?
James Patterson
Life
Work
Home
Tired
Achievement
Entertainment
People
Life Is Hard
Half
Reading
Sense
Spend
Some
Give
Wrong
Come
Hour
Lot
Trying
Want
Them
Gonna
Really
Hard
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
People
Sit
Think
Changes
Complain
Somehow
More
Like
Talk
Vent
Than
Act
Things
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
Best
Will
Reading
Books
Way
Kids
Best Way
Give
More
Make
Another
Up
Get
Them
Ask
This is what I believe is most important: getting good books into the hands of kids - books that will make them want to say, 'Wow, that was great. Give me another one to read.'
James Patterson
Good
Great
Me
Will
Important
Believe
Books
Say
Kids
Wow
Give
Give Me
Most
Make
Read
Another
Hands
Getting
Want
Them
My life revolves around my writing, my wife and my son.
James Patterson
Life
Son
Writing
Wife
My Life
Around
Revolves
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
Great
Ride
Roller Coaster
Think
Books
Say
Promise
Thriller
Never
Failed
Like
Well
Ultimately
Roller
Roller Coaster Ride
Coaster
Keep
Served
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
People
School
Addicted
Kids
Out
High
High School
Readers
Understand
Coming
Getting
Going
Middle
Middle School
Them
Really
Hard
Competent
I learnt to love reading. And then I started scribbling stories, and I liked that even more.
James Patterson
Love
Reading
More
Liked
Learnt
Stories
Scribbling
To Love
Then
Even
Started
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
You
Business
Book
Nobody Cares
Big
Cares
Books
Out
Find
About
Nobody
Stuff
Because
None
Go
Cover
Were
Covered
Lot
Reviews
Commercial
Get
Movie
Theater
Movies
Pages
Reason
Many
Even
Why
Imagine
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
Would
Would-Be
Could
Writer
Operation
Craftsman
I don't think of myself as a writer.
James Patterson
Myself
Think
Writer
The more you read, the better you get at it.
James Patterson
You
Better
More
Read
Get
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
Book
Writing
Too
Mind-Boggling
Trial
Out
Would
Exactly
Like
Know
How
Am
End
Did
Suspense
Little
Turn
I'm very emotional. I do feel stuff, for better or worse.
James Patterson
Better
Worse
Emotional
Feel
Stuff
Very
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
You
Seen
Lawyer
Young
Think
Meets
Summer
Out
John
John Grisham
Scene
Mystery
Involves
Likes
Court
Said
James
Which
Hollywood
Ever
Bringing
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
Me
Try
Else
About
Seemed
Something
Something Else
Point
Could
Mystery
Write
Know
Wrote
Sure
Said
Commercial
Fiction
Wanted
Whether
Much
Serious
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.
James Patterson
Work
Book
About
Outline
Outlines
Scene
Write
Writers
Supposed
Accomplish
Very
Regularly
Each
Specific
Number
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.
James Patterson
Me
You
Yourself
People
Nice
Everything
Say
About
Come
Always
Discover
Up
Should
Fun
Standup
Lively
Keeps
Things
If I'm writing and a chapter isn't coming, I just move ahead.
James Patterson
Chapter
Writing
Coming
Move
Just
My favorite books are actually very complicated - 'One Hundred Years of Solitude', 'Ulysses'.
James Patterson
Solitude
Complicated
Hundred
Books
Hundred Years
Favorite
Years
Ulysses
Very
Actually
Hollywood is a peculiar beast - people in Hollywood are nuts.
James Patterson
People
Beast
Nuts
Hollywood
Peculiar
I get up every morning and chop wood, and I pretty much do it seven days a week, and I like to do it. I still have time for my wife and my son, who's 14, and at this point, my head is still above water.
James Patterson
Time
Morning
Son
Water
Wife
Every
Seven
Pretty
Above
Point
Week
Head
Days
Like
Still
Up
Get
Wood
Much
Chop
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
Me
Will
Those
About
Through
Take
Ideas
Another
Years
Office
Get
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
Chapter
Try
Car
Big
Else
Easy
Something
Something Else
Having
Write
Never
Head
Like
Up
Blow
Going
Suspense
Movie
Pace
Turn
Turn-On
Your
Keeps
Things
Flowing
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
Style
Way
Tell
Overdone
Another
Stories
Storytelling
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