The James Patterson Factory
James Patterson doesn’t like being referred to as a “factory line”, but he has been known to joke that he wrote 10 books while spending a few weeks at home recovering from minor surgery.
In an interesting article in The Independent, Arifa Akbar, reports that the American thriller writer, who produces eight books a year and has sold 130 million copies worldwide, is now regarded as the single most read author in the UK.
While Patterson maps out the fast-paced storylines and intricate plot twists, his novels are some times completed by others. The Bookseller magazine and website, has referred to Patterson as “a brand manager, presiding over a production line of commercial blockbusters written with other authors”, while Time magazine called him “the world’s greatest bestseller factory”, adding: “He’s either a damn good writer or the Beast of the coming literary Apocalypse.”
What do we think?
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Like any other product offered for mass consumption and in proliferation, e.g. a tin of Heinz beans, one can tire of the taste. I stopped reading this gentleman’s novels when he reached the stage of about two books a year. There are various types of crime and thriller novels and I think his appeals to those with a time-limited lifestyle and possibly, a short attention span. Personally, I prefer something with more meat on the bones and something that makes me think. It’s just taste.
jb says: Hi CFR, I suppose this one brings up the whole question of what fiction is for and what it does in the world. Perhaps Patterson’s books also fulfil that primary function of reminding us that we are not alone? And I suspect that they also lure us into a kind of sleep. But I’m not sure I agree that thinking is a matter of taste, if that is what you meant to say. In my experience people choose whether to think or not. I have met several people who refuse to engage with anything that might wake them up.
Having met James Patterson at a book signing, I went from liking his books to disliking them, I found him somewhat arrogant in person and realised this came across in his writing, now I boycott the new books he brings out… Just my own two cents into the mix.
jb says: Hi emchi. I think it was Daphne du Maurier who said: writers should be read but neither seen nor heard.
This is the logical extension of author branding and it’s rather depressing. But then perhaps we need to look at books like we view movies – the Hollywood blockbuster that takes thousands of people inputting special effects etc versus the art movie made by a small group of people with a hand held digital camera. Patterson and others who dominate the bestseller lists are obviously in the former “entertainment” category – and have the funds to employ the teams. I wonder when he’ll be actually making the movies of the book without the book ever being written….?
jb says: Hi Yang-May. Yes, of course it is the extension of author branding. I’d missed that, thinking he was a one-off. I appreciate your remarks. Thanks for calling in.
The most severe disappointment is the adaption on the “small screen” — we readers have our own perception as we get swept away in the story line and the television version of the Women’s Murder Club was nothing like my own.
And so, he keeps writing, we keep reading, and we avoid the “tube.” Life goes on….
I hope your readers will post their honest reviews of his work on my Squidoo lens at http://best.mysterywriter.ever.com.
jb says: OK Melissa, I’ve left your link in. Though how anyone can think he’s the best (or even worth the paper he’s printed on) is beyond my comprehension.
Hi JB… in regards to Daphne Du Maurier’s comment, perhaps that might be true of some authors, but I’ve also met Iain Banks, and found him one of the nicest people I’ve ever met. I don’t read his books, as they don’t appeal to me, but was getting a book signed for my other half. Almost made me want to read his books because he was so nice.
I’m hoping John Connolly’s nice as I’m going to the Times Literary Festival in Oxford to hear him speak about his books. He’s one of my favourite authors, so fingers crossed I don’t end up hating his books.
jb says: He’s a bit dishy is what I heard.
Dear John: Regarding James Patterson, I think there can be a problem for any writer who is stuck in a genre. I enjoyed the early works of Robert Ludlum, for example. Then as I read more, I found a pattern to them. Once I saw the pattern, I found his books boring and stopped reading him. The same with Stephen King. Mystery writers using the same detective hero also become less interesting. I think this is particularly true if they are successful writers. They don’t have to work hard at their craft anymore and, so, don’t. They lose their edge. I have read one Patterson novel. I don’t remember the title. It was indeed a page-turner. But the characters were flat and the novel didn’t motivate me to buy another. I prefer writers who don’t write genre, who are eclectic. But the nature of the business is to force writers into genre writing because that seems to be what sells books. Peter
jb says: Hi Peter. Thanks for your comment. I don’t entirely agree, however, that genre writing is what sells books. I think that is the perception of most publishers, but not necessarily true. The main agent in the proliferation and distribution of books is word of mouth. One reader telling another how much they have enjoyed something.
Hi. Just finished Honeymoon by Patterson/Roughan and I cannot figure out the key scene in the nursing home with O’Hara, the nurse and the mother. The piece of paper with the watermark is the key. I usually can figure out clues like this … but …
All I can think of it was FBI stationary?
Hope you can help!
Thanks
I was once James Patterson’s greatest fan, but his ability to write good books ended in around 1997. In fact the last good book he wrote was IMO Jack and Jill. Since then its been a conveyer belt of novels with the same predictable formula of leading the reader down a garden path before throwing in a ‘twist’ a few pages before the end. I’ve now given up reading Patterson novels, with the exception of Alex Cross books. i keep waiting for a comeback, but when he continues to churn out 5-8 books a year (many co-authored) its never going to happen. he has sacrificied quality in favour of quantity and its shown in his dreary, sloppy writing
jb says: So, who is good these days, Paul?
hey-
i started his alex cross series a couple of years ago reading “along came a spider” which i really liked. but the more books he wrote of the alex cross series, the worse they became. when i read “cross” i thought that he didnt write it himself (though this is just my personal feeling), it was really flat and it felt weird reading it.
today i was looking if there were any more alex cross novels and i found out that “cross country” is already out and that theres another one coming out next year called “cross fire”. its hard to keep up with him publishing so many books.
joanne k. rowling stopped after seven books, which is a good thing. her series is completed and she knows that. she could make so much money with an eighth book but she doesnt (hopefully that stays ture =)
I have only just started reading James Patterson Books,and at the moment find him a good read,and can’t put his books down. I have a question for you though, The book I’ve just finished is ‘Cat & Mouse’ and it’s obvious that he’s writen a follow up, Could anyone please tell me the Title.
Jo.
hi Jo!
the next one is called “Pop goes the weasel”.
its a nice read. though as i said before, the more books he writes the flatter they become, sloppy would be the right word. =)
enjoy the book!
dan =)
On the subject of meeting authors, I met Lord Jeffrey Archer and was expecting someone really arogant but he was the NICEST man. I was getting his new book signed for my mum (an avid fan) and he chatted for ages, i told him mum had all his books and would have liked them all signed (jokingly) – he said “hey go home and get your mum and bring all the books down and I will wait for you” and he DID. He gave mum his home address and said that she should send all new books to his house to sign – he even sent mum and dad a 30th wedding anniversary card.
What a nice man !
jb says: And they wouldn’t even let him in the tory party. Just goes to show . . .
I am loving James Patterson – I have only been reading him maybe for 2 years but I am trying to get through as many as i can although I never seem able to keep up. I like the novels without Alex Cross (although I am a fan of his) like Lifeguard and Honeymoon.
jb says: Hello, again, Donna. I’m getting good at recognising the first stages of despair. I’m sure I can feel it coming on.
[...] in modern popular fiction now? Is there a place for it in pop fiction, as there once was? Or have James Patterson and his imitators won? Should all chapters be three pages long, mostly a mix of stuttering sentences and dialogue, [...]
Oooh definitely the Beast of the Acropolis!
(That’s a start on my new novel then…. a title.)
On the best seller stands today it is all too common to see “franchised” books, riding on the name of a well known writer but in fact written by piece-workers. I can just see it now… Tom Clancy’s literary sweat-shop, big whiteboards with book-formulae scrawled across them to remind the writers of their goal. The opening chapter section, where a boat explodes off Knossos, or a plane impacts above Kathmandu, or a train derails outside Lahore, the oval-office chapter in which tough guys from the alphabet spaghetti school of US secret departments argue over jurisdiction, the assorted heroes section, where a tough ex-special forces guy is blackmailed back out of retirement at the president’s personal behest, thus missing his daughter’s seventh birthday party….
And the deals department. Where James Patterson, and Stephen King’s guys come in to trade completed chapters- “Anybody got one where the good guys escape the erupting volcano in a helicopter flown by a one-eyed alcoholic nun?”.
I see my future.
I shall become a wholesaler of paragraphs.