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Valued Contributor
Posts: 508
Registered: ‎10-15-2011

Re: James Patterson & Bill Clinton

[ Edited ]

@Oznell wrote:

Wow, Colinka, I did not know that about James Patterson.  Of course I know his name, but have not read him...

 

It's great to get the inside dope from a librarian.   Please don't tell me that my favorite detective fiction writer, Sue Grafton, is some sort of "writing assembly line" too!

 

Somehow, I doubt that she is-- her voice seems so distinctively hers, and her fabled ear for dialogue is so consistently high from book to book, that I surmise she's a one-woman shop.  Do tell.


There are lots of bogus authors, too many to mention here. But, some of my favorites who are still writing their own books are Jonathan and Faye Kellerman, Alexander McCall Smith, and Sue Grafton. By the way, the announcement has been made for the next book in  Sue's series: It is "Y is for Yesterday." It should be out in August.

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Re: James Patterson & Bill Clinton

Hooray, Colinka, thanks for the heads-up.  Can't believe she's bearing down on "Z" now...

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Posts: 4,178
Registered: ‎09-02-2010

Not a fan of either, so no I won't be buying the book.  People have been complaining about Patterson not writing his own books for years.   I have no doubt he has a lot of influence on what and how they're written. Can't imagine he tells someone to write him a book and then puts his name on it.   There's much more to cowriters than that.   

 

 

Sue Grafton's Y book has been available for pre order since Feb.  I saw that Z will be her last book.   Maybe she'll change her mind, but she said she'd be 80 then.

~~
*Off The Deep End~A very short trip for some!*
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Re: James Patterson & Bill Clinton

[ Edited ]

James stated ~

 

With the co-writing, I’ll write a long outline, anywhere from 60-80 pages, and pretty much every chapter is dealt with, at least 80 percent of the chapters. I then ask the cowriter to contribute to the outline. For two reasons: two heads are better than one, but I also want them to feel that they’re part of the process, that they’ve contributed throughout, even early on with the outline. I then ask that I see pages every few weeks.

 

He writes over 900 outlines a year/three or four drafts for each book.

♥chocolate lover ♦ audiobook junkie♥
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Posts: 3,279
Registered: ‎05-15-2010

Re: James Patterson & Bill Clinton

Well, I may be in the minority here, but I will not read anything that has Bill Clinton's name on it.

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Posts: 255
Registered: ‎03-02-2017

Re: James Patterson & Bill Clinton

[ Edited ]

James is helping to keep the publishing industry flourishing ~

more readers and listeners = more jobs for librarians, etc.

♥chocolate lover ♦ audiobook junkie♥
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Posts: 24,105
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Re: James Patterson & Bill Clinton


@mollybgood wrote:

James stated ~

 

With the co-writing, I’ll write a long outline, anywhere from 60-80 pages, and pretty much every chapter is dealt with, at least 80 percent of the chapters. I then ask the cowriter to contribute to the outline. For two reasons: two heads are better than one, but I also want them to feel that they’re part of the process, that they’ve contributed throughout, even early on with the outline. I then ask that I see pages every few weeks.

 

He writes over 900 outlines a year/three or four drafts for each book.


The math seems a bit iffy here. He writes 60-80 pages for every outline and he writes 900+ outlines a year. At the 60 page minimum that's 54,000 pages a year or 147+ pages each and every day all year long. That math seems a bit off to me. On a really good day with a well thought out story that's ready to go I might write twenty pages or so. My "Becoming Santa" short story is 70 pages and was largely written over a three day period, so I did do a tick more than twenty pages a day then, but those were long days. Writing 147 pages a day every day of the year seems a tick out there to me.

Fly!!! Eagles!!! Fly!!!
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Posts: 255
Registered: ‎03-02-2017

Re: James Patterson & Bill Clinton

[ Edited ]

@gardenman wrote:

@mollybgood wrote:

James stated ~

 

With the co-writing, I’ll write a long outline, anywhere from 60-80 pages, and pretty much every chapter is dealt with, at least 80 percent of the chapters. I then ask the cowriter to contribute to the outline. For two reasons: two heads are better than one, but I also want them to feel that they’re part of the process, that they’ve contributed throughout, even early on with the outline. I then ask that I see pages every few weeks.

 

He writes over 900 outlines a year/three or four drafts for each book.


The math seems a bit iffy here. He writes 60-80 pages for every outline and he writes 900+ outlines a year. At the 60 page minimum that's 54,000 pages a year or 147+ pages each and every day all year long. That math seems a bit off to me. On a really good day with a well thought out story that's ready to go I might write twenty pages or so. My "Becoming Santa" short story is 70 pages and was largely written over a three day period, so I did do a tick more than twenty pages a day then, but those were long days. Writing 147 pages a day every day of the year seems a tick out there to me.

 

 


@gardenman

I assume he is including the edited copies in the 900.  However, his mind

appears to manufacture workable tales almost 24/7.  I imagine all authors

envy this ability.

♥chocolate lover ♦ audiobook junkie♥
Valued Contributor
Posts: 508
Registered: ‎10-15-2011

Re: James Patterson & Bill Clinton


@mollybgood wrote:

James is helping to keep the publishing industry flourishing ~

more readers and listeners = more jobs for librarians, etc.


That's equivalent to saying that all the junk food purveyors are keeping the healthcare professionals in jobs!

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Registered: ‎03-10-2010

Re: James Patterson & Bill Clinton


@LoriLori wrote:

James Patterson is the Andy Warhol/Thomas Kinkead of publishing.  He does not write his own things, he only puts his name to them just as Warhol and Kinkead paid others to produce "their" art.

 

Former President Bill Clinton was a Rhodes Scholar and he can write, so I wonder if they're friends, otherwise why would he be messing around with such an inferior mind.


The obvious answer to that is MONEY!  Some people will stoop to anything for MONEY and can never get enough of it. Some people also can't stand being out of the public eye and attention.  Some people have little or no shame either.