 |
James Patterson
In James Patterson’s Palm Beach, Florida, home there’s a huge round wooden table big enough to hold half a dozen manuscripts. On a typical morning Patterson will work on the first draft of his forthcoming novel, then slide his chair over to revise proofs for a soon-to-be released thriller, and then shift gears again to outline a new project.
“Jim learned his discipline from nuns in Catholic school,” says a colleague.
The tough-talking, best-selling author is best known for his Alex Cross detective series, but his romances, Suzanne’s Diary for Nicholas and Sam’s Letter’s to Jennifer are fast gathering an equally popular genre for Patterson. In these heartfelt novels, Patterson has managed to reveal his softer side, drawing upon personal experience. Like his romantic heroine in Sam’s Letters to Jennifer, Patterson lived through a tragic relationship in his twenties: the woman he loved died of a brain tumor.
The prolific author developed a passion for reading while working summers at McLean psychiatric hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts, to put himself through college. It was during this time that he also began writing. His first novel, The Thomas Berryman Number, was published when he was twenty-seven, and won Patterson the prestigious Edgar Award for best first mystery novel. Yet the young author was not convinced he could write full-time. Instead, he got a job as a junior copywriter at J. Walter Thompson and worked his way to the top, eventually becoming chairman.
Today, with his advertising career a thing of the past, there is nothing that Patterson would rather do than pen best-selling novels. “Fiction writing has never been a job; it’s always been an escape,” he says.
Exclusive interview with James Patterson
|
