James Patterson says checked egos are key to co-author success, hints at big actor collab

Time to be blunt. James Patterson is less author and more writing machine.

If the onetime ad director turned commercial fiction juggernaut were not decidedly made of flesh and blood, it would be easy to argue that he is actually the humanoid name for ChatGPT, though with much better composition. Send the James Patterson 8000 machine a story idea and, presto, a plot-twisting bestseller emerges.

But the truth of his staggering success – around 200 books and a net worth reported above $800 million – is far simpler. Other than playing early morning golf with his wife Sue, he’d rather be at the laptop hammering out words.

“I came across a quote recently that relates to us all, which is, ‘My time here is short, what can I do most beautifully?’” Patterson says during a conversation with USA TODAY. “For me, that is telling stories. And there are different ways to do that. And I do think I’m a good partner in that pursuit. I don’t bring a big ego to it.”

Collaboration is not a word often associated with writers. Many prefer the solitary if agonizing pursuit of word craft. Or, as the fabled sportswriter Red Smith once described writing: It is merely sitting at a typewriter and opening up a vein.

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But Patterson welcomes the assist. To date, he has co-written books with nearly two dozen people, some fellow pros such as Maxine Paetro and Michael Ledwidge, and others more bold faced names such as former President Bill Clinton and Dolly Parton. And he will soon drop a new book with a “wonderful actor who everyone loves.” He won’t say more. (We're hoping it's Tom Hanks, whose debut novel, “The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece," proved he's as gifted bringing characters to life on the page as he is on the screen.)

For Patterson, the art of collaboration is the natural human state. The idea surfaced first in the mid-‘90s, when he and pal Peter de Jonge finished a round of golf and started talking about a story idea and the next thing they knew, they were writing up “Miracle on the 17th Green.”

“So much good stuff comes from collaboration, most TV shows and movies are all collaboration,” he says. “And if we’re going to save the planet, that’ll take collaboration.”

Patterson’s latest: ‘12 Months to Live’ collab with Mike Lupica

Patterson’s latest teamwork opus is part one of a planned trilogy with Mike Lupica called “12 Months to Live,” featuring a hard-nosed criminal defense attorney who has that exact life expectancy. The duo is done with “8 Months to Live” and honing in on “4 Months to Live,” writing as fiercely as if they also had the Grim Reaper at their door.

“We have a great writers’ room over the telephone Mike and I, we talk six or seven times a day,” says Patterson. “That’s how we work, and we’ve become best friends along the way.”

Asked how the ideas come, and Patterson relates a story so improbable it can only be true. He said he and Lupica were on a recent book tour in New Jersey and while out for a stroll the weather turned nasty. As they hustled back to shelter, they passed an old man battling the rain on a bicycle.

“I saw the guy, I waved, and a word came out,” he says, not sharing what word. “I went inside and wrote five pages, and that’s going to be our next book together. I’m not sure if that’s a gift or a curse.”

While Patterson’s working relationship with Lupica, a prize-winning sportswriter turned novelist, is on the idyllic side, others don’t work out as well.

Without naming names, Patterson is frank. “Disasters? Yes, in the last two years I’ve had three books where I had to go re-write the whole thing,” he says. “I’m seeing drafts every few weeks and suddenly you see, it’s not happening.”

President Bill Clinton, Dolly Parton lend real experiences to Patterson-fueled fiction

But most do “happen.” He says his interactions with Clinton (they co-wrote 2018’s “The President Is Missing” and 2021’s “The President’s Daughter”) were smooth, with the Florida-based author shuttling chapters to the former president in New York.

“He’s very smart and a good writer,” says Patterson. “Often a writer is making things up, but in this case, I didn’t have to wonder what the Secret Service would do, I could ask him.” Clinton often would send back chapters with voluminous notes, and the two managed to match their writing styles enough so that the end result was not disjointed.

When it came to working with singing and acting icon Parton (2022’s “Run, Rose, Run”), Patterson again mined his co-author’s real life story to forge a tale of a young singer-songwriter on the rise and on the run from her past.

“For her, it came from the heart,” he says. “But besides that, we have very similar work ethics, although she gets up at 4 a.m. and gets to work, she’s crazy. I gave her an outline, and two days later she had notes and seven songs written. That was the spirit of that thing.”

Generally speaking, Patterson says he comes up with a story synopsis which gets shared with collaborators who then weigh in with their own thoughts and ideas. Then comes a very detailed outline, which is critical to Patterson’s process.

As for the actual writing, it depends on the collaborator. Those with extensive writing chops get less oversight, where newcomers require Patterson to spend more time with the manuscript.

But he’s not complaining. He said he’s been working seven days a week since he was a teen, and finds nothing more satisfying that telling tales, alone or with others. He doesn’t do big cocktails parties, too phony; he prefers the intimacy of a night out chatting with another couple.

There are the morning golf outings with Sue, often embarked upon so early the grounds crew is still on the course. “So we just pick up our balls and walk on,” he says. “We’re back home by 8 a.m.” And then it’s back to the keyboard.

“I don’t have writer’s block, I have writer’s diarrhea,” jokes the man who has published millions of words. “But every time I start something, I am always hoping that the next book is the best thing I’ve ever done.”