James Patterson Talks Stephen King Criticism, Rejection

Posted on July 13, 2010

Time interviewed prolific author James Patterson in his home. James Patterson told Time he has worked on as many as 30 books and screenplays simulataneously. He says he started writing when he was 26. He says his first manuscript was rejected by over 30 publishers before finally being published and winning an Edgar. Patterson says telling a story is the key to a writing a successful murder mystery.

"If the laws of real estate are location, location, location, for me it's story, story, story. My style is colloquial. It's the way we tell stories to one another. My favorite books are actually very complicated - One Hundred Years of Solitude, Ulysses. But my own style - we just tell a story."

Patterson also responded to Stephen King's criticism that he is not a great prose writer. Patterson says, "I am not a great prose stylist. I'm a storyteller. There are thousands of people who don't like what I do. Fortunately, there are millions who do."

You can find a transcript of the interview here. Take a look: