I'm big on having a blistering pace. That's one of the hallmarks of what I do, and that's not easy. I never blow up cars and things like that, so it's something else that keeps the suspense flowing. I try not to write a chapter that isn't going to turn on the movie projector in your head.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the importance of maintaining a fast pace in storytelling to keep the audience engaged.
James Patterson highlights his commitment to a rapid narrative style that creates suspense and excitement. By focusing on a blistering pace, he aims to ensure that every chapter contributes to a cinematic experience, igniting the imagination of readers and keeping them captivated from beginning to end.
In practice
In a writing workshop, I might use this quote to inspire students about the importance of pacing in their stories.
Let's face it: Most of us don't realize it, but we are failing our kids as reading role models. The best role models are in the home: brothers, fathers, grandfathers; mothers, sisters, grandmothers. Moms and dads, it's important that your kids see you reading. Not just books - reading the newspaper is good, too.
When I was 26, I wrote my first mystery, 'The Thomas Berryman Number', and it was turned down by, I don't know, 31 publishers. Then it won an Edgar for Best First Novel. Go figure.
Dill was off again. Beautiful things floated around in his dreamy head. He could read two books to my one, but he preferred the magic of his own inventions. He could add and subtract faster than lightning, but he preferred his own twilight world, a world where babies slept, waiting to be gathered like morning lilies.
I was never interested in looking at myself in an aesthetic mirror. My intention was always to get away from myself, though I knew perfectly well that I was using myself. Call it a little game between 'I' and 'me.'
I believe that a good children's book should appeal to all people who have not completely lost their original joy and wonder in life. The fact is that I don't make books for children at all. I make them for that part of us, of myself and of my friends, which has never changed, which is still a child.
Joao Gilberto on guitar could read a newspaper and sound good.
I want to know one thing, what is color?
You know how writers are... they create themselves as they create their work. Or perhaps they create their work in order to create themselves.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.