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.
It's wonderful to see art in a museum, but it is institutionalised. I don't like the idea of the artwork as something that requires special conditions. I would like it to be universal.
To disappear your complete self into a character is quite difficult. I've tried it 85 times, and I've succeeded two or three times.
Monet is only an eye, but my God, what an eye!
Music is...the coordination between man and time.
It's kind of a subversive act to tell a story of a woman past a certain age, to develop a four-hour movie based on a marriage and a story of two people past middle age.
Sometimes I think creativity is magic; it's not a matter of finding an idea, but allowing the idea to find you.
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