126
JANUARY 2013
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HEMISPHERESMAGAZINE.COM
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PATTERSON:
I like to think that I’ve
created enduring characters and that
I do a good job of tying emotion to plot.
Some people say it’s too sentimental
or too corny, but I don’t buy into that.
I don’t write realism.
HEMISPHERES:
Most New York detectives
don’t have 10 kids, like Michael Bennett.
PATTERSON:
If you want realism, there’s
plenty of realism out there. My plots
really hurtle along, you can feel for the
hero, and the villains are usually inter-
esting. With Alex Cross, for example,
I wanted to write a larger-than-life
African-American hero who wasn’t some
kind of caricature with a boom box.
HEMISPHERES:
When it’s Alex Cross’ turn
to show up in one of your books, do you
ever think, “Oh, you again”?
PATTERSON:
Not yet. What keeps me
interested is how he changes personally,
and then how his family is doing. I’m
very family-oriented, and I love telling
stories. That’s what drives me.
HEMISPHERES:
I’m surprised you work as
much as you do, given how well you’ve
done. You
have
made a couple of bucks
writing books, after all.
PATTERSON:
I don’t like it when people
ask me when I’m going to retire. You
don’t retire from play, you retire from
work. And I don’t work.
HEMISPHERES:
Considering how much
you write—in longhand, no less—I wonder
if your hand ever wears out.
PATTERSON:
That only happens when
we do the autographing thing. Other-
wise, I have a pre y damn strong right
wrist, I guess.
HEMISPHERES:
Are you snotty about
your pens?
PATTERSON:
I’m not too sno y about
anything.
HEMISPHERES:
So there’s no golden
instrument?
PATTERSON:
No.
HEMISPHERES:
What a letdown. Do you
miss advertising?
PATTERSON:
Zero. I didn’t like it when
I was doing it.
HEMISPHERES:
How does the typical
writing day go for you?
PATTERSON:
I’ll get up very early, 5:30 or
so, and write some, then maybe three or
four days a week I’ll go play nine holes
of golf, come back, write some more
and have lunch with my wife, Sue. Two
or three days a week I take a 45-minute
nap, work some more, then spend time
with Sue and Jack for the rest of the
evening. That’s it, seven days a week.
THE
HEMI
Q&A:
JAMES PATTERSON
HEMISPHERES:
Is there any part of
you that fears for the bookselling industry
and infrastructure?
PATTERSON:
Totally. We’ve lost Borders
already, we’re losing a lot of indepen-
dents, and libraries are obviously in
more trouble than they were. I think it’s
a disaster if people in this country have
no place to go to buy books and talk
about books and get recommendations.
HEMISPHERES:
Tablets are flourishing,
of course. Is there hope in that? Though I
guess one of the bummers about people
consuming books on tablets is that you
can’t see what they’re reading.
PATTERSON:
You think it bums
you
out?
I can no longer just walk onto a plane
and see my books everywhere.
HEMISPHERES:
Do you keep close track of
your sales?
PATTERSON:
I’m not big on that stuff. I
don’t know howmany books I’ve done.
I don’t know howmany I’ve sold. I’m not
wired that way. It just doesn’t interest
me. I don’t care if I’mNo. 1.
HEMISPHERES:
Really?
PATTERSON:
There you go. You think I’m
wired like you. I’m not. It may be partly
that when it has happened this much, I
just don’t care anymore. All I care about,
really, is that the book is good. That’s all.
HEMISPHERES:
Well then, what’s good?
How do you define a success?
PATTERSON:
Once you strap in, I’ll give
you a nice ride. If you’re reading my
book at night in bed and planning to
read three chapters, and you end up
reading 10 because you’re enjoying
it—that’s a success.
DAVID CARR
has written just one book, the
bestseller
The Night of the Gun
.
He’s cur-
rently auditioning co-authors for his next 100.
