James Patterson Teaches Writing

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brainstorm77

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https://www.masterclass.com/classes/james-patterson-teaches-writing I saw this on Facebook. Isn't he the author who no longer writes his own books? It looks like he is now teaching a writing class.

I have to confess that I have never read one of his books so I cannot comment on them.

Crap! I meant for this to be posted in the discussions section. Can a mod move this please?
 
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BenPanced

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  1. Hire somebody to write for you.
  2. Give them the idea to write.
  3. Put your name on the cover over theirs, in larger typeface.
  4. ?
  5. Profit!
 

ShaunHorton

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Basically, it's a collection of videos of Patterson rambling about a few subjects that they're charging people $90 to watch.

I honestly don't see anything in the lesson descriptions that makes me think there's any original tips or information that can't easily be gotten for free in dozens of other places, including on this forum.

The class looks just like his books. Someone else probably wrote the script, and then they paid to slap his name on it, assuming some people will be gullible enough to throw money at them just based on that.
 

Kylabelle

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Even a set of nesting dolls who is a writer falls within the RYFW container, so please keep that in mind when commenting on this topic.

Thanks.

(I think it was the third doll in who said that.)
 

DanaeMcB

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From what I've read of James Patterson, it sounds like his strength (and his background) is in marketing. This may include judging well how to satisfy and engage a target audience, how to get the word out and get a buzz going around a book, and what to write to build up an established reader base. If his class addressed these topics, I think it could be very valuable. But the website says the course focuses on the WRITING part of authorship (except for one or two videos), and though I have not read much of Mr. Patterson's work, my understanding is that writing craft is not his strongest point. I have a hard time believing that his videos would be of more value than craft books already put out by authors such as James Scott Bell, Donald Maass, etc.
 
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Kylabelle

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This article looks like it has lots of good detail in it

For example, I didn't know that Patterson ran the North American branch of J. Walter Thompson ad agency before becoming an author. So, yep, definitely a marketing background. The article also quotes his editor at Little, Brown as saying that Patterson is "at the very least co-publisher of his own books." He runs the show, apparently.

I haven't finished reading it, but it's quite thorough in describing his process, stable of co-authors, and the publishing personnel on his team.

His MC, Alex Cross, I remember initially thinking was an intriguing character but I lost interest after about the second or third book I read. To my taste it all turned into a sort of soap opera, but then, those are quite popular and there's nothing wrong with that.

I suspect Patterson is at the least a competent wordsmith, and that it is his marketing and business savvy that have made his brand.
 

blacbird

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From what I've read of James Patterson, it sounds like his strength (and his background) is in marketing.

I believe he was an advertising exec. Two or three years ago, as I recall, an extensive interview with him was published in one of the major national magazines (Atlantic, maybe?), in which he was totally unapologetic about his Henry Ford-style fiction factory and how it functions.

caw
 

blacbird

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Even a set of nesting dolls who is a writer falls within the RYFW container, so please keep that in mind when commenting on this topic.

Being respectful of another writer doesn't carry with it the implication that you can't be critical of either the writing or the process that produced it.

caw
 

Kylabelle

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I believe he was an advertising exec. Two or three years ago, as I recall, an extensive interview with him was published in one of the major national magazines (Atlantic, maybe?), in which he was totally unapologetic about his Henry Ford-style fiction factory and how it functions.

caw

See my post just before yours -- maybe that's the article?
 

Kylabelle

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Being respectful of another writer doesn't carry with it the implication that you can't be critical of either the writing or the process that produced it.

caw


Correct. And being critical of someone's writing and sniping at the person doing the writing are two different things.

'Twas just a reminder, in any case.
 

Haggis

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Next you people are going to tell me that Franklin W. Dixon didn't write the Hardy Boys books.
 

CassandraW

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I'm afraid Franklin W. Dixon is a faberge egg, pup.
 
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jjdebenedictis

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Whoo, what's a faberge egg doing writing novels? They obviously don't need the money; they all live in palaces.
 

CassandraW

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They're not in it for the money, jj. Not like those damn nesting dolls.
 

gothicangel

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His books aren't my kind of thing, but he's sold a shit ton of books, and made a shit ton of money in response. If you want to write the same type of books, then I can't think of anyone better to study than Patterson. You could of course do what I do when I study certain authors is search YouTube for videos, rather than spending £££ on a course.
 

Brightdreamer

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His books aren't my kind of thing, but he's sold a shit ton of books, and made a shit ton of money in response. If you want to write the same type of books, then I can't think of anyone better to study than Patterson. You could of course do what I do when I study certain authors is search YouTube for videos, rather than spending £££ on a course.

For marketing? Yeah, he's worth studying. Heck, even him offering this course is a study in marketing. Then again, Thomas Kinkaide was a good study in marketing, too. (IIRC, by the end he was putting maybe three brushstrokes total on "his" works, relying on "assistants" to do the rest, and his network of high-pressure galleries to do the selling. But apparently he started out doing his own work... I don't know enough about JP to know if it's similar for him, if he wound up with his current business model due to success and didn't start out to be a brand more than an author, as he seems to be now.)
 
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Usher

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Next you people are going to tell me that Franklin W. Dixon didn't write the Hardy Boys books.

*snort* that was my thought a few posts back ;)

Still love the Hardy Boys.
 
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