James Patterson's books have sold over 400 million copies worldwide. He says he often gets ideas for them late at night. His latest, The #1 Dad Book, offers advice for fathers. He spoke with Terry Gross at a WHYY live event for the "Lifelong Learning Award." Also, Martin Johnson reviews a new album from accordionist Will Holshouser, and we listen back to Terry's interview with him when he brought his instrument to the studio.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
Chapter 1: Who is James Patterson and what are his achievements?
This is Fresh Air. I'm Terry Gross. My guest, James Patterson, has sold over 400 million copies of his many books. Those books include the Alex Cross Detective Series, the Women's Murder Club Series, and Maximum Ride. Alex Cross was spun off into three films, two starring Morgan Freeman and another starring Tyler Perry.
An Amazon Prime video series called Cross has been renewed for a second season. Patterson has co-authored books with Bill Clinton and Dolly Parton. His second collaboration with Clinton will be published this summer. Patterson's also written nonfiction books about the Kennedys, John Lennon, Muhammad Ali, and Jeffrey Epstein, as well as books for children and young adults.
His new book, The Number One Dad Book, is addressed to new fathers who need some advice. Back when Patterson was starting to write, he took a job as a junior copywriter at the J. Walter Thompson Advertising Agency. He rose to the top, becoming CEO and then head of the agency's North America division. If you're wondering how he's managed to do all this, he typically works with collaborators.
Patterson writes an elaborate outline of the story. The collaborators write the sentences. He describes this in more detail in his 2022 memoir called James Patterson by James Patterson. I'd be remiss if I didn't also mention that he's now collaborating on a thriller with the star YouTuber and influencer known as Mr. Beast. As you can guess, Patterson is pretty rich.
He's also a generous philanthropist, donating over $7 million to schools and classroom libraries around the country, establishing over 400 teacher and writer education scholarships at 21 colleges and universities... and giving over $2 million to independent bookstores.
In recognition of his work, on May 14th, James Patterson received the Lifelong Learning Award from WHYY, the public radio and TV station where Fresh Air is produced. That was the occasion for our interview, which we recorded in front of an audience.
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Chapter 2: What is the inspiration behind The #1 Dad Book?
Hi, I'm Stephen King. I'm here to honor James. I love the guy. What can I tell you?
First of all, congratulations, and thank you for doing this interview.
I am not worthy. I am not worthy.
So in your memoir, you describe how you hear voices in your head basically telling you stories. I'd really like to know what that feels like, what that experience is like.
You think you do. No, I do. Until the voices won't stop. And they keep you up at night. You know, it's an interesting thing. You talk about voice. All these books have a different voice. The father book has a voice. The autobiography has a voice. Alice Cross is a different kind of voice. The kids' books, different voices. I've learned not to get up in the middle of the night anymore.
And start writing?
Yeah, pretty much. Sometimes I do.
So another thing that I learned from your memoir, which I found really fascinating because it's so different
From the work that you do and from the stories I keep coming to in your head, when you were young before you became a writer, when you first became really interested in reading, you read a lot of Thomas Merton, who was the now famous Trappist monk who wrote the bestseller Seven Story Mountain. which was kind of required reading for a lot of people in college, like in the 60s and 70s.
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Chapter 3: How does James Patterson collaborate with other writers?
Yeah, I read the obit.
Oh, my God. You know, just such a healthy looking man, you know, and a wonderful person. At any rate, that was very sad for us. And obviously, it's tragic for his family.
You describe yourself as being like the storyteller, but you enjoy telling the stories, coming up with the stories, doing like a very elaborate 30, 50 or 60 page outline.
Doing several drafts. On this tour, I'm working on three outlines.
Yeah, but then you leave the actual sentences in the book.
Where do you see what happens to Alice Cross? I've got to tell you.
But you leave the sentences in the book to the person you're collaborating with. At what point did you think that you'd stick to the story and leave the sentences to someone else? Correct me if I'm getting that wrong.
Yeah, no, I didn't. I mean, a lot of times, especially in the beginning. Am I compartmentalizing too much? No, I would go in and do two or three drafts in the beginning. Not as much now because most of the people I'm working with, they kind of know the joke. But I'll still come in and rewrite.
I mean, the most insane thing was when I did the book shots, which were novellas, which I still think was a very valuable thing to do. So the stores would have these, you could read these books in a couple of hours, like a movie. They were novellas, 100 pages, 100, whatever the heck. And I think it's a useful thing.
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Chapter 4: What is the significance of storytelling in Patterson's life?
He apologized for not hugging you?
He apologized for just not being as close as he thought he should have been. And I just said, you were a great dad. You were a great dad.
Was he?
Look, he grew up in the Newburgh poorhouse. It was called the Pogie. His mother was a charwoman there. His father had disappeared. He never knew his father. And he didn't have the experience to be a dad. So that's fine. And I did therapy for one year, and I got in touch with... And I just don't blame him. It was fine. He did the best he could.
I have a friend, his whole thing is doing the best you can religion. You're doing the best you can, okay, that's good. God bless you. You're doing the best you can, okay.
What did your father end up doing to make a living?
Well, he, the last thing he did after he retired, he retired in 60, 61, he actually wrote a novel. It didn't get published, but it was pretty good. It was pretty good. And that's what he wanted to do. He went to Hamilton, which is to go from where he was, the poor house, and to get into Hamilton, leap, unbelievable leap. He was a bright guy. He didn't have a lot of confidence.
He just didn't think he could. He sold insurance and then he actually did well. He worked for Prudential. He did well in the insurance stuff. But he didn't have the confidence. He didn't instill confidence in myself or my sisters either, which is unfortunate, but my grandmother, she was the one, she said, listen, I'm gonna be real about this stuff.
You're not gonna play in the NBA, so forget about that. You don't go to your left very well. You're good. I could dunk in high school. There's a little white guy that could dunk. But you're not going to make it. But you are going to be able to do stuff. And she had one of the lines, which I use it on Substack, is hungry dogs run faster. That was one of her things.
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Chapter 5: How did James Patterson's upbringing influence his writing?
And the other thing was just go out and chop wood. Do it. Do it. Stop talking about writing your book. Go write the damn book. Seriously.
So I want to ask you about your Alex Cross series, which is like your longest running series of books. Did you know that you'd be capable of writing mysteries and thrillers?
No. And I, somewhere in there, I think it was when I read Vanderbilt, I read, and I didn't read a lot of books. commercial novels at that point. But I read Day of the Jackal and The Exorcist. And I went, ooh, these are cool. I like these. And maybe I could write something like that. The novel that had knocked me out, A Hundred Years of Solitude, and I said, I'm not capable of that.
I thought I could write a literary, you know, an okay novel. But I said, I don't really want to do that. I don't want to write for those people, honestly. I'm not interested in those kinds of stories. But I said, maybe I could do something like Day of the Jackal, maybe. But I can't do 100 Years of Solitude. I don't have it in me. And that's what I'd like to do.
But it's like, no, you're not going to play in the NBA. Sorry. I didn't have the confidence. And that's a big deal. Fortunately, down there, there was a professor. And I took one writing course. And he said, you have it. You have that. And he was a real conservative southern guy. And I was the hippie with the long hair and the whole whatever. I wish I had the long hair now, but you know.
And that was a big confidence builder. That was huge for me, huge, to have a professor, to have a published novelist say, you have. Peter Taylor was another one. Peter Taylor, he read some of my stuff, but you have it. A really good short story writer who was at the University of Virginia.
So another question about religion. You know, we talked a little about the Trappist Monastery that you spent 10 days in and how it helped you decide to be a writer. Yeah. Do you maintain any form of religion in your life? If that's not too personal to ask.
Yeah, no. You know, yeah, something, some connection that, you know, certainly the idea that things are bigger than me, which I think, That isn't necessarily religious, but I think it probably has its basis back in growing up Catholic. And there are things more important than you. And whether that's a society or whatever the heck it is, or your family. So I've always had that.
You were an altar boy. I was. I served mass every day for like two years in a row. This is when I don't know how old I was, nine, ten years old.
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Chapter 6: What role does philanthropy play in Patterson's career?
Chapter 7: How did experiences shape Patterson's writing process?
He brought his accordion and played. ¦
Accordionist Will Holzhauser has played in a wide variety of bands, from violinist Regina Carter's jazz hybrid group Reverse Thread, to singer-songwriters like Suzanne Vega and Rufus Wainwright, to klezmer bands, to his own trio, Musette Explosion. On his latest recording, Lone Wild Bird, he goes it alone, solo.
The austere setting allows Holzhauser to really showcase the sound of his instrument and its versatility. In the hymn-like track that we just heard, it can be solemn and pensive, but it can also be boisterous and joyful. The setting also allows us to hear the inner workings of his instrument. Underneath the accordion sound are grunts and huffs from the air that gets pumped inside of it.
Thank you.
Holzhauser grew up in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He is the son of two ministers, so hymns were an early part of his musical diet. He was studying jazz piano and turned to accordion when a college pal gave him one as a gift. He was fascinated by the mechanics of the instrument and its versatility. It was a cornerstone in folk music from New Orleans to Madagascar.
And Holzhauser, who was 56, was finding his way through his instrument's range. at a time when exotic music was rapidly becoming more accessible via the recording boom of the 80s and 90s and the rise of the Internet shortly thereafter. It is this variety of music that is reflected on Lone Wild Bird.
Holzhauser's original Three Glasses is a minor key and intimate tribute to composer Dmitri Shastakovich. Holshouser's jazz roots are a prominent part of the program. Blue Waters reflects his interest in Counterpoint, and it has a bluesy feel. It's a tribute to jazz organ great Jimmy Smith.
Thank you.
Holshauser's jazz interest also led him to the traditional hymn, Abide With Me. The music dates back to the 19th century, but legendary jazz pianist and composer Thelonious Monk recorded an all-horns arrangement. It made the accordionist ponder, what would it have sounded like if Monk played the piano on the track? You can hear some of this idea here. ¦
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Chapter 8: What insights does Patterson have about fatherhood and parenting?
Wow. I didn't know you could bend notes on accordion. Do you bend notes on a keyboard instrument that's not a synthesizer? It's pretty good. So I should ask you to play a song for us. And your new album, Introducing Musette Explosion, is all musette, which is a type of French song. Tell us what the genre is.
Well, it's basically French dance hall music from the first half of the 20th century. And it's led... The accordion is the lead instrument. The guitar is also very important. And one of the standard forms in this type of music is the waltz. And to us as Americans... It sounds iconically French. But then if you look beneath the surface, it actually has a very multicultural family tree.
So it began with French peasants in Paris playing an instrument called the musette, which was actually a little bagpipe. And then around 1900, there was a wave of Italian immigrants who brought the accordion and a lot of their music to Paris. And they kind of took over the dance halls. The accordion became the lead instrument. The bagpipe was forgotten but left its name to the genre, musette.
And there were also the large... Roma gypsy population in France and they contributed a lot of their style to this genre also. Some people say the Roma guitarists were the first ones to write waltzes in minor keys which became a classic musette sound.
And the tradition that Django Reinhardt was from?
Exactly. His first gig was playing banjo in a musette dance band. Banjo?
Wow. You're a guitar player and Matt Ministeri plays banjo on some of the tracks.
That's right.
On your album. Oh, okay. So you should play one of the musettes from your album for us. Do you want to do Swing Falls?
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