A while ago, I chose to participate in the James Patterson Teaches Writing MasterClass and it was amazing. I learned tons of things I’d never thought I would. For those of you out there who haven’t got a chance to take this class yet, below are 15 valuable lessons I’ve summed up from this MasterClass.
Who is James Patterson?
But first, let’s see the star behind this popular MasterClass.
MasterClass instructors are mostly celebrities and successful people who look to teaching as a way to give back to the community. Christina Aguilera, Gordon Ramsay, and even Michael Jordon, the list goes on.
In case you wonder whether the site is worth it, check out my detailed MasterClass review.
This class is no exception. It’s taught by the talented James Patterson.
James Patterson is an American author whose books have sold more than 300 million copies. He’s also the first author to sell one million e-books, write 114 New York Times bestselling novels, and hold the New York Times record for most #1 New York Times Bestsellers by a single author. Some of his best books include Invisible, Unlucky 13, and Gone.
Now, he has decided to reveal his tricks of the trade in his first-ever online writing class.
Basic Information about James Patterson Teaches Writing MasterClass
It took me a long time to sign up for James Patterson Teaches Writing MasterClass. Not that I didn’t want to. I guess I was scared.
At that time, I had invested in so many writing courses. Ergo, I expected to hear more or less the same things in this MasterClass.
But then again, it’s James Patterson. The urge to hear from my hero was just too much.
The man is a legend. But, before he was a legend, he still had to face rejection and insecurity like the rest of us. I figured even if I only learned one thing from him, that something would haunt me for the rest of my life.
As you guessed it, I ended up taking and loving his MasterClass.
Below are two basic information anyone needs to know when deciding to join this class.
- 22 lessons. Three hours of video from James covering everything from starting your outline to getting published.
- A downloadable workbook. Each video lesson is paired with notes, reading materials, and assignments to make sure you get the most out of your class.
After a little further research, I also found out about Kecia Bal. Kecia Bal is a former print journalist and a student of James Patterson Teaches Writing MasterClass.
After the class, she became the winner of the first James Patterson MasterClass Co-Author Competition. The competition was originally proposed by Patterson after seeing his students’ work. Kecia Bal was picked to co-author a book with James Patterson: The Dolls. The book later went on to be a big success.
This incident motivated me to take the class even more.
15 Lessons I Learned from James Patterson Teaches Writing MasterClass
James Patterson opens the class by saying:
Hi! I’m Stephen King.
Just those four words and I realized that not only is James motivating, nice, and friendly but he’s also a surprisingly hilarious guy.
James continued the class by leveling the course:
- It’s for people who want to write books
- It will teach you how to be more efficient.
- It’s for people who like to read books.
While the first half of the course is extremely motivating, the second half is full of practical advice. Below are 15 lessons I’ve picked out and summed up from James Patterson Teaches Writing MasterClass.
1. There Are No New Ideas
This first lesson I’ve learned can seem a bit disappointing. I mean, if there are no new ideas, what’s the point of even getting up in the morning?
Well, according to James, original new story writing ideas are rare or even non-existent. What we perceive as new ideas are just connections between different ideas that we have seen or heard at some point. This means that instead of creating what nobody has thought of before, we combine the knowledge in a way that has not been done.
Take this movie, Alien, for example.
Alien was originally pitched as “Jaws in Space.” This combines the director’s love for the movie Jaws and his knowledge of spacecraft.
This is why Patterson argues: in order to write a masterpiece, you first need to increase your knowledge. Creativity happens when we learn about things. The more you know, the more you are likely to write. We need to “have a big universe of stimulation.”
2. Things Need to be Outlined
Do you know what James Patterson does after he wakes up?
He reads, right away. He reads his newspapers. He drinks some coffee.
Then, he starts outlining in his yellow legal pads. He tries to put everything in the outline: the arcs of the characters, the villains, the setups, and the payoffs. He can spend up to six months on one outline before he even starts writing.
Six months, for God’s sake!
I couldn’t spend one month outlining, let alone six.
In fact, Patterson considers the outline to be a book itself. He wants people to read the outline and think of it as a terrific story even before reaching the book.
In outline form, he can pick out flaws in his plot before he begins his first draft. The outline will bear out parts of the story where he finds himself repeating scenes and character interactions. And if he’s stuck at certain points in the outline? He just jots down “to be determined” and forges ahead with the story.
3. Sprint Through the First Draft
It sure takes him a long time to finish an outline.
But, it’s a completely different story when it comes to writing an actual draft. And, he’s not just writing the draft. He’s sprinting through it.
His advice is to allow yourself to write “badly.” Instead of reviewing or rewriting as we normally do, he asks authors to just shut down the inner critic and focus entirely on writing.
On those scenes that frustrate you and you just can’t seem to finish them, just skip them altogether. Patterson has “to be determined” laid there for several drafts until he decides what to do with them and ready to write them out.
4. Tell Your Story and the Rest will Follow
I’ve always been curious about great people and what makes them awesome. I tried to read every online article, listen to every one of their interviews on Youtube.
After a while, I realize that the great always seem to listen to some inner voices. The poets find their muse. The athletes find their edge. The warriors find their peace with anger. The lovers find their beauty inside a friendship.
James Patterson found that through his pen and paper.
But, of course, it wasn’t all champagne and roses. He still had to push his passion past the difficulties. He once said:
Do NOT sit there like “Oh I don’t feel like it today. I don’t feel like it tomorrow.” Feel like it! Do it! Force yourself.
Authors often get obsessed with language, pace, and style. Sometimes, it can take them days to form a sentence. James, on the other hand, chooses to ignore all that stuff. He informs that once your story is formed, the rest will automatically fall into places.
The hardest part is to pluck up the courage to actually sit down and write your story. Once you can do that, language, pace, and style are not so troublesome anymore.
5. Write Every Chapter as If It Was Your First
The first chapter is not necessarily the most important chapter in a book. However, it’s the one that gets the most attention. Oftentimes, it decides whether the readers will abandon the rest of the book.
As a result, it’s vital to give special care to the first chapter.
It’s one thing to make your first chapter fascinating. James Patterson goes further than that. He tries to write every chapter as if it was the first one. James encourages writers to do the same thing. He advises us to not just set out to write a good story but a number one story. Every chapter needs giving a value both it and the readers deserve.
6. Note to Self
As said in the previous section, James Patterson likes to write his outline in a yellow legal pad every morning.
That’s not all he does though. He also writes notes to himself.
Not those negative notes and critiques but those that encourage him. He jots down what he likes about his writing, what he thinks he has nailed in a scene. He also includes what needs to be done in particular scenes, things that can either be improved, added, or deleted.
Those notes keep him grounded and motivated during the drafting process later on.
7. Focus
I’m a true procrastinator. If I can put things off until tomorrow, I will. Not only that, whenever I start to write something, I would easily get distracted by a new Facebook message, my urge to pee, or the desire to see a butterfly flapping its wings somewhere in India.
But no, no, no. That’s not what you want.
Concentration is essential to get your books finished. It’s the key for you to live in your story. Concentration allows you to be present in the scene, be aware of the character, and get into the flow of writing.
James advises keeping a writing journal. That way, you can keep count of how many times you actually write per week and for how long.
Another great way to focus is by listening to low music. A 2012 study showed that low music noise levels can increase productivity while anything over 85 decibels decreases your creativity.
8. Write Complex Characters
A great book always comes with great characters. These characters make readers laugh, then cry, as if they have known each other for a long time. A good character arc creates a deeper connection between the readers and the characters.
I had this exact feeling when reading Angels and Demons by Dan Brown. I never figure out whether the events in the book are historywise, but I don’t care. All I care is that I feel like I were right there with the villain. This connection leads me to name Angels and Demons my favorite book of all time.
For readers to never forget your characters, you need to create an intimate relationship between them. As a result, it’s important to get the emotional part of the characters right. To do that, you should never make your characters flat or predictable. Readers need to see all sides of a character.
Remember Barney Stinson from How I Met Your Mother?
One episode into the sitcom and Barney is already pictured as a womanizer with daddy issues. It’s easy to think that he’s heartless. But, look at the way he holds his new-born baby nine seasons later.
I’m pretty sure that all HIMYM fans shed a tear or two, if not tearing up already, at this scene. His lines, his stories, and his character will never be forgotten. That’s what I call legendary character building.
9. Move Your Story Forward
James Patterson is directly asking writers to constantly move their story forward. This is one of my most favorite pieces of advice from James.
As a matter of fact, a lot of writers, myself included, fail to advance their plot. Plenty of stories start off with a great situation but then veer off into the hinterlands. Other novels don’t even get out the gate. Some opening scenes seem to have nothing to do with the premise of the story.
If your scenes aren’t advancing the plot, you have a serious problem.
Each scene should reveal some new information, but not just anything — the information needs to help move the plot forward. In other words, every scene must have a point to it or it shouldn’t be in your novel at all.
10. Be in the Scene
Readers will never fully understand a story until they feel like they’re in the scenes. They need to see things, to smell things, and to feel things.
Before you can make readers present in a scene, you yourself have to be in it.
It’s okay to write fast. In fact, as said before, you should write fast. However, when you read back your pieces, it’s time to turn on your inner critic.
See if he likes the scene and what is happening in it. Ask him whether he sees the colors bright as you have expected, whether he smells things he’s supposed to, or feels emotionally hurt when a character is slapped, for example.
11. Know Your Genre
Throughout the course, James Patterson keeps stressing on the importance of knowing your genre. Before you even think about writing, it’s important to know your genre back and forth.
If you’re going to write something in the genre of mystery suspense, you kind of got to be aware of what’s out there.
If you don’t do your research, you’ll risk writing something that’s already been done several times before. You might think your next novel is top-class. Well, maybe it was, like 15 years ago.
So, it’s pretty useful to know what has been written and not to write stuff like it.
Look at The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown, for instance.
The Da Vinci Code was written back in 2003. At that point, plenty of detective series had been published. However, the lengths that Dan Brown went in terms of creating this unbelievable complex puzzle had set the book apart. People haven’t read that kind of complexity in a puzzle. It’s rare. So, it feels fresh.
Of course, you don’t have to create such complexity in your writing.
What you can do is to read about your genre as much as you can. James suggests a surprisingly 50 on average books a year. That way, you can be inspired. Through that inspiration, you can create a new twist and breathe new life into a fresh plot with unique characters.
12. Intrigue Your Readers
Have you ever tried mountain climbing?
To reach the top, you need to hold on to little rocks along the way. When you’re finally at the peak, you will appreciate the scenery and the effort you’ve used to climb.
The same goes for writing. Your readers need something to grip on to reach the end of the story. Or else, they will lose interest.
One way to go about it is to set up a handful of questions that readers need to find the answers to. Identify questions that pose an intriguing dilemma. What happened? Who’s done it? The more questions, the better.
One of the biggest secrets of suspense is setting up questions that the reader must have an answer.
James uses his own book, Step on a Crack, as a specific guide.
Step on a Crack is the first in James’s Michael Bennett series. It’s built around a state funeral in Saint Patrick’s Cathedral in New York with all of the important political figures. During the funeral, the entire cathedral was held hostage. The President, the Vice President, President of France, they are all trapped in Saint Patrick’s Cathedral.
This is when the story starts and the readers are burning with the unanswered questions:
- Where is the hold-up going to go?
- Who’s doing it?
- How do they plan to get away with it?
These questions create a sense of curiosity, or suspense, that will keep the readers fixate on the story until the very end.
13. Raise the Stakes
Another way to keep your reader intrigued is to raise the stakes. Once you set the foundation of the story with a hook, it’s time to add more details.
As we’re talking about Step on a Crack, let’s see what else this book can offer.
The main character of the series is Michael Bennett, whom James decided to give a lot to deal with. First off, Michael is raising ten adopted children. He’s a detective. And now, he’s involved in this cathedral takeover. On top of all that, he has a wife that is dying of cancer.
Up until this point, the stakes are already high enough:
- What’s with the ten kids?
- How does he find time in the course of these two or three days where they’re holding on these captives to stay in touch?
- How is he going to take care of his wife?
These questions keep readers moving along with the story. And that’s just the first part. The central part has its own stakes as well. Of course, the gunmen don’t stop at holding up the Cathedral. They probably kill and toss out the bodies of New York notables.
Oops, spoiler alert!
14. Keep the Reader Guessing
When James feels a story is lagging, he will build misdirections or red herrings.
In Cross My Heart and Hope to Die, we have the stakes of Alex Cross’ family. The whole family goes missing. It’s easy to think that they’re dead. Alex thinks they may be dead. But, he’s got a tiny bit of hope.
If Alex didn’t have that tiny bit of hope, there’s no stake anymore. He must have that. And the fact that it’s just a sliver makes it even more delicious. Because of that hope, he will go the distance to save his family, which leads to him doing all sorts of crazy things like going down a blind alley.
It’s very logical and realistic for your detective or protagonist to go down the wrong alleys. Sometimes, in going down the wrong alley, you create possibilities in the reader’s mind that really make the book a lot more interesting.
That blind alley really drives the reader crazy. Their brain will go into overdrive “Oh, my God, how could it be? I didn’t see it coming and I can’t imagine how that’s going to lead to a solution.”
15. Reveal in Bits and Pieces
We have got a series of questions that the readers must have answers to. Now, it’s time for the grand finale.
Ideally, what you definitely don’t want to do is give away the answers very quickly. The worst thing in the world is you spend a whole chapter building up this thing and you give it away in two paragraphs.
Even if it’s a pretty good reveal, you got to milk it. If you can give away your secret in pieces, that’s much better. James suggests feeding out little clue after little clue until boom… the whole secret is revealed.
However, it’s not always easy to keep the plotlines straight. So, build out your outline by adding three or four bullet points of clues you can give your readers about how the book will end. You can add these to existing chapters if you feel that they wouldn’t spoil the surprise.
When you’re writing a mystery, it’s worth trying to keep your reader hooked, up until the very last word.
Is James Patterson Teaches Writing MasterClass for You?
As a matter of fact, I’ve got a ton of value from James Patterson Teaches Writing MasterClass. I had access to James’ original outline for Honeymoon. I gained from the Office Hours where James answers students’ questions. But most of all, I learned 15 invaluable lessons from a man who has gone from an advertising executive to a best seller.
If you’re thinking about bringing your mystery novel to a whole new level, you might want to take a look at this James Patterson Teaches Writing MasterClass.
Aside from writing classes like James Patterson Teaches Writing, MasterClass also hosts a lot of different trending categories like Music, Flim, and Business. You can check out these ten best MasterClasses and figure out which one best suits your own needs.