How Author James Patterson Writes 31 Books at the Same Time | GQ

James Patterson has written so many books that he's long forgotten the number he hit during his most prolific single year. "I don't know the most, but right now I believe I have 31 active projects," says the 75-year-old over the phone, from his house about an hour north of New York City. "Lately, we've been doing eight to 10 fiction, one or two non-fiction, and then anywhere from three to five kids or young adult books." The latest, out next week, is The House of Wolves, a collaboration with Mike Lupica.

Mind you, Patterson didn't start publishing in earnest until after he'd finished a decades long career at J. Walter Thompson, an advertising firm. Though his productivity is due in large part to a stable of co-writers that he works with, it's also a result of a daily routine that includes about eleven hours of reading and writing, one hour of golf, and many chats with his wife Susan. Here, he explains how he can re-work a draft of a novel in half an hour, how co-writing works, and why he prefers funerals to weddings.