Books on the Nightstand discussion

"I'm less interested in sentences now and more interested in stories." (James Patterson)

I read this quote today from a New York Times article about James Patterson. It got me to thinking, does greater sentences means a lesser story? Does beautiful writing take away from great storytelling? Or can both exist together?

Your thoughts.....

Marion

It's possible to tell an exciting or funny or dramatic story without slowing down long enough to polish the language. The best-seller lists are full of books written that way. But within a few days of enjoying that hastily-produced book, most readers will forget every detail--character names, plot points, jokes, lines of dialogue. When an author has taken the time to think at the sentence level, it's obvious: that's the book that you can take out and savor whenever you like, without ever pulling it off the shelf.

Was James Patterson ever concerned with sentences?

Does he even write books anymore? Or does he just farm idea kernels out to his "co-writers"?

Bobcat and Other Stories has phenomenal, brilliant sentences. They are scattered throughout terrible, maudlin stories about the suffering of identically privileged academics in tediously sad relationships. I thought about this very question quite a bit while reading it.

I am not a fan of James Patterson but I copies these from Wikipedia. I hope they don't mind. I will have to donate soon. "James Brendan Patterson (born March 22, 1947) is an American author. He is largely known for his novels about fictional psychologist Alex Cross, the protagonist of the Alex Cross series. Patterson also wrote the Michael Bennett, Women's Murder Club, Maximum Ride, Daniel X, and Witch and Wizard series, as well as many stand-alone thrillers, non-fiction and romance novels. His books have sold more than 300 million copies". Also,"writer Lisa Scottoline said in a review of Patterson's Kill Alex Cross, "They used to say that 50 million Elvis Presley fans couldn’t be wrong, and James Patterson makes 50 million fans look like a good start. He has sold more than 230 million books, and his fans aren’t wrong, either."
From what I understand Patterson still writes the Alex Cross novels on his own.

Eric wrote: "Was James Patterson ever concerned with sentences?"

^ This.

Amy ?

I agree with Eric's question. And my vote for the answer to it would be, "No."