Interview with Rick Riordan and James Patterson

It’s not clear what it was about 2005, but two authors, then middle-school teacher Rick Riordan and America’s best-selling author, James Patterson, sent their kid-lit debuts into the world to great fanfare. Over the years, both have amassed huge followings with their groundbreaking series—Riordan with his "Percy Jackson" and "Kane Chronicles" books, which have awakened in kids a huge interest in Greek mythology and Egyptian history, respectively, and Patterson with his "Maximum Ride," "Daniel X," and "Witch and Wizard" series, three fantasy–science fiction hybrids. The authors' works have even spawned (or are about to spawn) big-screen blockbusters. The two writers, both Children's Choice Book Award winners, held a live event at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall on May 25 for their enthusiastic fans (it was also a fund-raiser for the nonprofit literacy group First Book) and found time to sit down with Time Out Kids to chat about friendly competition, the importance of reading and what it's like to have their own children critique their work.
 
In some ways, you two are competitors for the young adult audience. Why did you decide to do this event together?
Rick Riordan Well, we were gonna do a wrestling match, but we decided a conversation would be more simple.
James Patterson I’m not wired that way—I don’t think of competition. I try to write a good book, and that’s the end of it. Unless somebody comes out and is unpleasant. Then I might be like, “Hey, what’s that all about?” But I’m a big fan of Rick’s book and so is my son.
RR I agree, I don’t really think of it that way—competition. I think kids will read more good books than we can possibly produce. And it’s not as if they’re only going to pick up mine, or only going to pick up James’s. They’ll very happily pick up both, as long as they feel it’s a book they want to read.
JP I think for both of us, part of the joy of this is turning kids on to reading. I want them to read Jane Austen when the time is right.
 
What’s the difference between writing books for children and writing books for adults?
RR I think personally there are more similarities than differences. For me, writing for kids is harder because they’re a more discriminating audience. While adults might stay with you, if you lose your pacing or if you have pages of extraneous description, a kid’s not going to do that. They will drop the book. You need to give them what they want: good plot, good characters, a little bit of humor, a little bit of action—which are all things that work for adults, too.
JP I find it pretty similar to the way I write for adults. I’ve always been into fast-paced, don’t bore ’em, keep it moving along, stick with the story. You know: tell a story the way I want to hear a story. I find it more rewarding to write for kids, but I also find it a little easier, because you can just let loose a little bit more, in terms of fantasy and stuff.

How do you know how far you can go, in terms of suspense and the fear factor?
JP I don’t think I’ve ever tried to push it. I don’t think I go as far as you could go. I don’t think I go as far as some authors do in the genre, at all.  The game in the graveyard, I find that actually to be pretty scary—The Graveyard Book [by Neil Gaiman]. I’m just not interested in scaring kids at all.

RR I think I would agree that I don’t ever try to push it, but it’s also something that I’m not conscious of: I’m not looking for the limits, and I’m not really avoiding them either; it’s just part of the storytelling. I think that kids have a greater capacity for processing things than we give them credit for. It’s often pointed out that the Grimms’ fairy tales are pretty gruesome, if you read the originals. And I think that kids often strain out what they’re not ready to hear. And they can take a lot more than we think they can.

James, it’s interesting that you chose a girl to be the protagonist in your first foray into young adult fiction. What inspired the character of Maximum Ride?
JP Well, I have a friend who is half bird…no. I have always been more comfortable in general with women than with men. I find men to be a little one-dimensional. I would have trouble—and I don’t mean this as a criticism—but I couldn’t write a Tom Clancey novel. I don’t know how generals talk or think. I grew up in a house of women, for one thing: grandmother, mother, three sisters, female cats. So I think I just have that buzz in my head.
 
Rick, what about your Percy Jackson character?
RR Well, Percy Jackson began as a bedtime story for my son, and Percy and my son share some traits. They both have ADHD, they both have dyslexia, my son thinks he’s a demigod, they both have heroic quests ahead of them. For him, his heroic quest was learning to read. It was a very, very difficult time, but he did succeed. I think Percy shares my sense of humor. I am not as brave as Percy Jackson. And in some ways, Percy is based on a lot of different students I taught when I was a middle school teacher. But not cut whole cloth from one personality. All of my characters tend to be montages of different people I’ve met: little bits and pieces of their personalities put together.
 
You both have tween boys. Do they read your books, and if so, what is that like?
RR They like my books, but they’re also brutally honest. After reading The Lost Hero, my oldest son said, “Wow Dad, you’ve just moved up from my third favorite author to my second favorite author!” So, making progress.
JP My Jack, he’s kind of a sweet guy, so he wouldn’t tell me anything bad. He’s read all the books so far, and he’ll make comments, like if he doesn’t feel a character, or about the pacing, if he can’t get into something, which isn’t usually a problem.
 
So he even reads them in manuscript form?
JP Yes, frequently. Especially in the summer. One of the problems with school is that some schools give kids so much homework that they don’t have time to read. That’s not how I would run a school!
 
Tell us a little bit about your latest releases and when they come out.
RR Well, my newest release is The Throne of Fire, which is in my Egyptian mythology series which just came out [on May 3], and my next is October 4, which is The Son of Neptune.
JP Oh my god, not the fourth!
RR Why is that?
JP No, I’m just kidding [Laughs].
RR And that’s in the "Heroes of Olympus" series, which is a spin-off series of "Percy Jackson."
JP I have two books coming out on the same day [June 27]. One is an adult book and one is a young adult book. And the reason that we did that is, I’m really trying to get it into parents’ heads that it’s their job to go out and buy books for their kids. So when they go in to buy the adult book, they’re gonna get a lot of reminders, like here’s a cool book for your kid! [The new kids’ book] is very different for me. It’s called Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life; it’s very comedic, as is the title. I wait for the reviews to come in, and for people not to get that it’s comedic. It’s a whole different thing for me, to do something that’s supposed to be funny.  The main idea for that book was to do something that’s funny but also that’s a legitimate story, a legitimate novel. And that separates it from some books that are funny, but have no real story.
 
So it’s kind of reality-based?
JP Uhh, yeeeeaaahhh…….no, I wouldn’t say that it’s reality-based, but it’s relatable—kids will relate to it. We need more books that kids will really like. And contrary to what a lot of people think, there aren’t that many.
 
Rick, do you foresee ever writing expressly for grown-ups again?
RR I don’t know. Certainly I wouldn’t count out writing for adults again. Solely for adults? I mean, I’m just having way too much fun writing for kids, and I really do think that I’ve found my calling. All my years as a teacher, my years writing, they’ve finally merged and I think this is what I need to be doing. I need to be writing for that audience that I know best.
JP One of the interesting things about YA books—I don’t know about Percy Jackson, but I do know about Twilight and Maximum Ride: There are a lot of adult readers. In fact, we released Maximum Ride both as a paperback for kids and as a mass release for adults.
 
What question do you dread being asked at these events?
JP How old are you? [Both laugh]
RR Well, I think the hardest question most of the time, I don’t really dread it, because I expect it, but: “Where do you get your ideas?” I think all writers have kind of an inside joke about that, because it’s kind of an unanswerable question, at least it is for me. Because they come from everywhere.
JP Generally I find that kids ask better questions than you get with adults. Something that kids will do a lot is, they’re so nervous, and they’re not really paying attention, so they’ll ask the same question someone just asked. And you’re trying to be nice and not embarrass them any more than they are already.