In a July 5, 2010 article in Time Magazine, Patterson had this to say about Stephen King's statement that Patterson was not a great prose stylist: "I am not a great prose stylist. I'm a storyteller. There are thousands of people who don't like what I do. Fortunately, there are millions who do."
In the same article, when asked what Patterson felt was the most important element in writing a good murder mystery, Patterson said, "If the laws of real estate are location, location, location, for me it's story, story, story. My style is colloquial. It's the way we tell stories to one another. My favorite books are actually very complicated – we just tell a story."
In regards to his website ReadKiddoRead.com, Patterson told CNN that "Parents, it's up to you, not schools, to find books to get your kids reading." He went on to say "Here's a simple but powerful truth that many parents and schools don't act on: The more kids read, the better readers they become."
In a June 2000 Bookpage interview, Steven Womack asked Patterson how he could write such convincing female characters even though he was male. Patterson replied, "I think it goes back to when I was a kid. I grew up in a house full of women grandmother, mother, three sisters, two female cats. I cooked for my grandmother's restaurant. I've always been most comfortable talking to women. My best friends generally tended to be women. I liked the way they talk, the fact that a lot of subjects weave in and out of conversations. Sometimes men are a little bit more of a straight line."