James Patterson Admits He Tried To ‘Screw With’ Stephen King In Scrapped Novella

James Patterson is getting candid about his complicated history with fellow bestselling author Stephen King, and he's not shying away from the tension.

In a new interview with Graham Bensinger, James Patterson, known for his wild thriller books, opened up about a potential collaboration with King, the sharp public jabs they've exchanged over the years, and the behind-the-scenes drama surrounding his unpublished novella titled "The Murder of Stephen King."

When asked about a rumored joint interview project, Patterson said, “We’ll see what happens,” adding that his team has reached out to King’s. “I would love to do it. I think it would be great."

He further explained, "One of the things I said to his people was, ‘Look, we could do some good in the world. We could get more kids reading. There's a lot of things we could do if we collaborated a little bit.’”

That olive branch comes despite some rough history between the two authors. At one point, King famously called Patterson “a terrible writer," something Patterson doesn’t deny outright.

"That’s just silly," he said with a laugh. “He might have read something that was terrible… 'Season of the Machete' is a terrible book that I wrote. So if he read that, I could see calling me a terrible writer."

Patterson added, "'Virgin' is also not terribly well written. 'The Jericho Commandment,' some of the early books, they're not great. I could go along with that. I don’t know about ‘terrible,’ but I’ve evolved. I’m pretty good now.”

But the drama didn’t end there.

Patterson also addressed his infamous novella "The Murder of Stephen King," which never saw the light of day.

Was he trying to mess with King? “Yeah, but in a fun way,” Patterson admitted. “He was the hero of the book. He doesn’t get killed.”

The novella was part of Patterson’s “BookShots” line and, according to him, was meant as a tongue-in-cheek homage. But when he sent an advance copy to King, the reaction wasn’t quite what he expected.

“His people called. They said, ‘Well, that wouldn’t be good,’ because I think his wife, Tabitha, somebody broke into their house and stuff,” Patterson said. “And I’m going, ‘Well, I don’t know. Then he should stop writing his books, because that happened because of his books, not because of 'The Murder of Stephen King.’ He’s the hero in the book… I thought it would be funny.”

Ultimately, the novella was scrapped, all 100,000 copies.

“We ate it,” Patterson said. “They didn’t publish them. You want to buy a copy? I have 20 copies. I’ll sell it to you for $10,000.”

As for why he pulled the plug? “Out of respect. Fine. OK… His wife, whatever. We just said, ‘OK, fine. We won’t publish it.’”

Feud or future collab? With Patterson and King, you never know, but it's clear that these two literary titans have a shared history as layered as any of their thrillers.

While Patterson has heard it all when it comes to critics of his writing style, he’s not bothered because, for him, it’s all about the story.

"If you tell a good story, you don’t necessarily have to be a great writer,” he said. “Freida [McFadden], whatever, not a great writer, but really good stories. A lot of my stuff. Grisham, probably, I don’t mean to demean John, but let’s say not a great stylist. But good stories.”

Patterson’s point? Readers care more about staying up all night, turning pages, than they do about poetic sentence structure.

Long before the fame and fortune, Patterson lived in a modest studio apartment in New York City, with one very musical surprise.

"There was a terrace outside this little studio apartment, and Patti LaBelle and my next-door neighbor used to go out there late at night, and they would sing on the terrace,” he recalled. “And part of me is like, ‘This is really cool.’ And part of me is like, ‘I gotta get up in the morning.’”

Eventually, the future literary powerhouse had to make the awkward call.

"So I’m gonna have to go out and talk to these people and say, ‘I love when you’re singing, but you have to stop.’”

From petty literary feuds to singing divas outside his window, James Patterson has lived a life as colorful as any of his thrillers.