Non-Fiction

https://nypost.com/2006/03/26/patterson-stole-my-heart-words/

Excerpt:

PATTERSON STOLE MY HEART & WORDS
By Brad Hamilton
March 26, 2006 5:00am

He’s accused of acting like a villain from one of his best sellers.

James Patterson’s ex-lover claims the scribe was a callous cad who stole her ideas, character names and even turns of phrase – then dumped her after saying they’d marry.

Christina Sharp sued for $5 million in Manhattan federal court in 2003 but dropped her case last year. She says she ran out of money to pay her lawyers....

“He’s a thief,” Sharp said.

“He copies the material he’s reading, taking the best parts. But no one wants to see him exposed. He makes too much money for too many people.”

Sharp says that shortly after they started dating, Patterson asked for her help ...

What she didn’t realize, she claims, was that he was secretly poaching ideas and phrases from her letters and from her own novel, based on her life.

Patterson had promised to help get her book published, but then used the material – family stories, descriptions of the horse farm where she grew up, skiing trips – for several of his best sellers, she says.

....Patterson, now fighting a second suit by a different woman who claims he stole her work for his Christmas book, “santaKid,” admits in court papers that he encouraged Sharp to write a novel about her experiences, including their romance. ...