Your instructor, James Patterson—currently the best-selling author in the world—lets you know what he has planned for your class and what you'll need to learn to start writing your own best-sellers.

Getting into the proper mindset is an essential first step to writing a best-seller. This lesson explores James's secrets for staying focused, productive, and motivated.

How do you recognize a great idea? How do you figure out if it's worthy of your effort? James spells out the techniques he uses to generate his ideas and then separate the good ones from the less compelling ones.