Both the appeal and the story of Run, Rose, Run is inextricably linked to the backgrounds and experiences of its authors. James Patterson is an acclaimed thriller writer, revered among peers like Lee Child for his storytelling prowess. Patterson is famous for his collaborations with others; for example, in his Alex Cross series (1993-2021), he wrote 50-page outlines for a team of writers and revised the results where necessary to suit his vision. Extremely prolific, he has authored 322 books, which in total sold about 425 million copies. More recently, he worked with celebrities such as former President Bill Clinton on books that reveal secrets about his collaborators’ professions. The collaboration with Clinton especially was a commercial success, producing the bestseller The President is Missing (2018), which sold more than 3.2 million copies, and The President’s Daughter (2021).

Patterson emulated the Clinton collaboration model with Parton, a country music star who has sold 100 million albums worldwide. Their project began in February 2020, when Patterson flew to Nashville to meet Parton, a fan of his Alex Cross thrillers. Patterson proposed that she work with him on a novel about a rising country music star who runs away to Nashville to escape a dark past.