So that's how they publish so quickly

[Kevin O. McLaughlin]

I can't stomach stories written by such writers. Their material is too generic that they could do this. I myself, will strive to write my own story until the day that I die.

On a side note, I'm attending school to be an Electrical Engineer and I have faith in my writing and my stories. But after reading many of the reports from fellow students, I can attest that this does apply to many of us.

Did you read the list of those "most prolific" names on Wikipedia? A large number of those names are AMAZING writers, exceptionally famous writers whose work is of the highest merit. And that list is certainly not all inclusive; with a little effort I could probably come up with a list of a couple dozen writers with 200+ works in SF/F alone.

"Prolific" in writing usually just means "worked more hours than the other guy."

 

[Steerpike]

I don't think just being prolific is what he's talking about, Kevin. For example, Steven Erikson is prolific. And his writing is good. And he writes the stuff himself.

I think what Inglorious_Hero is talking about are those who hire groups of other writers to write for them, and then maybe edit it and stamp their own name on it. I tend to agree, as to the extent I've checked out any of those authors they do appear to be boring and generic (James Patterson).

 

[Kevin O. McLaughlin]

Ah, gotcha. Yeah, I don't find myself reading that sort of thing, either.

I DO sometimes enjoy the books that are co-written by "famous author and new guy/gal". A lot of those stories were actually written by the new guy/gal, with some oversight and input from the famous writer. And I find some nice new writers that way sometimes.

 

[Jabrosky]

I second Chilari's sentiment that it's unethical for an "author" to take all the credit for a ghostwritten story. It's dishonest and exploitative against the actual writer. I for one would never ghostwrite anything. Not only don't I have the heart to make someone else do all the hard work of writing for me, I don't even see the appeal. I earn far more bragging rights and have far more control over my production if I do all the hard work myself.

 

[Shockley]

I really only became aware of this when I worked as a bookseller. I knew about ghost-writing, but this kind of thing is becoming an epidemic. Let me give you a few expamples:

- V. C. Andrews has been dead for three decades, yet has a new novel come out just about every year.
- Ann Martin, Franklin Dixon (Hardy Boys) and Carolyn Keene (Nancy Drew) are not real people and never have been.
- Tom Clancy publicly announces on the cover of his books that he uses a co-author/ghostwriter. *However*, that ghostwriter is also a fictional persona; he makes all of his ghostwriters publish under a fake identity that he controls.
- R. L. Stine has not put pen to paper in years; he provides plot outlines (which are broad, supposedly; 'boy and girl get into trouble with the supernatural') and a whole team of ghostwriters churn out the story.
- Clive Cussler now publicly lists his ghosts - however, he was secretly using them for most of his writing career.
- Ellery Queen is particularly bizarre - its a pseudonym used by the author and given to the main character. The author was from the starting point two people, and is still a series of different people.
- Don't ever both reading any western stories. 99% of their ghosted, the authors publishing under a house name.

It pisses me off, to be honest, and really did a number on my opinion of the publishing industry. It's huge, it's a pandemic and it's fundamentally dishonest.

 

[Ireth]

I had no idea James Patterson used ghostwriters. I've enjoyed a few of his books, mainly the Maximum Ride series -- at least the first three, before he jumped the shark with the whole environmental awareness thing right the heck out of nowhere, and giving the bird-kids ridiculous amounts of new powers. Witch and Wizard wasn't bad either.

 

[ThinkerX]

Seems almost like if our novels flop, some of will still get offered tightly constrained jobs as 'ghostwriters for the greats'. Ireth up to writing the next Patterson epic?

 

[Kevin O. McLaughlin]

I don't think I'd ever pay someone else to write stories so I could take the credit; seems a little gauche to me.

But am I a bad person for feeling like I'd be perfectly willing to WRITE a novel someone else took the credit for, provided the paycheck was good enough?