It’s claimed that all crime writer James Patterson does is
send four line chapter summaries to a co-writer who then fleshes them out into a
complete book. Which is how he managed to publish 14 new titles in one year.
Personally I wouldn’t read a book that I knew was largely
written by someone else. It’s that particular author‘s style and flavour I
appreciate and I wouldn’t want to read another writer’s probably inferior
attempts at copying it.
Though if the author’s writing style was so prosaic and run-of-the-mill
that any halfway competent writer could copy it slickly enough to fool the
public, I wouldn’t want to read it in the first place. I would stick to someone
original enough that any cheap imitation simply wouldn’t be convincing.
I also think that if a ghost writer is being used, not only
should they be credited on the cover of the book but it should be made clear
just how much of the book they’re responsible for. To deliberately pass off a
book as entirely the work of someone who has merely produced a plot outline is
outrageous.
I also wonder why on earth someone like James Patterson
needs to resort to such subterfuge when he is said to earn around $94 million a
year. If he’s tired of writing, why doesn’t he just retire gracefully and do
something more enjoyable with his time?
Of course any author with any integrity would throw their
hands up in horror at the idea of hiring a ghostwriter, and would never ever
hand over the writing to another person. They‘re far too protective of their
own individual style to entrust it to anyone else, however talented they may
be.
There is absolutely no truth in the rumour that
Nickhereandnow is written entirely by a team of unpaid teenage interns based in
an ugly office block in Chipping Norton. I can’t understand where such vicious
smears come from. I can assure you this tedious rubbish is entirely my own work
from start to finish.
My thanks to Genevieve
Hassan of the BBC, whose article this post is indebted to.
