When you hear the term ghostwriter, what’s the first image you associate with it? Do you visualize someone clicking away at a keyboard (it used to be a typewriter) in a cold, barren garret, with nothing for nourishment but some stale crackers and a cup of lukewarm tea? Or do you envision a well-heeled professional with a solid bank account whose vanity license plate reads “LUV2GHOST?”
From the Bible to (possibly) Homer to (perhaps) Shakespeare to (most definitely) many U.S. celebrities, ghostwriting has been a “hidden” ambition for centuries. You might be dismayed to discover some of the beloved books in your personal library or from your childhood are full of words written by ghosts. Prepare yourself for a few literary Halloween tricks…
Those Nancy Drew Mysteries Weren’t Penned by a Keene Author: It pains me to share this knowledge. Nancy Drew was my beacon, my shining light of kid literature propelling me all the way to the advanced reading class in grade school. But alas – there never was a Carolyn Keene!
Even more ironic, the Nancy Drew character was conceived by a man: Edward Stratemeyer. Once ND made her appearance in the 1930s, multiple ghostwriters channeled her sleuthing abilities onto paper pages. The one best known to most ND fans is Mildred Benson. Her personal favorite was The Hidden Staircase, the 2nd of 56 titles in the original series…
Kids’ Goosebumps Were Raised by a Well-Oiled Ghostwriting Collective: Do you have a child who currently enjoys reading this series? If so, please don’t disturb his or her infatuation with R.L.Stine’s creepy tales of terror. His first one, Welcome to Dead House, was released in July 1992 and segued into 61 more titles by 1997.
After writing the first few Goosebumps books, R.L. Stine began establishing back stories (with outlines) and handing them off for full development to one of his ghostwriting team members. Alas, Google refused to reveal even one ghostwriter’s name…
The Cos’s Outlook on Fatherhood Was Crafted by Another Funny Guy: Bill Cosby’s iconic Fatherhood book started as an assortment of his personal notes and anecdotes, but was whipped (aka “ghosted”) into hilarious shape by humorist Ralph Schoenstein. Mr. Schoenstein was also the uncredited author of another amusing Cosby book, Time Flies.
Schoenstein developed his comedic wit as a frequent commentator for NPR’s All Things Considered segment. He wrote for National Lampoon in the magazine’s early days and became good friends with the editorial staff. As a result of this literary friendship, his last name was bestowed upon a character in National Lampoon’s Animal House (Donald “Boon” Schoenstein – it’s pronounced Show-en-steen)!
Never Trust a Politician To Write a Memoir Alone: Some of our most high-profile politicians in the U.S. are New York Times best-selling authors. But this doesn’t mean they actually penned the d@mn books! So many political memoirs were either partially or mostly completed by a ghostwriter. (And so, I have dewy hopes of ghostwriting a future politician’s autobiography one day.)
Some of these hallowed tomes include: Hilary Clinton’s It Takes a Village, John McCain’s Faith of My Fathers, Bill Clinton’s My Life (he wrote the text but had three collaborators), and Ronald Regan’s An American Life. (It’s said a fair amount of John F. Kennedy’s Profiles in Courage was written by his speechwriter, Theodore (Ted) Sorensen. He “gave up the ghost” in his 2008 autobiography, Counselor.)
Stephen King Doubles as His Own Ghostwriter…: Ever hear of Richard Bachman? He wrote some books you might be familiar with, including The Running Man and Thinner. Mr. Bachman’s true identity (and immediate “death” from “cancer of the pseudonym” – King’s own words!) became public knowledge in 1985. This was just about the time Mr. King was deep into creating a little ole novel called Misery.
One cool fact regarding Stephen King’s “ghostwriter”: The last name of his nom de plume was inspired by Bachman-Turner Overdrive, a band King was grooving to when his publisher leaned on him hard for a pseudonym. Guess he was “takin’ care of business…”
The Diary of Anne Frank Was Edited by Her Father: While this revered piece of Holocaust literature is indeed based on Anne Frank’s words, it wasn’t submitted to the publisher “as is.” I never knew until I did my research that Anne’s father, Otto Frank, transformed her diary, notebooks, and loose papers into the haunting book I treasure.
(It’s true – he organized all of Anne’s materials and rewrote them into one volume. No doubt Mr. Frank felt the only way to honor his daughter’s brief life was by giving her full credit on the book’s cover. Enough said.)
The By All Writes (Alleged) Ghostwriters’ Honorable Mention Roll Call:
- Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley had help from her famous husband, poet Percy Shelley, when digging up the bones to make Frankenstein come alive…
- V.C. Andrews (of Flowers in the Attic fame) has written and published plenty more thriller novels since her death in 1986…
- It’s been discussed and debated whether or not Truman Capote helped Harper Lee write To Kill a Mockingbird…
- And so on…
Were any of these ghostly reveals truly shocking for you? If you had to guess which books you’ve read as possibly the work of a ghostwriter, which ones would be on your suspect list? I’m not trying to start any conspiracy theories, but it is fun to speculate…
Lori Shapiro is the owner of By All Writes LLC, a business-to-business (B2B) writing, editing, and research company in Marlton, New Jersey. She revels in shielding her clients from the pain of writing their own print and web marketing copy. Call her (856-810-9764) or email her (lori@byallwrites.biz) for a no-obligation project quote today!
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