alexreeve.bsky.social
Award-losing author of the Leo Stanhope series of historical crime novels published by Bloomsbury. Rep’d by Carrie Plitt at Felicity Bryan Associates. Otherwise, an absent-minded Professor. Tries to be a good egg. Also enjoys a good egg. He/him.
151 posts
1,782 followers
1,512 following
Regular Contributor
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These kinds of thing don't work for me, but everyone's process is different. Creative inspiration is very personal, I think.
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Thank you!
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Obvs not the point, but someone at The Spectator needs to read GRRM's books before abusing them. No such things occur.
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Bit murdery
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Yes - I guess some novels have a kind of meta story that reveals itself - eg Owen Meaney and Use of Weapons. I’d be tempted to read those again.
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These things can edge towards snobbery, ie some novels are ‘worthy’ of repeat reads and others not, and I don’t accept that idea at all.
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It’s so personal, isn’t it? I wouldn’t read Agatha Christie twice, but I know people who do. Whereas I might read James Ellroy or Walter Mosley more than once. I think it’s more about the reader than the writer.
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There are grey areas here between 'written by', 'story by' and so on. I've heard of some celebs who genuinely think they wrote something which has been heavily edited / borderline ghosted by the publisher.
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Yes. My only caution is that celeb books are propping up publishers' revenues, & it isn't clear whether they're cannibalising proper books or are additive. Some of each, probably. As a first step, a specific recognition of who actually wrote the book - preferably on the cover - would be positive.
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Top stuff. Love it.
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Yep, for sure. He's messing with the WRONG demographic.
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He's not easily bullied at corners and is a decent stopper. Old school, but good as a back-up.
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I agree. I truly don’t want to cut off a revenue stream for publishers, but they should be clear when a work is written to a great extent by someone else. As you say, this should be addressed more strongly by SoA, CWA, etc.
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Yes, agreed. I daresay ghost writers like the income, and fair enough. I’m not against ghost writing per se at all. I just think the publisher should be more clear - find a form of words by which an interested reader can see who did what. It doesn’t seem a lot to ask.
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This is a very good point.
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Agreed, most likely, and sadly.
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True, of course, and the books may actually be great. But can’t they be honest anyway?
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Yeah, we’ve all grown kind-of accustomed to the celeb branding thing. People are inured to it. And I’m not trying to kill publishers’ businesses. But they could find a form of words that still allows the big, famous name on the cover, without being dishonest.
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People seem to think writing for kids is easier (and they couldn’t be more wrong). Most of the celeb stuff is derivative merch designed to be given as a gift, not actually read more than once.
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But if their job is reading an autocue, kicking a ball, cookery, politics or modelling - or they’re the Hawk Tuah girl - there’s a lower chance.
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It’s a balance of probabilities. Did the celeb come from a script-writing, journalistic or comedy background? Do they seem to choose their words carefully and have an ear for language? Do they care about words? If so, there’s a reasonable chance they did the work.
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Writing a novel is hard. It takes months of work, mostly alone at a keyboard. It’s mentally and emotionally taxing. If you didn’t personally do that work, don’t say you did. It’s dishonest, plain and simple.
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I get the value of name recognition, but publishers need to find a form of words that’s somewhat honest. ‘Inspired by’ or ‘Written with’. Just don’t pass it off as something it’s not.
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Wow. That's so shocking. I assumed at minimum they'd have some conversations and ideas about plots and characters. Just literally sticking your name on it, like a novel is a T-shirt, is corrupt.
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One of the challenges is it's hard to know. I can't say for certain that Alison Hammond didn't write Bombshell, but chances are, not.
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😂👍
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Wow! Congrats. Does this mean you actually … know stuff?
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😂
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All the ‘northern’ brits had different accents; the main guy seemed to be from Deptford. In the end he made his fortune selling Christmas angels (no-one pointed out that it’s a somewhat seasonal market) and the main woman gave up her excellent career as an opera singer for a life in rural England.
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Probably it's @shelleyharris.bsky.social
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Yes! Absolutely.
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Yes, will do 😀
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Yes, done. Welcome, Julie!
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Well, hmm. I'll definitely finish it (eventually). Not sure it's very commercial tbh.
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Done! 😀
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Yeah, I know that feeling. Frustrating. I've had days when I've written for hours and ended up with fewer words than I started with.