Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Flip

1 2 3 4

Original poster

To think that David Walliams hasn’t written all his books?

84 replies

myohmywhatawonderfulday · 27/12/2018 15:56

I have read a lot of David Walliams books to my children before bed.
Gangsta Granny, Ratburger, Mr Stink, The Midnight Gang..but there is something off about The Worlds’s Worst Children (read vol 1 and 2). They don’t have the same ‘narrator voice’ nor use of vocabulary. They just don’t sound like him, I don’t think.

I have looked for some reference to who could have written them but they are marketed as if it’s him.

Does anyone else think that?

OP posts:

Newsername · 27/12/2018 15:58

I think the way he acts is different from what is actually is like, and he’s quite a clever man. So I think he probably has written the books, but he’s copied Roald Dahl a lot and that kind of pisses me off.

Userplusnumbers · 27/12/2018 16:01

Why would they all sound the same? Good writers have more than one style - his comedy writing for TV characters is wide and varied, makes sense his books would be too.

IceRebel · 27/12/2018 16:08

I'm very skeptical that he's written them, I think he has input but the majority is done by ghost writers.

He's released a book every year since 2008, and from 2016 onward he's released 2 a year, it's just too many for one person without help.

Original poster

myohmywhatawonderfulday · 27/12/2018 16:11

I think even when you read authors writing across styles (which some times happens and they use different names) eg Barbara Vyne and Ruth Rendall or when authors write articles, there is still an essence that is similar.

These book just feel to me as if they have been written by someone else.

His books are direvative of Rohald Dhal but that doesn’t worry me and I do really like his rich use of vocabulary. He is very clever and entertaining. The Worlds Worst books are neither clever or entertaining nor well written.

So in a way it’s a compliment that I don’t think that he wrote them!

OP posts:

WindyWednesday · 27/12/2018 16:11

I think he has help.

Original poster

myohmywhatawonderfulday · 27/12/2018 16:12

Two books a year for a full time writer would be a lot. Yes, makes sense that he has help.

OP posts:

WhyDontYouComeOnOver · 27/12/2018 16:15

Clearly ghost writers. I'd assume he comes up with the main plot then they do the rest.

EggysMom · 27/12/2018 16:15

There are a few Stephen King novels that I don't think he wrote, as they sound different (and it's not just post-accident). I think when you read one author a good deal, you do get to recognise the stories where the author had the original idea but somebody else helped to 'flesh it out'.

Jsmith99 · 27/12/2018 16:15

I believe it’s fairly normal for books nominally writen by celebrities to actually be written with the ‘help’ of ghosts.

I remember hearing about a household name celebrity chef who ran out of ideas years ago but kept churning out books which were actually written by a team of recipe writers....

brizzledrizzle · 27/12/2018 16:24

If he does use a ghost writer then it's a pretty poor one - I've read better stuff written by secondary school English students.

HelloToJasonIsaacs · 27/12/2018 16:26

They’re short books, not exactly Wolf Hall, he is a writer/performer by profession, his other work commitments are fairly low key nowadays (being the comedy judge on BGT is a trivial amount of work compared to writing and performing in your own sketch show) and there’s no hint of an actual ghost being involved so I think it’s entirely likely that they’re all his own work, although he probably does have a fairly hands-on editor.

It’s not like Katie Price who allegedly went overnight from being a model to pumping out umpteen books a year in a variety of different genres.

EscapeTheCastle · 27/12/2018 16:26

I think he has probably written them all. He seems like the prolific type. Little Britain went full pelt for years with just the two of them writing it.

IceRebel · 27/12/2018 16:28

If he does use a ghost writer then it's a pretty poor one

Agreed, but poor writing doesn't seem to be a hindrance, he sold £16.57 million worth of books in 2017. It's a shame those who wrote the books will never see anywhere near the amount of money he gets, but that's the downside to being a ghost writer I suppose.

Calvinsmam · 27/12/2018 16:28

I just assumed it was like when celebrities ‘design’ clothing lines in shops and actually they are all designed by someone else and the celebrity says which bits they like and curates it a bit.

RiojaHaze · 27/12/2018 16:30

At the end of Midnight Gang last night, it said "written by x and David Walliams". Not sure if that meant the book or the screenplay though.

TedAndLola · 27/12/2018 16:31

He probably does use ghost writers.

He's released a book every year since 2008, and from 2016 onward he's released 2 a year, it's just too many for one person without help.

No, it isn't. One or two a year is standard for writers who also have a day job. There are plenty of full-time writers who release a novel every month. Plenty more who release four a year. And I'm assuming Walliams' books aren't full novel length because of their target age.

I have a full-time job and still write two full novels a year. It isn't hard.

Sarahjconnor · 27/12/2018 16:32

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

CantstandmLMs · 27/12/2018 16:33

I've only read the Demon Dentist and secretly enjoyed it lol

brizzledrizzle · 27/12/2018 16:36

It's a shame those who wrote the books will never see anywhere near the amount of money he gets, but that's the downside to being a ghost writer I suppose.

It just shows how much people pay for a name, whether it's books or clothes or whatever. I think you could publish many a ghost written book under a non-celebrity name and it'd languish on the shelves.

NameChanger22 · 27/12/2018 16:36

I don't know why anyone would be a ghost writer when they could just write their own books.

Waddsup12 · 27/12/2018 16:36

The World Service Food Programme had a fascinating conversation between 3 food stylists last week. They said they preferred to ghost write cook books and could get a recipe book out in a few weeks.

I may have been dim about this but I'd assumed chefs wrote their own books...d'oh...

IceRebel · 27/12/2018 16:37

There are plenty of full-time writers who release a novel every month.

I can't see how that's possible, unless they were very short.

I'm very impressed that you have a full time job and manage to write 2 novels a year, however I wouldn't think that to be the norm. Perhaps David started out writing them himself. However, as time went on I can see him being offered more and more help, and I can't see any reason for him not to take the help that is offered. Especially since anything he puts out is going to sell well, regardless of whether he wrote all of it or not.

Mudmonster · 27/12/2018 16:37

Who ever writes them they are shite, I can’t believe how popular they are.
Celebrities writing kids books is all the rage these days, David walliams, David badiel, Neil Patrick Harris, Tom fletcher etc seem to cash in on their celebrity by writing books.

LaurieMarlow · 27/12/2018 16:39

I've no idea whether he uses a ghost writer or not. It's wouldn't be the surprise of the century if he did.

However 2 books a year is absolutely not a lot for a children's writer. Enid Blyton, for example, wrote over 800 books over 40 years.

PaintBySticker · 27/12/2018 16:41

I think he maybe has a ghostwriter. But I thought it was usual for celebrities who have help to write fulsome thanks to the ‘ghost’ in their acknowledgements even if they don’t specify exactly how they helped.

Flip

1 2 3 4