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

I read a thread on twitter about this a while back. Apparently common knowledge in the publishing industry that he uses ghosts.

I’ve written 100k words in about 12 weeks. He certainly can write two short novels in a year however he’s an arrogant asshole and it wouldn’t surprise me if he did it without extreme copy editing at the very least. He’s unbearable though so maybe he is ‘all that’ and I’m underestimating him.

He writes them himself. A lot of celebs don't but he does. He wrote his tv scripts too don't forget. Very different I know, but he is a writer and a performer, not a celebrity who has just become a writer because they're famous.

Probably has a very good editor rather than a ghost writer.

I think it is hard to ghost-write comedy fiction - it's different if it's a celeb autobiography.

hmmm he went to school near us and has a library dedicated/sponsored by him as apparently he was very good at English so I am not that sceptical tbh. Also went to Bristol Uni so clearly not educationally challenged.

On the time front, the David Walliams books are probably 50,000 at most (that’s a very short adult novel) which would be 500 words a day for 100 days. Even with editing and rewrites it’s very doable to write two of those a year if you don’t have a challenging day job, and workaholics without outside commitments could do much more.

I find his books really mean actually, and have never bought them form my DD.

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

I used to follow the blog of a mid-list urban fantasy writer. Like many other such authors her publisher didn't offer her another contact went it was clear the market had moved on from urban fantasy. She didn't want to go back to her old job as she loved writing so now she is a full-time ghostwriter. Other authors chose to self-publish on amazon etc, she chose ghostwriting as she had a family to support and needed a guaranteed income. She once posted that her only regret was that she couldn't tell people anymore when one of her books made the lists (USA Today/NY Times)

I think there’s absolutely no reason to think he doesn’t write them, and I’m not quite sure why so many people insist that they must be ghost written. They’re not fabulously well written, they trade in the sort of broad stereotypes you’d expect from his other work, they’re churned out at an entirely believable rate, he’s a professional writer, albeit of scripts, and nobody has unearthed any secret ghost writers - which would be pretty newsworthy.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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...

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.