Harry's ghost writer

[StarInTheHeavens]

I can't find his name to look him up but I saw it yesterday. I heard this person is 'award winning'. But some of the things like 'mounted her like a stallion' are unbelievably crude. Does anyone know who he is & what awards he's won? If this style of writing turns out to be true then Harry has been sold well-short, even if the details are cringey.

Since these 'salacious extracts' have been widely reported by people who have read the book @Happyvalleyfan I don't see why I shouldn't discuss it, that's what this forum is for.

Aren't the extracts we've seen just the translations from Spanish? So the actual English version will read much better. Omid Scobie posted two pages from the English version about Afghanistan. It definitely put Harry in a better light that just the section that was released in the papers.

I presume some celebs have gone in with a 'make me look good' approach and of course other people will have edited their stories more judiciously than Harry. I'm sure there are 100s of conversations along the lines of 'that time you wee'd yourself in junior school doesn't add to the narrative' but the subject will have the final sign-off on what goes in and out.

I'm sure. He must have had a few terse messages from the publishers and H&M. Lol.

Goodness me, I usually try to avoid YouTube videos that monetise the public dislike for H&M, as I don't want to mess up my algorithim by watching them and I definitely don't want to give these 'creators' any ad revenue. But I have to admit that curiousity got the best of me here and I decided to bite.

There is no 'detail'. There is a post quoted from Reddit which anyone could have made, and the afore mentioned liked tweet which Moehringer has subsequently unliked indicating it was probably an accidental like.

Is this really enough for people to speculate that there is some sort of deep-set rift between Moehringer and H&M, and that Meghan actually ended up writing the book?

I notice that at no point does this video mention the fact that the author liked a tweet from December 11th (so well after the book would have been finalised) praising the Netflix documentary. Funny, that.

Maybe? Or maybe when people started noticing and @-ing him, he realised he liked it by accident?

We don't know but itvtook him quite a,while to correct it. But I guess that will be the line in the short term and if it's any different, we'll find out the truth in a few years time when Moehringer spews all his truths into a book too.

That’s fine - but it’s a bit bizarre people making assumptions about book based an extracts chosen and interpreted for click bait.
Especially those posters suggesting PH needs to use some self reflection or other sweeping statements

I also noticed that he pronounced the word "bouquet" in the Californian way which was disturbing. It is a French word but there is a standard English way of saying it. Either he had never heard of it before she used it or it is the echo codependancy ranging.

How long exactly? Can you point me towards a reliable source for how long it stayed liked after people started @-ing him about it?

Yes, we might find out the truth in a few years but people are discussing this as though it's truth right now. That's the problem.

It was reported on this board early yesterday morning. And it was still showing as a like yeserday evening. I don't know when he actually changed it. Maybe after the papers went to print last night?

If people were praising the content and style of the book, would you be saying to wait a bit til you've actually read it because it might be rubbish?

That is not a huge amount of time for someone on an American sleeping schedule and who may not be chronically online. It may be that he simply didn't check his mentions during that period.

And yes, it may be that he is trying to convey his dislike of the book through a single coded like, but it seems a bit of a random tweet to do that with, doesn't it? Not to mention the fact that he liked a positive tweet about H&M's documentary not too long ago. It feels like we're dipping our toes into the land of conspiracy theories, here.

Hmm? I'd think if I know it's there and I don't even have twitter, he'd know it. And I'm pretty sure he'll be monitoring comments and news reports on his own book more assiduously than I am.

I don't know. Maybe it was just another unfortunate mistake amongst a whole series of unfortunate mistakes.

I don’t think you can comment on an author’s writing style when we’re only being shown snippets of a translation of a translation.

For one thing there are significantly less words in the Spanish language than in english.

Put a movie quote into google translate, and then translate it back again.

Everyone has different parameters for using twitter and some creatives are quite measured with the way they use it so they're not exposing themselves to too much negativity. And no offence, but considering you know details such as how long he liked the tweet for, you probably (like me ) are quite chronically online, which is not the case for everyone.

I think it's far more likely to be a simple mistake than a coded message. But you do you.

Yes - I’d think that would be bizarrely sycophantic!

Oh but the Agassi book was good - really well written. And it pulled no punches - abusive father, Agassi's own self-centred behaviour (his hair!). it was a great reflective read.

So yes, I think this writer is skilled in picking out the more unpleasant parts of a person people are going to be interested in.

Also I read the (admittedly translated) whole Taliban extract on twitter and, in context it was an insightful read and well-constructed. So I am assuming the book will not be excruciating in style (even if may be in content).

I'm a ghostwriter (have an AMA from a few days ago if anyone wants to ask anything) and I'm fascinated by what's gone on here. When I work with someone, it's my job to get their voice, their character, their speech patterns, their personality - but, once the first draft is written, I always try to be honest about whether they've said anything they might regret. Things which might cause family rifts come up a lot.

With this, there is plenty that would be advised against in a 'normal' set up, but Harry must have such a locked-in contract that it would be really hard to delete the stories which are going to bring in the headlines. The ghost would know what was gold even if he would usually have advised against it going into a final draft.

I've had clients who have never read their books - but I think Harry has done the audio hasn't he? Maybe that's when it hit him and he realised what was going to be put out there.

From what I've heard of the leaks...I think the ghost-writer has matched his style to the target audience very cannily.

I also think he's having a laugh at poor Harry's expense. As another poster on this forum said, it seems that dim Harry forgot he was a journalist/ghost-writer and mistook him for a therapist. When he realised he'd said too much, I guess it was just too late.

Laid on plenty of marching powder probably.

@amyneedssleep
Why are you getting aggressive with me? If you'd already decided it was a simple mistake, why did you ask me about timings? I don't know anymore than you if it's a mistake or not and I never said that it wasn't. But you and I will never know what the truth is in the short term.
Jeez, this just shows when someone directs a question at you personally on here, you should never answer because they're not actually interested in what you say, they just want to have a go.

Apparently they have gone through his words weeding out the Americanisms to make him sound British because he doesn't anyone. It was all 'awesome' etc.

Wasn’t there some suggestion Harry may have wanted to step back from it a bit, a few months ago and prior to the Queen’s death? But he seems to have doubled down now 🤷‍♀️, the Tom Bradby interview is current so I guess he’s sticking by it.

I'm really sorry but you've misread my tone. I am not trying to be aggressive and I don't think there were any words I used that indicated aggression. Maybe the part about being chronically online was too personal? I don't think it's a bad thing to be following this subject closely, clearly I am as well, so as I said there was no offence intended.

I was genuinely curious to know how long he'd liked the tweet for and when you told me it was possibly about a day, I gave my opinion on that. I'm just trying to show an alternative perspective to the idea that he liked the tweet for reasons of dissastisfaction with the book.