|
Post by Sweet City Girl on Oct 16, 2007 14:33:06 GMT -5
I know that ghostwriters were discussed in another thread (when did you find out the books were ghostwritten?) but since I have a slightly different topic in mind, I thought I'd start a new one. We tend to notice that the ghostwriters have their own unique "style." Do any of you have a particular favorite? Or maybe you hate all of them and wish AMM just wrote the rest. Personally, I don't mind them much (though it does make the characters' voices seem inconsistent at times). I know that Peter Lerangis' books are "wacky" but for some reason I kind of like them. ;D
Thought on Peter- I recently noticed that he wrote about every single sitter except for Abby. I always thought this was odd, considering he has the more "humorous" and "wacky" style and his books really stand out in particular. If there was a reason behind this, maybe it had to do with the types of humor involved. Abby’s sense of humor is supposed to be unique, and while Peter was good at portraying humor that was more subtle and slightly sarcastic, maybe Ms. Martin wanted somebody who could make Abby stand out like she was meant to, with a more outrageous kind of disposition and less subtle humor. Also, I guess Abby's humor wouldn't have been so unique since Peter wrote about all the other sitters. I wonder how it would have been had Peter only written Abby books, though.....it doesn't seem that he would have had a hard time making Abby's humor what it was meant to be.
|
|
|
Post by aln1982 on Oct 16, 2007 15:42:51 GMT -5
^ I have noticed different styles for different ghost writers. I think one I like is Ellen Miles but I'll have to pay more attention to this and think about it more. ;D Peter is kind of hit or miss for me. Sometimes he's funny but sometimes the humor is too much. Never noticed, though, that he never did an Abby book. I wonder why. This is an interesting topic that I've been thinking about too.
|
|
macca
Sitting For The Newtons
Posts: 2,084
|
Post by macca on Oct 16, 2007 17:11:32 GMT -5
Nola Thacker had an annoying style - she'd redescribe previous books in annoying detail. I think Peter Lerangis was my favorite ghostwriter as well. I think each ghostwriter should've had a standard sitter they wrote for, so that each one had a more individual "voice".
|
|
msstock87
Sitting For The Braddocks
Here Comes The Bride!
Created by Rie.
Posts: 3,618
|
Post by msstock87 on Oct 16, 2007 17:15:39 GMT -5
That would have been a good idea Macca if each of the ghostwriters were assigned to an individual sitter. I didn't mind Ellen Miles as a ghost writer. If I am not mistaken she wrote a lot of the mysteries.
|
|
|
Post by booboobrewer on Oct 16, 2007 18:01:23 GMT -5
I heart Peter Lerangis. And Suzanne Weyn was pretty good.
|
|
macca
Sitting For The Newtons
Posts: 2,084
|
Post by macca on Oct 16, 2007 20:34:41 GMT -5
^ oh yeah, she had a lot of the juicy storylines.
|
|
janey83
Sitter-In-Training
Posts: 374
|
Post by janey83 on Oct 16, 2007 21:05:43 GMT -5
I can't tell them apart.....maybe I need to do some serious rereading.
|
|
|
Post by aln1982 on Oct 16, 2007 23:40:32 GMT -5
I can definitely tell Peter's books but have trouble with the others. Agree it would have been better, possibly, for each girl to have a different writer. All of Peter's books sometimes seem to all have the same "voice" for the different girls. This almost goes against their personalities in some cases, I think. I'll have to look for specific examples of this.
|
|
macca
Sitting For The Newtons
Posts: 2,084
|
Post by macca on Oct 17, 2007 2:17:40 GMT -5
Yeah, Peter's books were VERY distinct IMO. His books also had a more modern feel, for some reason.
|
|
fluffy
New To Stoneybrook
Posts: 180
|
Post by fluffy on Oct 17, 2007 2:45:43 GMT -5
I love Peter! u&me4bsc has a great description of his style. It could be hard not to read his books without thinking 'jeez, why did Ann suddenly want to be a comedian around book #...?' I noticed he also liked to drop pop-culture references (that weren't I Love Lucy or The Wizard of Oz) like the Klingons in Jessi's Horrible Prank, and Stacey thinking Wes looked like Tom Cruise. It was funny that he didn't even try to blend in with the other ghostwriters. He had all his signature lines, like 'I don't know about you, but...' I believe that he wrote some of the last few Super Specials, so he did get to write for Abby a little bit.
I liked Suzanne Weyn and Ellen Miles. The ghostwriters I don't like are Nola Thacker with her contrived writing style and Jahnaa and Malcolm, whatever they were called. All the random ghostwriters who only came up a few times, like Jan Carr, were also the pits.
|
|
macca
Sitting For The Newtons
Posts: 2,084
|
Post by macca on Oct 17, 2007 7:44:28 GMT -5
^ was Nola Thacker the one who wrote "You see, blah blah blah" when describing something? Everything was "you see" ... it was so annoying!!
|
|
fluffycakes
Junior Sitter
A silken-haired beauty with a laugh like pealing bells
Posts: 868
|
Post by fluffycakes on Oct 17, 2007 8:05:38 GMT -5
^ I'm not too sure, macca, but I think so. ITA with everything you said, fluffy! I like Peter, Suzanne and Ellen the best, too. Maybe it was just "Dawn Saves the Trees," but J-whatever and Malcolm seem to be particulalry inconsistent with the rest of the series, like saying Kristy has chin-length hair. I'm not great at telling the ghostwriters apart, but it's really obvious when it's Peter writing, especially the later books. He really did have a style of his own. I like the idea of each ghostwriter having its own sitter! That would've been great. Hmm. I wanted to find out who wrote Poor Mallory, since practically every other page had dibble, dibbly-fresh or stale on it, which drove me absolutely crazy. Turns out it was Ann! I was all ready to hate the ghostwriter who did that...so do I have to hate Ann now?
|
|
starrynight
Sitting For The Kuhns
The Royal Diner of Pizza Express
Posts: 4,004
|
Post by starrynight on Oct 17, 2007 10:09:41 GMT -5
I actually LIKE that Nola Thacker referred to other books and past events in her books. Yes, it does come across as over the top in some cases, but it's okay most of the time. I think Peter tried too hard to be a goofy teenage girl when he was writing. There's such a thing as giving characters TOO MUCH voice!
|
|
|
Post by aln1982 on Oct 17, 2007 10:20:07 GMT -5
^ I agree with you, starrynight. I also didn't like how Peter made all the girls sound like they had the same voice. Sometimes I had to look at the title to remember whose book it was. ;D I found Stacey and Kristy especially close, which was strange.
|
|
|
Post by bscfan81 on Oct 17, 2007 10:56:53 GMT -5
I have trouble telling ghostwriters apart, but looking back, I seem to like a lot of Peter Lerangis' books. He had his quirks, but I probably liked him best. However, I did find it both interesting and slightly disturbing that he could manage to sound like a teenage girl. :-)
|
|