Stephen King exposed: books not all his own work !

Following media suggestions that the late Dick Francis may not have penned many of his later novels, due to poor health if nothing else, and that they may in fact be the work of his wife, leveraging the Francis brand, the spotlight now falls on international best selling author Stephen King.

I have no independent corroboration of the media reports as regards Dick Francis, and if his wife did indeed write many of his books, she deserves enormous credit for her writing skills, and for eschewing personal public recognition.

But my source on the Stephen King expose is cast iron – it is no less than the great man himself. Yes, King now acknowledges he had help ! In his seminal book “On Writing” – the best book on writing I’ve ever read – King even acknowledges the role of his wife. It was his wife who rescued “Carrie”, his first and breakthrough novel later adapted to film, from the trash can. Here’s two messages from King’s book: the first draft is always crap (Hemmingway), and that good writing consists of mastering the fundamentals (vocabulary, grammar, and elements of style.)

Here’s where I’m going with this. Editing is key to good writing. If you doubt this look at King’s examples of his own work before and after editing. In fact I’m amazed at all the online debate as to whether writers need professional editing. But I’m not here to regurgitate the arguments why every writer needs a professional editor – it’s as self evident as it is that the greatest tennis player of all time, Roger Federer, needs a coach. I’m here to give you a reason I’ve not come across elsewhere: you need an editor to protect your own ego.

In my two year journey to publication, I engaged three established authors to review the manuscript, and three professional editors to help me improve it. Here’s what Matthew Branton, best selling author of “The Love Parade” (Bloomsbury 2002), said about the sex scenes in When the Siren Calls: “The sex scenes are another of your strengths -vital, pacy, and never gross or uncomfortable – as the annual Bad Sex Awards shows, this is rare in fiction.” Praise indeed from a best selling author.

Now are the sex scenes in my book to everyone’s taste? You bet they’re not. Some like them, some hate them, some may find them luke warm, some may even find them gross and uncomfortable. Each to their own as they say. But my ego is somewhat protected from criticism because I had professional input to the manuscript. The two most graphic sex scenes in the manuscript never made the cut because my editor convinced me they were inappropriate to the genre. Cutting out those sex scenes was a tough decision, and I’d never have done it without editorial advice, but I’ve no doubt now it was the right decision.

Trust me, if you are a writer and someone slates your work in a review, a professional or otherwise, you’ll feel a whole lot better about yourself and your work if you know it passed muster with professional reviewers and editors before hitting the printing press.