# Novels finished by someone else **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** books-writing-myths\ **Created:** [November 4, 2021, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-finished-by-someone-else/953802 "2021-11-04T17:28:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Author\_Balk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Author\_Balk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Author_Balk)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2021, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-finished-by-someone-else/953802/41 "2021-11-10T12:26:49Z")
I have a “maybe”. V.C. Andrews wrote Flowers in the Attic and other books in a series about the characters in the book. V.C. Andrews died and Andrew Neiderman wrote other books under the name of V.C. Andrews. The wikipedia article for Garden of Shadows has: “There is some dispute over whether this particular novel was written in part by Andrews before she died, or whether it was written entirely by Neiderman”. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2021, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-finished-by-someone-else/953802/42 "2021-11-10T12:48:12Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > That one may not be a good example, but Heinlein finished John W. Cambell’s ‘Sixth Column’, but he substantially rewrote it all to remove as many of the racist overtones as he could. Well, not exactly. The Campbell novel was entitled “All”, and Campbell certainly did finish it, although it wasn’t published until after his death (in the collection The Space Beyond"). I’ve read it. It’s a gruellingly unfriendly read, but I was curious to see how Heinlein changed things. Heinlein’s novel is incomparably better and easier to read (despite the racism – but it was written while we were fighting the Japanese, and you find that in damned near all pop fiction from the period) > **[The Space Beyond](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Space_Beyond)** > > The Space Beyond is a collection of three previously unpublished science fiction novellas by John W. Campbell Jr., issued in 1976, five years after his death. It was published in paperback by Pyramid Books and was reprinted in 2011 and 2017. > The collection was compiled and edited by Roger Elwood, who learned of the stories' existence during a chance encounter with a friend of Campbell's. All three stories survived only as typescript drafts prepared during the 1930s, and are believed to have been... ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2021, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-finished-by-someone-else/953802/43 "2021-11-10T13:00:46Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > I’m going to offer up _Good Omens_ . A bit out of left field, but it originated in a story Neil had. He gave it to Pterry, and magic happened. Not exactly the same thing. My understanding is that Gaiman sent Pratchett what he had written, and got positive feedback, and they both worked on finishing the piece. The description in the Wikipedia article seems consistent with this. > **[Good Omens](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_Omens)** > > Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch is a 1990 novel written as a collaboration between the English authors Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman, who in turn were dubbed "Double Trouble" by British press. > The book is a comedy about the birth of the son of Satan and the coming of the End Times. There are attempts by the angel Aziraphale and the demon Crowley to sabotage the coming of the end times, having grown accustomed to their comfortable surroundings in England. ... An example of where one living writer turned something over to another to complete it, without apparently having much, if anything, to do with the completed novel is _Lorelei of the Red Mist_, which Leigh Brackett wrote the first half of, then handed over to Ray Bradbury (who would shortly be best man at her wedding to fellow writer Edmond Hamilton) to complete so that she could work on the screenplay for **The Big Sleep**. It’s unthinkable that Brackett wouldn’t have at least read through Bradbury’s finished version, but nobody says anything about the writing beyond this, so I’ve assumed that she didn’t require any major changes. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2021, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-finished-by-someone-else/953802/44 "2021-11-10T20:21:51Z")
Yes, I definitely wouldn’t say it’s the same thing (Good Omens, that is). Most collaborations start with an idea by one of the writers, but they’re still collaborations, often with the original idea changed completely. ---
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2021, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-finished-by-someone-else/953802/45 "2021-11-11T03:31:16Z")
Not to mention _The Watsons_. ---
**Author:** ![caligulathegod](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/caligulathegod/32/9685_2.png) [@caligulathegod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caligulathegod)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2021, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-finished-by-someone-else/953802/46 "2021-11-11T05:28:37Z")
Surprised no mention of Dune 7 and 8. Frank Herbert died before completing the seventh Dune book but left a trove of notes behind outlining his plot. His son Brian worked with collaborator Kevin J. Anderson to finish the novel (split into two). I’m not going to lay any judgments on how closely the notes were followed, as the books rely heavily upon the son’s prequel books that were written prior to the discovery of the notes. Plus, the notes have never been published directly. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-finished-by-someone-else/953802.md?page=2)