Faker Than Fiction

Call me an amateur living under a rock but, I just discovered a practice called ghostwriting today... and it's an actual "acceptable/official" thing that people do for a living! Ghostwriting is when a writer writes something that will be officially credited to another person. There are different levels of it (and I'm OK with some forms of it, like for recipe books; the descriptions on potato chip bags and official websites; or the tweets that represent a company, brand, public figure, or person that can't personally update every social media promotion themselves; or letters written for companies responding to each of their customers; things of that nature etc.) but overall I'm appalled by the idea, especially when it comes to the art of literature in fictional books and novels.

Why is plagiarism, cheating, and helping someone cheat, considered a bad thing but ghostwriting is acceptable? Why does the FTC have these nitty-gritty rules that require bloggers and vloggers, who review things, to be conspicuously clear that they've received certain items for free, or that they are telling their true honest opinion, when the nature of most of these people are genuine, normal, people just sharing their true thoughts from their own house and bedroom. The FTC is so strict to make sure that the audience is not being deceived by these normal people who are making these blogs and vlogs themselves--and yet big brands, celebrities, and public figures that are more established, and should therefore be more trustworthy, can flat out lie to us that they WROTE their own book and are flat out credited as the AUTHOR in the description when they are selling their book to us!

People hate on SINGers all the time for not being the WRITEr of their music. Singing and writing are totally different skills! It's like getting mad at actors for not writing their own scripts, or getting mad at a dancer for not choreographing every dance they do. Some people can do both but, lots of writers can't sing and lots of singers can't write and I see nothing wrong with that as long as they are being honest about it. Also, why are Broadway performers and opera singers so respected when they sing ancient songs and therefore did not write their own stuff either! Even musicians in an orchestra do not write their own music and yet they are respected... so I don't get why pop singers get so much flack for having writers write songs for them. I rather listen to a really good song written by a very talented writer and sung by a very talented singer, than listen to a good song sung by a weak singer, or a junk song written by a strong singer! If you don't write the songs you sing it doesn't take away your title as a singer! And if you don't sing the songs you write it doesn't take away your title as a song writer. Singing is an art in itself and writing is an art in itself and I don't think you should be deemed "not good enough" just because you can't do both.

What I do have a problem with is someone claiming they are an author of a book when in fact they had a ghostwriter write it for them! Why in the world should they have the right to be credited as an author if they didn't even write the book? The last time I checked, the definition of an author was "someone who writes" and the definition of a writer was "someone with the ability to mark or record letters, numbers and symbols on a paper or page by using some type of writing utensil". Getting someone else to write your book and then claiming that you wrote it is a HUMONGOUS LIE and is more EQUIVALENT TO LIP SYNCING! It absolutely disgusts me! Call me a "Basic Bish" but, I thought being a writer of a book required you to WRITE IT! There is no getting around it! If you didn't write it, you didn't write it--Period! If you needed help writing something then state that you worked or collaborated with someone or that you co-wrote the piece. Is that so hard to do? You can call the book yours since you own the rights to use and sell it but don't lie to us saying that you actually wrote it! Owning the words and writing the words are two different things! Why is it not mandatory for these "authors" to conspicuously and clearly let their customers know that they used a ghostwriter? Why can they trick us and false advertise their product but people who review products can't? Why lie? How can you sleep at night? The idea is beyond me!

I'd rather be an "amateur" writer who actually writes my own stuff, than a critically acclaimed, best selling "author" who can't write for shit!

June 14 & 17, 2014 © Kayla Napua Kong

ALL I'VE GOT

From the places I have been, I will return
From the things only we know, I will tell them
From the feelings we sensed deep down inside, I will let surface
From the things we have let slide, I will blow the whistle on
From those difficult times that we do not let affect us, I will let it affect me
In those moments that were little, I will acknowledge it's importance
In those moments that we felt small, I will make significant
From those moments that were taken, I will take from
From those moments that have happened, I will make happen
In all the moments, even as they come and go in the fleeting seconds, I will capture them with my net
In all the moments, even the ones that have died in the jar, I will pay my respects
If it has gone through me to feel it once, it can go through me again and onto the page.
Because all of this remains whether I live it all the time or not.
Because all I know is this time I've got to write!
...and this is all I've got.

November 23, 2012 4:22am © Kayla Napua Kong

Publish

Have the courage to speak and be heard.

Have the courage to write and hit send.

November 2012 © Kayla Napua Kong