Christine
Keleny likes working with her hands. She crochets, sews, tiles, paints, cross
stitches, frames pictures, stains furniture, and cuts and splits firewood, but
her main loves are writing and helping others publish the book of their dreams.
Learn mor about her at CK Book Publishing and her blog.
I was thrilled when I found Anastasia’s site about
mystery novels and the people that write them. What a good idea, I thought, to
write on a mystery writers site about the writers of one of the most famous
girl sleuths to date: Nancy Drew. I’m glad Anastasia agreed!
Oddly enough, I didn’t read Nancy when I was growing
up. I read mostly Agatha Christie and a few other obscure mystery writers, but
my daughter (now 18) is an avid reader, and she read all of the Nancy Drew
books our library owned, some 56 of them or so. I am a student of history, so
when I started writing, I naturally gravitated to historical fiction. I’m not
sure what made me think of doing a story about Nancy Drew, but I’m glad I did.
It’s really quite an interesting story.
Did you know there is an ongoing dispute about who
the real creator of Nancy is? I’m sure all you seasoned mystery writers know
that Carolyn Keene is a pseudonym. So is Laura Lee Hope of the Bobbsey Twins
and Franklin Dixon of the very popular Hardy Boys. All these stories are the
brainchild of one of the most prolific children’s writers of the twentieth
century: Edward Stratemeyer. The problem with Nancy, however, is that Edward
died soon after he had sent the first three Nancy stories off to his publisher.
Edward’s first ghostwriter to work on Nancy (he just
called them “writers”) was Mildred Augustine Wirt Benson. And as with all of
Edward’s stories, she worked off outlines Edward had given her.
As I was writing my stories, I was lucky enough to correspond
with two people who had some firsthand information about the people who wrote
the Nancy Drew stories. One of those people is Geoffrey S. Lapin. Geoffrey
developed a relationship with Mildred “Millie” Wirt Benson when he found out
that she had written many of the first stories.
You see, all writers for the Syndicate signed
agreements that gave up any rights they might have to the stories they wrote,
and the Syndicate required these writers not to tell anyone what stories they
had written. Mr. Lapin didn’t quite agree. He even purchased one of the original
three outlines that Edward had sent to Millie (an item I was not able to get my
hands on before communicating with Mr. Lapin.) He had talked with one of the
three young women who ended up being a partner in the Syndicate (Edward’s, then
his daughter’s, book company) in the 1980s.
Geoffrey said that the first outline for The Secret of the Old Clock was three
pages long and included much detail about what and how Edward wanted his story
written – including the dialect of the “colored” character in the story. The
second outline for The Hidden Staircase
was only two pages and supposedly the outline for The Bungalow Mystery was even shorter. Apparently Mildred was
getting the idea of what Edward was looking for. This was all well and good
until May of 1930 when Edward died of pneumonia.
What was to become of the Syndicate and all its
stories – Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, The Bobbsey Twins, Tom Swift, Ruth
Fielding just to name a few?
Harriet’s two daughters, Harriet Adams and Edna
Stratemeyer, ended up deciding to run the company when they couldn’t find
anyone (post-depression) to buy it, and that’s when the trouble began. Harriet
– who primarily ran the company – didn’t like the way Mildred wrote the Nancy
stories, so she started giving Mildred lengthy outlines again and edited out
what she didn’t like once she received Mildred’s completed manuscripts. These
women politely battled each other until 1953, when Mildred wrote her last Nancy
story: The Clue of the Velvet Mask (Nancy
book #26.)
After this Harriet and a few other ghostwriters took
over Nancy, but Harriet always did the final edits on her Nancy stories.
Harriet was the one who oversaw the refreshing of all the original Nancy
stories in the 1950s at the behest of the publishers,
when the original blue roadster changed to the beloved blue convertible and
Nancy matured from 16 years of age to 18, so she could legally drive in all 50
states!
The other person I had helping me with my book was
Edward’s great-granddaughter, Cynthia Lum. Cynthia is adamant that Harriet is
the real creator of Nancy, and she has a good argument toward that point, but I
don’t think it’s as simple as that. In my story, I lay out the lives of the
three primary creators of Nancy and let the reader decide who her real creator
is.
Will the Real Carolyn Keene Please Stand Up?
tells of the lives of the three primary creators of the Nancy Drew mystery
series and how the plucky, intelligent, resourceful, and famous girl sleuth
came to life, along with the controversy that still rages on about who really
created the Nancy Drew that millions of readers across the globe have come to
know and love.
6 comments:
I admit to having been a Nancy Drew addict. I preferred it to all the others' mentioned here. I was an adult before I knew that Carolyn Keene was a pseudonym but it doesn't take away the many hours of joy those books gave me.
Your book on the origins of Nancy Drew and her writers sounds like a must read.
1199It really gives you the inside scoop about the lives of the primary writers of Nancy - there were some 5o+ Nancy writers, according to the great granddaughter. Nancy's been around a long time!
I had to pop in at the mere mention of Nancy Drew! I loved that girl and who didn't want to be like her? And the Bobbsey Twins. Loved these books for the reading joy they gave me.
I'll have to read this book. I love the stories produced by the Stratemeyer Syndicate and the history of Nancy Drew's creation is fascinating.
While I enjoyed the television show back in my teen years, I have to admit that I've never read a Nancy Drew mystery.
I had the pleasure of teaching one of Harriet's granddaughters. On Parents Weekend, Harriet came to my classroom and introduced herself to me as Carolyn Keene! Imagine how thrilling that was! I've read a lot about Wirt Benson- she has a lot of supporters as the real Carolyn Keene - but I think your version seems more balanced.
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