My first ever book, advice is welcome.

This is from my first book, again. I am 15 and I the author the book is nowhere near completion and Lewis Cameron is my ghost writer. The project has much longer to go and me and Lewis enjoy every chapter as much as the last. The extract is from the start of part 2 of my story and Chapter 22. So you are being thrown in here. Enjoy and please comment, if you have anything you would like to say or ask send me a message. Thanks AJ. Alastair Burnett, hope you enjoy this bit from my book and all comment please.

Part 2.
Chapter 22.



As I left my office building on Eighth Avenue - which is around the mid-town area of New York – I realised just how much of a hard job it is working for the New York Times and I was seriously struggling to get any useful leads or interviews on any major news stories. “What am I going to do?” I thought. There wasn't even any stories I could twist to make a story out, I don't like changing peoples words to get a good story, but sometimes it just had to be done. I decided to forget about it for a while and just focus on the rest of my day.

I was supposed to be meeting my wife, Monica at the Japanese restaurant Inakaya for lunch and I decided that I shouldn't spoil it for her with my bad mood. “It wouldn't be fair on her” I thought. Thinking that, I decided to stop and pick her up some flowers on the way to the restaurant. I had heard of this place, Gramercy Park, which was supposed to be a great florist so I decided to head there. I was on Third Avenue so it didn't take me long to reach it and pick her up a bunch of red roses not cheap either. Despite my troubles at work, I had a good life, and it makes me happy to admit it. I live in a nice house in Manhattan with my wife, Monica and our five year old daughter Hayley. I love it to be honest, but I knew that if I couldn't find a good story soon, it would get a lot harder to cope with the great lifestyle we were fortunate to lead.

I decided to park my black Ford Focus about 500 metres away from the restaurant and walk the rest. As I was walking past the huge electrics store near the restaurant I noticed the news story on CNN was about the recent kidnappings around New York. I didn't think much of it except for that if I could find somebody who knew something then I could manage to save my job. I could see the headline – Kidnapper Caught! By James Ford.



That really sent me crazy. It became a personal goal to at least find out the smallest piece of information about what was going on. However, I put that thought aside and kept on walking while thinking about what I was going to get in the Japanese.

It was really nice, chilling and up-market inside Inakaya, which was lovely considering the 25 degrees centigrade temperature outside. I ordered the Seared Tuna Salad which was expensive and Monica decided on getting the Dashimaki Tamago – an omelette type meal, which was $10. We finished our meals chatting and slowly digesting the lovely Japanese cuisine. I had been in the office from 6am, so just sitting down for an hour done wonders, Monica hadn't managed to grab breakfast so we were surprisingly hungry. I paid the bill, said goodbye to Monica outside and started the walk back to my car. I couldn't stop thinking about those kidnappings.

I got back to the office, turned on my computer and began to do some research. What did I need to do for a big hit, a home-run story, please, oh please let me get a lead.



Chapter 23

I looked over at the alarm clock and it read “6:12”. It's always such a horrible feeling when you realise you have to get up for work. I rolled over and kissed Monica on the cheek, shook her to wake her up and slowly walked into Hayley's room to wake her for school, of course greeted by the usual “awww dad”. It was the same routine every morning in our house, but I enjoyed it. I put Hayley's usual bowl of Froot Loops on the table ready for her to come in and went off to get ready. I stared into my mirror wondering what today would bring before thinking 'ooh' getting some stubble Mr. Ford, I had a couple of interviews lined up for the day but I wasn't certain if they would work out. If not, I could be in serious trouble.

I went down to my car – the James Ford Focus as I liked to call it – and began the drive to work. As part of my everyday routine on the drive to work, I would stop at Daniel's Bagels on 3rd Avenue and pick up a bagel and a cup of coffee. A lot of people say that the bagels in there are great and well me, yes me, Mr. Ford, the Ford James Ford driver ,wholeheartedly agreed, to say the least. The coffee, however, isn't so highly appreciated with the staff in my office at least. I picked up my order and finished the drive to my work. As I got out the car – for the first time in a long while – I greatly appreciated the building of The New York Times offices. The floor to ceiling glass and the ceramic sunscreen of the building just make it such a wonder. I've always knew I had a privilege in working in such a building but rarely showed it. I walked in after my moment of admiration. “Hi,” I said as I got into the elevator. “Oh, hey, James,” Mark replied, “Hows things on the twelfth floor these days?” I laughed and said, “It's okay, but we're struggling for stories, I must say.”
“Well, I'm sorry to hear it. Later.” He got out of the elevator and the doors closed before I had a chance to say goodbye.

Mark had become a good friend of mine since I started working for the NYT (New York times) 4 years previously. He was a nice guy and he helped me to settle in after a while. He always wore a navy blue Paul Smith suit, I don't know whether he had more than one or whether he washed that one a lot, either way, it was a very expensive suit. I'd say that it probably cost around the region of $600. More than I would spend on a suit to say the very least. The elevator reached the twelfth floor and I walked the one-hundred metres to my office, saying “Hi” to my work colleagues along the way. It was a great place to work, as everybody was, well normally chirpy.

I got into the office and sat down on my OFM Airflo chair, – which was incredibly comfy and stylish, leather as well may I add – put my coffee and bagel on the desk and logged on to my computer. Usually at the start of a working day I would fool around or leave the office to talk to a colleague, check out NFL.com see what was going on with my beloved Jets for a while to pass the time ever so slightly but today I was right on to my e-mail inbox looking for any information from the newspaper's sources on the kidnappings. Nothing. I sat back and thought about the situation. It was going to be a long day. Especially if I didn't get the interviews a long.. and lonely day.

I think what you have is a co-author, not a ghost writer. A ghost writer writes a book that is then published under someone else's name, typically a celebrity's. The ghost writer's name is not usually made public.

Hey, Al, so would you say co-writer? What do you think also? You are good so it would be good to hear.

Good first draft. You're getting your story organized.

Too many unnecessary details. Unless what you call your car is important later in the story, readers don't care what you call your car. Plus it might generate disrespect for the protagonist--real men don't name their cars.

The kind of suit you wear, the kind of chair you have, etc., are needed only if they tell something about the character, the scene, or the era that the reader needs to know or if they will be clues or something like that later.

I find myself falling into the same trap: Incuding unnecessary details only because I know them and for no other reason pertinant to the story. They usually hit the cutting room floor in the rewrite.

I really appreciate it Al because you are obviously experienced and I'm not so any advice you ever have on anything I put for on the site or questions I ask please answer. Good, I thought it was just me that fell into it, so how should I go about giving good detail in order for it to be interesting without making it too much? Thank you. Once I have finished with the co-writer, or when you have finished one of your stories what do you do?

Spend some time reading the archives on this board and others. Subjects related to getting published once you are ready are discussed at length.

Okay, thanks and Al please keep leaving your comments on my books. Thank you.