First introduced in 1927, The Hardy Boys Stories are a series (系列) of books about the stories of brothers Frank and Joe Hardy, teenaged detectives who solve one mystery (神秘) after another. The cover of The Hardy Boys says that the author of the series is Franklin. Over the years, though, many fans of the books have been surprised to find out that Franklin is not a real person. If Franklin never existed, then who wrote The Hardy Boys Stories?
The Hardy Boys are written through a process called ghostwriting (鬼手写作). A ghostwriter writes a book according to a fixed formula (公式). Although ghostwriters are paid for writing the books, their names do not appear on the published books. Ghostwriters can write books for children or adults, the content of which is various.
The idea for The Hardy Boys series was developed by a publisher named Stratemeyer. He noticed the increasing popularity of mysteries among adults, and thought that children would enjoy reading mysteries about younger detectives of their age. He first developed each book with an outline (提纲). Once having completed the outline, he then hired a ghostwriter to turn it into a book of over 200 pages. After finishing a draft (草稿) of a book, he or she would send it back to Stratemeyer, who would make a list of corrections and mail it back to the ghostwriter. The ghostwriter would improve the book according to Stratemeyer's suggestions and then return it to him. Once Stratemeyer approved the book, it was ready to be published.
The Hardy Boys had a number of different ghostwriters producing books. However, the first ghostwriter, Leslie, proved to be the most influential. Although he was using prepared outlines as guides, Leslie developed the characters through his imagination. He was also responsible for the details in the story. For example, Leslie created Bayport, the Hardy Boys' hometown, based on where he grew up.
Although The Hardy Boys were very popular with children, not everyone approved of them. Critics thought their stories were not real, since most teenagers did not have the same experience as Frank and Joe Hardy. Besides, many teachers and librarians are against the ghostwriting process, saying it was designed to produce books quickly, but not to create quality literature. Some libraries even refuse to include the books in their children's collections.
