Andrew Neiderman - TV Tropes

Andrew Neiderman (born October 26, 1940 in Brooklyn, New York) is an author who's been working since the 1960s. Considered very prolific, he's probably best known as the author of The Devil's Advocate, which was later adapted into a big-budget Hollywood film.

However, he's also become infamous for his shady relationship with the estate of the famous novelist V. C. Andrews (best known for Flowers in the Attic, part of the Dollanganger Series). After Andrews died in 1986, Neiderman quietly took over as ghostwriter at her publishers' behest. He has continued to churn out novels under the Andrews pen-name for decades ever since, basically turning "V.C. Andrews" into a brand, known as "The V.C. Andrews Trust".

One of the mysteries surrounding Andrews' death was exactly when the ghostwriter took over, as Andrews' publisher gave out varying stories. At first they stated that the ghostwriter had "completed" the contracted novels left incomplete at the time of her death. Then the official word was that he was writing works based on Andrews' notes. With Neiderman under a complicated non-disclosure agreement, it seemed that his true contribution to the franchise would never be known — until eight years later, when the IRS stepped in in 1994 to claim that the now-trademarked name "V.C. Andrews™" was a taxable asset, and Neiderman's contributions became a matter of public record. In the end it was revealed that the Andrews estate had never given the publisher or ghostwriter access to any manuscripts left incomplete at the time of Andrews' death, nor was he given any notes. Furthermore, the estate had forbidden the ghostwriter to create new works from any existing characters after the final contracted series (Casteel Series) was completed.^note . The IRS won its back taxes, and the publisher quietly dropped the pretense that any later books were the product of V.C. Andrews.

Neiderman's work are often considered a Flanderized version of the topics and themes in Andrews' works, and it is widely agreed by V.C. Andrews fans that Only the Creator Does It Right and there is a particular disdain for Neiderman's works.

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Works:

• Pin (1981), non-ghostwritten work
• Garden of Shadows (1987), Dollanganger Series prequel
• Whitefern (2016), My Sweet Audrina sequel
• Casteel Series (ghostwritten) (1985-1990)
• Cutler Series (1990-1993)
• Landry Series (1994-1996)
• Logan Series (1996-1999)
• Orphans series (1998)
• The Wildflowers series (1999)
• Hudson Series (2000-2007)
• Celeste series (2004-2005)

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Tropes common to Andrew Neiderman's works:

• Cash-Cow Franchise: Despite the original V. C. Andrews having died in 1986, romance novels written under her name by Neiderman have continued to be published on roughly a yearly basis since then by Neiderman.
• Executive Meddling: The reason why recent books are either short series of two-three books, or simply stand-alone novels. Neiderman said that the publishers didn't want them because later books in the traditional family saga format didn't sell well (particularly prequels).
• Follow the Leader: The Kindred series (consisting of Daughter of Darkness and Daughter of Light) and the one-off Into the Darkness were seen as pretty blatant attempts to ride the post-Twilight paranormal romance wave by readers.
• Franchise Zombie: While V. C. Andrews only wrote 8 books during her life, Neiderman has written dozens since under her name. To some, the quality of the books declines sharply after the Casteel series, which was the last to be written by Andrews herself.
• Inspired by…: Two of Andrews' paintings served as inspiration for two ghostwritten short stories, Cage of Love and The Little Psychic.
• Keep Circulating the Tapes: The two short e-book stories, Cage of Love and The Little Psychic, were only available for a short time before the publisher took them out circulation. Unlike the Hudson prequel novella Gathering Clouds they're pretty easy to find.
• Rape as Drama: The ghostwritten books are infamous for this, particularly Rape as Backstory (as often discovered in the prequel novels).
• What Could Have Been:
  • Cage of Love and The Little Psychic were to be the start of a new series of short stories published as eBooks. For some reason, those plans were scrapped.
  • The Secrets series: Nest of Orphans became Secrets in the Attic. Its sequel, Attic Whispers, became Secrets in the Shadow.
  • Sage's Eyes had its title changed to avoid controversy of its original title's use of the slur "Gypsy".

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