I recently went out and bought EverWorld #1 and #2. I liked them. I liked them a lot. I like them better than Animorphs. No surprise, considering the state our beloved series is in.

The question of course, is ‘Why?’

I’ll get back to that later.

But first, I want you to refer to the title. What do these four things have in common? Simple.

Ghostwriters and fanfic writers are two names for practically the same thing. Animorphs is being written by ghostwriters, and EverWorld just might replace Animorphs.

Ghostwriters write a book using someone else’s characters. Fanfic writers write a story using someone else’s characters.

Makes you kinda go ‘Hmmm’. Here we are yelling and raving about how bad the ghostwriters are and how they’re ruining our series, and yet at the same time we go and do practically the same thing.

Granted, there are differences between ghostwriters and fanfic writers, some of which is why some people despise ghostwriters and love fanfics.

One, they get paid, we don’t. Money makes all the difference, doesn’t it?

Two, we have a lot more freedom than they do. They have to follow a sketch by KAA or someone and not mess up the basic storyline, whereas we can go and kill Tobias and have Rachel go crazy and no one would care. Heck, people even like it. But can you really see that happening in the series?

Uh-Un.

But why did KAA and Scholastic get ghostwriters? Isn’t KAA good enough anymore? Is Scholastic ripping her off? Or did she decide to bring in help?

I’ll tell you that #27 was the worst book IMHO. #1 was one on the best.

And #27 was not ghostwritten!

So does that mean KAA is losing her touch? Then why is EverWorld so great?

Beats me. I think she just got tired of it. Ran out of ideas. Moved on to bigger and better things. Namely, EverWorld.

Back to the ghostwriters. Are the any good? Well, some of them are. Melinda Metz, who wrote #29, is great. They should bring her back.

But #28 and #30...I’ve read fanfics better than that.

Which comes to my big question to Scholastic. Why not hire the fans? The ones who put their heart and soul into each story. Going over it time and time again to make sure each word is perfect. Heck, I’d do it for free. And I’m not one of the best. There’s Guardian, Dar, Forlay, Utahraptor...the list goes on and on. There are plenty of great writers out there. Why bring in someone who hasn’t even heard of Animorphs before?

Ask Scholastic. Or better yet, Ask KAA in that censored forum. ‘Cause I don’t know why Animorphs is going down the drain. I’m just a fan. ::wink::

Back to my original question. It almost seems like EverWorld is replacing Animorphs.

In a way, it is, and in a way, it isn’t.

For the older fans, the ones who are ‘too old’ for Animorphs, EverWorld is the best thing that ever happened. No more hiding your books from your friends. No more getting teased for reading books for nine-year olds. I won’t be surprised at all if some people switched. Heck, I fall into that category. But I’m not switching. And this place is not becoming REM.

I’m going to read both series, and write my fanfic, and hope that Animorphs gets a revival.

‘Cause you know why I didn’t drop the series long ago? Because I started writing. And you can write fanfic while not reading the series. I guess I’ll drop Animorphs when I’m out of ideas. And that won’t be for a long time.

Who know, maybe a few books down the road, I might even be spewing out EverWorld fanfic.

‘Til next time,

Ruby