The name behind Prince Harry's book titled "Spare" is JR Moehringer, who also wrote the life stories of legendary tennis player Andre Agassi and Nike founder Phil Knight.
The award-winning ghostwriter is also known for his own story "The Tender Bar," starring Ben Affleck and directed by George Clooney.
We've all been reading a book this week. Although not yet released, only accidentally distributed 5 days ago in Spain, the £40 million book, which is scheduled to go on sale next week, is actually the life story of Prince Harry, entitled "Spare". The cover of the book only has a portrait of Prince Harry and the title of the book. But we do know that the author of the book is not Prince Harry, but JR Moehringer, who earned a seven-figure sum to write his story.
The author of the book, which we already know about many details from Prince Harry's fights with Prince William to his private conversations with his father, King Charles of England, from Harry's meeting with Camilla to his drug experiences, is actually a familiar name.
We know it not only because he is the ghostwriter of the memoirs of Andre Agassi and Nike founder Phil Knight, but also because of his own story. In fact, his autobiography "The Tender Bar" was made into a movie, starring Ben Affleck, the movie was directed by George Clooney. It is said that it was George Clooney who actually introduced Prince Harry to JR Moehringer. Although Prince Harry and JR Moehringer grew up in very different places, they have a lot in common.
JR Moehringer is the son of a single mother who has struggled with problems throughout his life, and he dedicates his own book to his mother. He always has a troubled relationship with his father, who comes from a troubled family. Of course, writing your own story is very different from writing someone else's.
To be able to write in another person's language and voice, first talent and common sense are required. Doing this well also requires great technical skill and a flexible ego. There are authors who try very hard to have their names on the covers of their books, and there are those who don't want to be at all.
Ghostwriters sometimes meet their subjects only once and then continue to meet by correspondence, sometimes they spend long hours with their issues.
The first book I read by Pulitzer Prize-winning author JR Moehringer was Andre Agassi's "Open".
Actually, although I wasn't very interested in Agassi or tennis, I couldn't put the book down before I finished it. Because it was written with great mastery, it was highly gripping.
The warrior behind your expressionless face
Agassi said he called Moehringer to write his own book after reading "The Tender Bar", Moehringer's memoir about growing up with a single mother.
“It was the first autobiography I read that didn't feel like a global press conference,” Agassi said.
JR Moehringer wrote of what a moment of clarity came when he realized that many of the qualities he looked for in a father were embodied in his mother: “My mother exemplified every virtue I associate with masculinity – strength, perseverance, determination, reliability, honesty, integrity, courage. I was always vaguely aware, but in that moment, when I first saw the warrior behind my mother's expressionless face, I fully grasped the idea and put it into words for the first time. For all this search and longing for the secret to being a good man, all I had to do was follow the example of a very good woman.
Agassi's book "Open", on the other hand, was about how he turned into a tennis champion in his professional life, which he started and continued with the force of his father, how this actually made him unhappy, and how he held on to life again thanks to his wife, who is a star like him.
In fact, it is not much different from the story of Prince Harry.
A job he didn't want, a troubled childhood, a bad relationship with his father, struggling with fame and the media, and then trying to reinvent himself with a star wife.
JR Moehringer moved to Las Vegas, where Agassi lives, to write Andre Agassi's memoir "On." Agassi bought a house very close to his own and sat there for two years while JR Moehringer worked on the book. Agassi explained that all the writer wanted was a longboard from which he could arrange the scenes that he could put together "like a necklace."
He added that they meet for breakfast every morning and talk for a few hours. Agassi said he asked the tough questions needed to help Moehringer dig deeper, but he always felt safe throughout the process. Agassi said he wanted to put Moehringer's name on the cover of the book. “One of my strengths is knowing my weaknesses,” he said. “When you do a craft as I do for a long time at the highest level, you know the difference between the best and the others,” he continued.
However, Agassi said Moehringer turned down that loan. JR Moehringer chose to perish himself. “He is half a psychiatrist,” said Nike founder Phil Knight of Moehringer, who wrote the memoir “Shoe Dog.” “It really makes you say things you didn't think you'd say,” he added. JR Moehringer is also said to be the ghostwriter of Tiger Woods' upcoming memoir, "Back."
Goes deep into sessions
JR Moehringer writes about human emotions and goes deep into his subjects through therapy-like sessions and excels at bringing the worst of the worst out of people. He believes this is important for the sincerity of the books. “I hate when people ask what a book is about,” he says. People who read for its plot and soak up the story like icing on a biscuit should stick to the comics and soap operas… Every precious book is about feelings, love, death, and pain. It's about words. It's about people dealing with life."
They say for nothing, given Moehringer's history of pulling out "the worst of the worst" from people, the scrapes and bruises Prince Harry describes are probably just the tips of the iceberg.