Ghostwriting – 5 things I’ve learned from trial and error

I’d previously copy-edited a number of books, but up until March 2017 I’d never actually written one myself. And, strictly speaking, according to the dust cover of Lead Yourself to Success (published in October 2018 by Wileys), I still haven’t.

Nevertheless, the numerous drafts in my Dropbox folder and the odd mental scar or two attest to the fact that I have now officially joined the lauded ranks of published writers.

What is ghostwriting?

“A ghostwriter is hired to write pieces of work that are officially credited to another person. 

Ghostwriting is somewhat different to “ordinary” writing, in that it involves trying to be creative and interesting whilst suppressing the ghostwriter’s own voice.”

Source: [edited from] Wikipedia

Pros

• You already have your source material.
• You work on a job-by-job basis which makes it easier to stick to a contract.
• It doesn’t have to be books – it can be anything from articles to blogs.

Cons

• You must put any thoughts of ego aside.
• Clients tend to be more demanding – you’re the hired help, not a trusted partner.
• Lots of research is required, both to verify what you’ve been told and to bring yourself up to speed.

Here are my 5 (unofficial) tips for ghostwriting

1. Flexibility – don’t just touch your toes but be prepared to bend over backwards!

Publishers have deadlines. People who employ ghostwriters tend to lead busy lives. Hence, taking the time to sit down to speak to somebody about a book isn’t always a top priority. Especially when the person in question is an explorer who is prone to disappear for weeks on end, seemingly on a whim.

So actually, being organised can be pretty worthless in these circumstances…flexibility is a far more relevant quality.

TOP TIPS
• Have a ‘mood sheet’ so you can ‘slip into character’ at short notice; e.g. particular expressions, phrases, terminology.
• Include a brief chronology – people tend to ‘jump around’ when talking and often assume that others know what period they’re referring to, so it helps to cross-reference this at source.
• Update the ‘mood’ sheet from session to session.

2. The doorstep is your friend

Skype and online media might be great…but you can’t beat an old-fashioned recorder, a notebook and a face-to-face session for obtaining the bulk of your content.

Busy people, or those who don’t like writing, tend to have short attention spans so being there in person means you can schedule in breaks over the course of a longer session. This gives you time to collate your notes and plan your next session and gives the client some much-needed breathing space.

I found there was a delicate balance between having organised sessions and operating off-cuff. Basically, a flexible structure was required….oh, did I mention flexibility already?!

TOP TIP
• Tell your client in advance how long you intend each session to be – face-to-face sessions can be quite intense so always build in some breathing space.

3. Be an intelligent idiot

The intelligent idiot is the persona of the average reader; i.e. one who is interested in the topic in question but who isn’t an expert. Adopting this persona allows you to interject and clarify points, rather than clamming up and assuming they will sort themselves out in time.

As mentioned in the first point, I find a ‘mood sheet’ very useful as people tend to talk in a non-chronological manner. Hence, I can highlight a particular period I want to write about, but if the client starts saying something interesting ‘elsewhere’, that’s also great material.

Hence the interview technique is more about keeping the client on track than getting them to speak in the first place. After all, that’s what you’re being paid for – to extract the words from them!

TOP TIPS
•  Keep questions open-ended.
• “What you were telling me about xxx was really interesting – can we go back to that…?”
• “That’s a great anecdote, but I’m just wondering how we’re going to be able to use it – have you got anything relating specifically to xxx?”

4. Find the inner voice and project it

Ah, the ‘voice’, the bane of many writers! How do you capture the essence of a person without physical gestures?

The first thing to stress is that the voice doesn’t have to be grammatically correct...in fact grammatical incorrectness is far more authentic. So material from source diaries was largely included verbatim – it was only altered if the sentence didn’t make any sense to the reader.

In this particular book, a number of different voices were needed – one for the diary entries, one for the bulk of the text, one to introduce and paraphrase the 3rd-party Case Studies…etc.

TOP TIP

•  Refer back to the mood sheet – keep regular notes of typical phrases and expressions

5. Establish the chapter structure early doors

Once you’ve put together a sample chapter, send it off to the publishers for initial comments. Include comments, side notes, and suggestions – this is a working document.

Often I find that people don’t necessarily know what they like…but they tend to know very quickly what they don’t like or what doesn’t work. So, having something ‘complete’ early doors (in fact, it doesn’t have to be complete – use Latin text if you’re missing a section but want to show how you think it should look) will save you time in the long run.

In fact, in software development circles they refer to this as the Agile method whereby the priority is in creating software that works, however imperfectly, and then improving this via collaboration with end users and developers.

In the same way, creating a sample chapter invites input from all sources as to the look and feel of the book without getting too bogged down in the content.

TOP TIPS
• The sample chapter doesn’t have to be perfect – far from it – it just has to hang together coherently and provide a launchpad for discussions.
• Once you have an agreed template, you can mock up the rest of the book chapters to get a feel for how the book will look in its entirety – again, a lack of content is a distinct advantage here as you can see the ‘wood for the trees’.

CONCLUSION

Ghostwriting certainly isn’t for everyone – I suppose it’s a bit like fostering a child; a great deal of emotional empathy is required, but also a certain degree of emotional detachment, since you’ll be parting company one day.

So there you go – foster a book, you’ll feel better for it!