Ghostwriters have a specific function in the
literary community. They combine their writing talent and experience with the
inspiration and ideas of their client who hires them to write a manuscript in
the client’s name.
Occasionally it is agreed that the ghostwriter will
share a with-line or even a byline with the client. There is an endless supply
of writer’s helps on-line but ghostwriting requires a few specialized skills to
which I’ve found little attention on-line or at workshops. I decided I should
share a couple of fundamentals regarding ghostwriting as a work experience.
A ghostwriter has one principle goal and
that is to speak faithfully for his author/client. But the finished work the
client wants and needs can range from substantive rewriting of their own drafts
to complete original “turnkey” manuscripts based on a provided idea or theme
and maybe a book title. In between those extremes in the spectrum, a
ghostwriter will have clients that provide lots of rough material in the form
of journals, memoirs, transcripts of speeches or sermons, or recordings out of
which he is asked to create an editor-ready manuscript.
About once in a blue moon the material
provided fills out a complete picture like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. All a
ghostwriter may need to do is creatively organize the pieces and then inject good
segues, illustrations, and possibly a good bit of rewriting. I could crank out
a couple of those every month and retire on the coast if that’s all it involved.
But my ghostwriting experience has been more challenging and unpredictable than
that. I begin most projects with a fairly well established outline, but often the
plan will alter course to exploit an inviting new idea or, unfortunately, to
strengthen a previously unseen weakness.
The turnkey ghostwriting projects for
which I’ve been hired sometimes required weeks of research. Not to brag but to
show what can be done with the right beginning, I ghostwrote a book for a
marketing company about social media that was part sociological analysis and
part marketing guidebook. The finished book was subsequently used as a college
marketing course text, but when I was hired I barely knew enough about social
media to use Face Book. Perceptively
gathering the right material for specific readers is a major (perhaps the most
critical) part of a successful turnkey ghostwriting job. Discernment about what
is needed and trimming the unneeded fat, however good it may sound, takes some
instinct and discipline.
For me the project itself isn’t
the lead issue. The issue that comes first and continues to impact the flow of
the project is my working relationship with the client. Sometime during the
initial consultation with a client I try to establish a solid, mutual
understanding of the working relationship the client and I will share. Some
clients will not have the time or inclination to partner much in the creative
phase. Sometimes that’s a good thing like when it’s obvious from the client’s
materials that he or she will try my patience for poor grammar, clichés, and
deadwood phrases. Other clients want me to work closely with them and help them
chisel a work of art out of the block they’ve been sitting on for years.
Partnering, or co-writing as I like to call it, can
be like playing catch in the back yard with a best friend. It isn’t always that
idyllic but the more flexible, intuitive, and relational a ghostwriter is the
more clients he will be able to work with successfully.
Another important issue is the mental
discipline of the ghostwriter. I know unbelievably talented authors who
nevertheless aren’t suited for the task of ghostwriting. Authors pour out their
souls onto sheets of paper and, hopefully, good literature emerges that
ultimately embraces readers. A great author is always mindful of the readers’
eyes. He must partner with his readers as if he is having a conversation with
them in person. He writes not just to unpack his mind and satisfy his urge to
write and be published. He writes imagining that his readers are there with him
as he builds his text or thickens his plot. Failure to do so inevitably produces
gapping holes in his text that he, unawares, has filled in his mind and left
the reader behind.
But ghostwriting adds one complication to
this dynamic. A ghostwriter must remember that he is partnering not only with
the reader but also his client. He has his hands on the shoulders of two
parties who, if he does his job well, will only be aware of each other and not
the ghostwriter. This doesn’t mean a ghostwriter is only a proxy for his
clients, merely echoing the their minds. A ghostwriter must be creative and
elastic, and he must draw from his own reservoir of experience, knowledge, and
feelings, where necessary, in order to fill out a project and make it a well-written
work of literature.
However, a ghostwriter must also
continually check himself as he works. He must examine his progress from a
detached perspective like a second pair of eyes looking over his shoulder. He
must check his impulse for going on personal tangents or taking liberties with
content that more fairly represents his
mind than the client’s. Creatively elongating the byline author’s reach is one
thing. Adding arms and legs is another.
The ghostwriter’s goal must be to shine
many lights on the client from different directions and in different colors
than the client may have imagined alone. And though a ghostwriter may know
quite well how to focus those lights, his place is aiming from behind the
lights. His aim will drift if he wanders out in front of the lights to be seen.
In a sense ghostwriters are the lights. Light doesn’t reveal itself. It’s what
it shines on that is revealed. So ghostwriters are at their best when they
practice a gift for morphing their creativity and life experience into the face
of their client. They shed their own faces and become like spirit guides. Maybe
that’s overcooking the ham a bit but it illustrates why they’re called ghosts.
Ghostwriting is a great profession that is
in high demand. It begins and finishes with necessary personal skills including
patience, empathy, communication, flexibility, and imagination. With the
addition of writing talent, humility, and discipline the work should eventually
become regular.
At least that’s the theory. Usually I’m either
buried under or beating the bushes. But I do so enjoy it. Hey! I could be
wrangling shopping carts!
Dan is a writer and principal at Scribe Book
Company.
