Writing Blog Number 2

20240727 Ghost Writing

Ghost Writing

I have just completed a ghost-writing assignment, and on Monday start a new one. I try to limit myself to one at a time because (a) it takes up a lot of time, and (b) I really do not want to get two people’s individual stories mixed up!
         So, while I am in that mode, I thought I would give a brief over-view of Ghost Writing.


What is Ghost Writing?
Ghost Writing (or Ghost-Writing, or sometimes even Ghostwriting) is when a writer does the writing for someone else whose name will appear on the piece. Nearly every sports person’s and actor’s autobiography was Ghost Written by someone who knew how to write, or at least string two sentences together. I am a huge fan of professional wrestling, and yet I am not blind enough to deny that most autobiographies were ghost written. The only ones I am sure were written by the person in question were those written by Mick Foley, and that’s only because he showed everyone the hand-written first drafts!
         Ghost Writing is making someone else’s words make sense. It is a form of creative non-fictional journalism. It is not easy, but it can be fun and it can open up new worlds to the writer, including characters for later fiction pieces that can be based on these real people you have never met, and events from these incidents you never experienced. And, more than that, it can open whole new and different worlds to us that we have never experienced before.
         It is a way of learning about a part of the world that might have been hidden from us.


How to Ghost Write?
There are two ways I have seen. There might be more, but these two are the ones recommended by some of the author associations in Australia that actually admit that Ghost Writers exist (more on that later).
         First is the person gives you what they have written and you translate it into something that makes sense. This was the way I did my very first Ghost Writing assignment. It can be hard to translate what is meant, but you have it in front of you. I made a lot of phone calls to make sure what I was doing was right and to clarify things, but, in general, it was me just writing based on their notes. It was more a re-writing job, really, and, truth be told, it was dull, but the book was exactly what the person wanted.
         Second is the way I prefer to do it – I interview the person. I like to record the interviews, but if you’re quick with a pen or know shorthand, then note-taking is also an option. I do take notes, especially with spelling of names, however. Then I go away and use the conversation to write a narrative. I will write it as a series of short stories, then, once everything is done, I tie them together and put them in chronological order. I will often do an hour of interview, then write, then later more interviews, and so on. It takes longer, but it is also easier to get more details. However, if you do not get on with your subject, this will fail.
         I guess there is a third option – combining the two. I haven’t done this, but it does make sense.
         After the book is completed, the subject MUST read it! They are not looking for line edits, but they need to make sure it makes sense and everything you’ve written is true according to their recollections. When I started, I sought advice from a man who does a lot of our local football players’ books, and he said sometimes their memories and the facts clash. He used to point out these inconsistencies, but some get quite angry at being questioned, and so he lets it slide; if he is mentioned as the “with” writer, he adds a disclaimer to the effect of memories being fallible; if he does not get that byline (and that costs a lot for the player!) then he lets it go. But, no matter what, he records all inconsistencies in case it comes to something legal. I follow his advice.


Negatives of Ghost Writing
There are a number of negatives with this form of work.
         1) As I mentioned, if you and the subject clash, it can make a working partnership not viable. While it will be a loss of income, unless you can sort out any issues, then it might be in both your best interests to not continue with the working relationship.
         2) You can end up making changes as they remember more things for a long time. The one I recently finished took me 2 months to write, then five months for changes to be constantly made. But, remember, they are the client, and if you charge by the hour (which I do) it will cost them.
         3) If their truth and real truth clash, you need to go with the client. A great example would be the autobiographies of Hulk Hogan where he claimed, amongst so many other things, that he wrestled 400 days in one year because of time zones, that he was almost bassist for Metallica (very much denied by the band), that the George Foreman Grill was originally going to be named after him but he missed a phone call (denied by the manufacturer), he was going to star in Aronofsky's The Wrestler (was begged to star in it, but turned it down, in fact; denied by Aronofsky as Rourke was the only person he considered), that he fought for Pride Mixed Martial Arts (founded 1997) in the 1970s, that he got drunk with John Belushi after Wrestlemania 2 (in 1986... Belushi died in 1982)... so many lies he still insists are facts. Mark Dagostino, the ghost writer for them all, just pocketed the money and let Hogan become the biggest laughing stock in wrestling.
         4) It can be very time-consuming.. Yes, all books are, but you need to organize with another person in this case, and that adds to it all. However, it is also wanted “yesterday” – time-consuming and demanded.
         5) It is very difficult to add it to a writing CV, especially if they insist your name is not in the book. While this is less and less the case nowadays, some particularly egotistical subjects do still demand actual writer anonymity.
         6)From earlier, there are many organisations and people in positions of power in the arts communities that do not consider it a real form of writing. To them, it is lower than journalism. At least, that is the attitude I have faced.
         7) And, finally, you willingly give up ownership of your work. This should be spelt out in the contract you sign, but it is standard the subject gets the work. And it is something you just have to learn to live with.


Conclusion
And that is Ghost Writing. As you might have guessed, as someone trying to become a professional writer, I am all for it. Even if there is a lack of publicity for doing the work. I am not writing to become “Famous”; I am writing because it seems to be about the only thing I can do with any degree of success. As such, the anonymity of Ghost Writing is fine by me.
         And if you want to give it a go, I would recommend starting with someone you know well first. My first was my ex-wife’s grandmother. She self-published the book and ended up going into three publication runs, she sold so many. My second was a guy I was working with in adult numeracy class; he wanted it for his kids to show them what their dad had gone through. Then I did another guy who was a friend of his, for the same reasons. Then I had my first failure as we could not agree on how to write it (he wanted it to be a vindictive written assault on everyone he hated). The next one was fine, and that’s the one I just finished.
         Anyway, maybe it’s something worth considering?