Deconstructing Ghostwriting

I’m often asked how I actually do ghostwriting. How am I able to get into someone’s head enough to write in their voice and how do I get them to provide the information I need? I’ve been thinking about that today, probably because I’m writing a chapter for a client from a very bare outline.

First of all, we’re well into the book in questions. I’ve spent several hours with the client over the phone and I’ve written the bulk of the book which he loves. So I’ve internalized a lot of information, including:

• His passion for the topic.
• What he really believes is true about the problem he wants to solve with this book.
• His solution to the problem he’s addressing.
• How he likes to express that solution.

Now I’ve got this outline and I find what I’m actually doing is writing, but in fits and starts. I’m thinking through what the outline reveals, pacing around, writing blogs, playing computer games and working on the chapter.

It’s not a straight shot. If this were my book, there might be less pacing and thinking, although I’m apt to do much the same thing with my own work.

By the end of the day I’ll have a couple of thousand words, maybe a bit more. I’ll ship the draft chapter to the client for comments and additions. In a couple of days he’ll get back to me with changes, corrections and the things I’ve left out. I’ll take that info and edit the chapter. At this point in the book it’s usually taking only a single pass between us and the chapter is done.

Not all projects go exactly like this… in fact every ghostwriting gig is different, although in one way or another the book develops in roughly this way.

Write well and often,

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