Memoir Ghostwriting
Thoughts are powerful.
Thoughts written down, the most powerful of all.
But pinning the right words to the page is seldom easy. They don't go quietly.
As likely to flip the bird as bend the knee.
Invariably, blood will be shed.
But it doesn't have to be your blood. It could, say, be mine.
Perhaps you’ve led an incredible life. Or lived through a traumatic experience. Perhaps you’re a leader in your field: an artist, a sports star, a business executive. Maybe you want to share an experience with the world or leave a legacy for a select few.
Whatever the case, chances are you have some thoughts running wild inside your head. Thoughts you’d like to capture in words but lack the time or the confidence to do it alone.
If so, I can help. Together, we can transform those thoughts into a story.
How? We collaborate. Largely, you talk, and I listen. You send me relevant artifacts: notes, documents, photos, or other media, and I tease out and structure your story to create an engaging narrative. It’s an intimate, layered process that thrives on mutual trust and respect.
A word of caution. It’s not something you should do on a whim. Nor purely for financial gain. That’s not a good enough reason; you’ll likely be disappointed. The good reasons run deeper. For some, it’s a therapeutic experience, for others, it can bring catharsis.
The true rewards can last well beyond a single lifetime.
Narrative Non-fiction Ghostwriting
Like memoir, other forms of narrative non-fiction blend storytelling techniques with factual events to provide an immersive experience. Supplying dry information or insight is not the goal. An experience that lingers in the mind is.
Perhaps you’re privy to an intriguing true-life story, with evidence to back it up. It’s not about you, it’s about others, but you enjoy it anyway, and you’d love to see it unfold upon the page.
Perhaps you’d like to capture your company’s journey from humble beginnings to where it is today in book form.
Perhaps you run a boutique hotel from a wartime brothel with a history of honey traps and heroes that you’d like to showcase to prospective guests.
Again, with close collaboration, we can bring it to life. Many of the above principles regarding memoir ghostwriting apply here, but there are differences. These stories are told from the third-person point of view, not the first, so there’s more ‘distance’ between the reader and narrator. This changes the nature and depth of the reader’s immersion. The nature of the research required is also different. These stories come to us second-hand, which introduces different credibility burdens. They’re different from memoir in other ways, too, but they can be incredibly interesting to explore and write.
Executive Ghostwriting
Executives often carry buckets of insight, painstakingly collected over the course of their careers. Many are good writers, but they lack the capacity or desire to share their insights through thought pieces published on social media, internally, or elsewhere. Thoughtful writing takes time, which they seldom have. In any event, many prefer to articulate their thinking by talking things through. It’s how they problem-solve. It’s in their comfort zone and a more efficient use of their time.
Perhaps. But ideas left to wander the halls of conversation seldom survive for long. Usually, they die. Or mutate, and then die. The same is true for insights hoarded in the mind. They might last longer, but they don’t travel far, and ultimately, if not crystallized into writing, they die.
A good ghostwriter won’t just capture your thoughts in words; they’ll challenge them when they ramble or conflict. They’ll help you refine them. Then they’ll distill them into their purest forms before you commit them to the page.
You’ll be creating insights that endure; insights that inform the thinking of the thought leaders who follow.
No points are awarded for taking your insights to the grave.
Developmental Editing
The editing world can feel like a house of mirrors at times: Perhaps a story can provide some clarity.
A skilled house painter was once asked to paint the outside of a house. Delighted, he made his way to the client’s address with all the tools of his trade.
When he arrived, he found the client in an open plot, next to a tin of paint and a large pile of bricks.
“There it is!” the client proudly cried.
Much like 50,000 bricks don’t automatically make a house, 50,000 words don’t necessarily make a story.
A good developmental editor is both like an architect and a building inspector.
You’re still the builder, but they’ll make sure the foundations and logic of your story are sound. That your front door doesn’t open onto the courtyard; the pool isn’t in the garage, and the fireplace actually has a working chimney; that your en-suite bathroom isn’t bricked up, and that the toilet is indeed plumbed and ready to receive.
Sticking with this analogy, a line editor is like our painter above. Engaged to make a house look attractive. While a copy editor is more like a building compliance officer. Engaged to make sure a ‘build’ obeys all the relevant rules.
Whether constructing a house or a story, it’s wise to do it in logical sequence.
First, you design. Then you build. Then you ‘finish’ it off.
In both cases, moving on to the finishing phase before the build is complete is a recipe for heartache if structural flaws are found, and the design needs to change.
As a developmental editor, I’ll put your first draft through the wringer. Invariably, some nuts and bolts will shake loose, likely some beams and floorboards too.
Seasoned authors can normally forgo this type of edit and get away with it, unless their manuscript is highly complex or technical.
But for first-timers, a developmental edit is almost mission-critical. Without question, it will save you time, money, and effort in your current project. But the storytelling insights you’ll gain in the process will far outstrip these benefits when applied to your future projects.
Coaching
“Everywhere I go I'm asked if I think the university stifles writers. My opinion is that they don't stifle enough of them. There's many a best-seller that could have been prevented by a good teacher.” ― Flannery O'Connor
If you’re completely new to creative writing, you’re probably after some practical, entry-level advice on how to ‘level up’. Or possibly you have a story you’d like critiqued with insights you can apply. If so, I can offer some pointers on the craft nuggets I’ve absorbed from the great writers I admire – most are delightfully obvious after the fact, in a jaw-clenching, pencil-snapping way.
From my coaching, critiquing, and judging days, I’ve found that most newbies benefit more from learning ‘what not to do’ than ‘what to do’. And, more importantly, the reason why. Because it’s only once you understand the reason behind a piece of writerly advice that you can challenge it, and go your own way.
Very little in the literary world is sacrosanct. Writers at the top of their game break the ‘rules’ all the time, and break them well. Because they can. They learned the basics, built on them, and now sling words around seemingly at will.
The way Eddie Van Halen could shred his guitar faster than the speed of sound. No tutor taught him that crazy ‘sixth finger’ technique. He invented it.
But not on day one.