By James Buchanan
The most important aspect of ghost writing is ensuring that the process runs as efficiently as possible and that the author’s voice is heard throughout and is clearly and properly represented in the text.
However, there are a number of points where the process can run astray of these goals if it is not carefully structured, understood and managed. For example, if at the outset, the ghost writer does not perform his or her due diligence to fully understand the author’s intent and topic, things will quickly go wrong in the relationship. As work progresses, an abundance of research materials can act as their own driving force pulling the writer and/or author from the central theme and idea of the book.
The process outlined below is intended to make the writing process as efficient as possible and to ensure the authors voice and intent is fully understood and clearly represented throughout the writing process.
Step 1 – what is the book about? This should be a broad discussion outside of the context of a manuscript (e.g. just talking) of what the subject of the book is. If it's a memoir, is it about a specific moment in the author's life such as surviving cancer, a political campaign, a relationship, and etc. If it’s historical, how-to, or about a technical concept: describe the topic, why is it important, what does it do/mean, and so on (avoid getting into specifics and details as that will be fleshed out during research). Apply these principles to define in broad terms what the book is about.
Step 2 -- What does the author want the book to do? By this I mean, define what the point(s) is (are) for writing a book on this subject. Is the book a polemic about racism designed to change minds and impel people to action? Is it to tell a story about an experience the author had because it is a compelling story that may help some people in a similar situation? Are you trying to take a leading role within an industry or intellectual discipline by enunciating a new theory? And so on.
Step 3 – As the ghost writer, go out and do some general research on the subject so that you can have an educated discussion about it. For the ghost writer this means looking at what others have written or done on the subject, read books and articles, and work at developing at least a basic understanding of the subject. If you are writing a memoir, have an interview with the person in general terms on what s/he wants to write about and then talk briefly to other sources saying you are working on a book and may want to interview them at a later date.
Step 4 – broadly outline the structure of the book. Will it be in three parts or just a series of chapters? If it is done in parts what is the overall point and goal of the parts and how do they fit together to tell the story? If it is a series of chapters, what is the narrative arc of the chapters? This is where you begin the flesh out how to write the book and narrow down its focus because this should be more than simply saying "Let's try this and we'll change it as we go along." It is about pushing the author to make some decisions, albeit with the caveat that as the writing progresses changes can be made. What this will dois set a context within which changes can be made so that you don't start removing and adding text, chapters, and so on, on a piecemeal or ad hoc basis.
Step 5 – once the parts and chapters have been identified that are necessary to tell the overall story, you need to outline each chapter with a hierarchy of headings in collaboration with the author. I would advise going at least three or four levels. The research and your growing understanding of the subject will help determine how to structure the discussion/explanation/narrative. What you are doing at this stage is setting the context and content of specific pieces of the book in order to better focus your research and interviews. It is also at this stage where you will begin to get a sense of whether the author has a developed sense for how to write the book and what the vision is for what it should ultimately look and read like.
Step 6 – Prepare DETAILED outlines of three key chapters of the book (depending on whether it is memoir or a research piece these can be the first three chapters or important chapters for each section, and so on). The reason why I say detailed—and I mean very detailed—is because you will then present this to the author. The author must have all of the information they need to understand what the chapter will look like if you write that outline out. You also want to go through each piece of the outline line-by-line to see if you are factually accurate and to be sure that each piece is as long as it needs to be (not under-explained or over-explained) and that the vision for how the text reads is clearly understood by you and the author. You should also realize that this is an iterative process. You may have to take comments and then go and make changes and review with the author again, but it is important to go through this process. This is critical because in outline form it is very easy to move things around to reorder them, rewrite things, remove items, and add new sections, etc, because you have not put them in draft form. You will also strengthen both the writer’s and author’s vision for what the book should look like when it is finished. It is also much better to do this work early in the process rather than later because as you finish chapters, you can start plugging in graphics and photos and sidebars and other elements to sharpen the manuscript. The overall point is that when you and the author are happy with the outlines you will have a much firmer structure to guide the rest of your research and writing, you both will be firmly on the same page, and you will have done your brain storming (harvesting blinks and etc. from the author) at the beginning rather than end of the process.
Step 7 – Go out and write the chapters and send them to the author and other reviewers that have been agreed upon by the author (this latter piece will help provide the author with peer support to say the book is good, but change here and etc). While you are waiting, start outlining the rest of the book and go through a similar process as before. The difference here is that since the vision for the book and how it should be written has been firmly established it will take a lot less time by weeks or even months.