Tag Archives: ghostwriting

What Ghostwriting Has Done For Me: Made me feel more legit

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So it turns out writing a novel takes a lot of freaking time. Like, a lot. And last time I checked there are still only 24 hours in a day and 7 days in a week. Furthermore, it is scientifically impossible to find success as a novelist without writing a novel. (Seriously, it’s science, people.)

This leads to a horrible conundrum with which I’m sure a lot of you can relate. Namely, this time has to come from somewhere, which means, that it’s going to cut into time with your friends and family. Which means you’re going to have a couple options: (1) You can make up a serious, yet sporadic disease that will allow you to quarantine yourself in your room while you secretly write a book; (2) you may spontaneously adopt a new religion that requires you to become a hermit; (3) you can admit that what you’re actually doing is writing and risk suffering a million “Next Great American Novel” jokes potentially for all time.

But seriously, it can be hard for your friends and family to know how to take the fact that you suddenly want to spend beaucoup time writing. Sure, you know that you’re doing all the research, checking all the message boards, stalking every agent/editor on Twitter, but for all they know you’re writing haiku on a napkin and thinking it’s art, yanno? So, it can be awkward and embarrassing to try to legitimize this time you’re spending. I can’t tell you how many times I hear from my writer friends that their spouse/kids/friends/parents are somewhat incredulous about the necessity of taking time off to write.

For me, ghostwriting has helped me legitimize that. First and foremost, it’s allowed me to point to contracts and deadlines and say, “No, I HAVE to get this done. It’s no longer an, “I want to get this done” or “This is important to me.” It’s an “I will break this contract if I don’t get my work finished.” Plus, I make money doing it. Money people understand, even when they don’t necessarily understand the desire to get something published. Maybe it’s silly and, I’m certainly not saying that my friends and family weren’t supportive before, but it has personally helped me be more okay with taking time to improve my and work on my craft.

Also, I think it’s good because it’s been a way to show my non-writer peeps that this is something I’m actually serious about. I’m not writing haikus on napkins. I have some talent for it–or at least enough of a stubborn streak to figure it out–and I’ve experience a degree of success at it.

They know I can complete a novel. And my parents or whoever can point to a series on the shelf and say, Hey, THAT is what Chandler writes for. I think, all around, it makes people a bit more comfortable with the number of hours I spend on this whole thing. And it makes getting my own work published seem not so far off.

So, if you’re looking into ghostwriting and you’re thinking about how your name won’t appear on the spine, I’ve got to say, this benefit has been significant–at least for me! But hey, if you’re looking for other ways to legitimize your time, here are some ideas:

1. Share an industry blog with your people–I suggest Miss Snark because it’s fun and interesting and gives a great behind-the-scenes look of how books are made and how difficult it is to get an agent/book deal

2. Explain what you’re doing with your time, how you’re connecting with other writers, and the process of critiquing

3. Give some stats — How many writers query, get full requests, get agents, whatever…know your stuff

4. Submit short stories & enter contests

5. Join SCBWI or other writer organizations and offer to write articles for them

6. Have a blog/website

Alright, y’all, I’m enjoying the comments and the new subscribers! Next week I’ll take a couple of your questions and answer them and I’ll continue on my list of what ghostwriting has done for me! And what about you guys? How do you justify the time you take to improve your writing? Have you ever felt embarrassed? Am I being too self-conscious?? What do you think?

What Ghostwriting Has Done For Me

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Ghostwriting, write-for-hire, whatever you want to call it – it sometimes gets a bad rap. To be honest, I’m not completely sure why, but I think it has something to do with a supposed lack of artistic integrity on the part of the writer, bad contracts & flat fees, and maybe even the fact that consumers aren’t aware of the arrangement behind the scenes.

But here’s what writing for hire has done for me:

1. Increased productivity.

2. Taught me to write to deadlines.

3. Allowed me to work closely with editors.

4. Offered time to focus on sentence-by-sentence structure as opposed to plot structure.

5. Helped me learn the mechanics of plot.

6. Legitimized my writing endeavors to friends and family.

7. Encouraged me to try different genres, different POVs, and different voices.

8. Made me feel more comfortable in my relationship with my agent.

9. Showed me firsthand the process from contract to finished book.

10. Improved my confidence.

Over the next few posts, I’ll address each of the points on this list in more detail. Other than that, I’m pleased to say, I met my deadline yesterday. At the 11th hour I realized I needed to combine two chapters because something had been bugging me. Ugh! I hate when things bug me. But you know, the feeling never goes away until you dig in and fix. So dig in I did and, hey, I got it done without throwing my computer at the wall. (I’m not gonna lie, there may have been a few tears.) Now, on to my deadline for the 29th! Here’s hoping I can finish that early.

Should Celebrity Authors Have to Fess Up?

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A recent New York Times article examined the prevalence (probably more like ubiquitousness) of ghostwriters for celebrity novels. In response to which author Jamie Ford promptly tweeted:

Jamie Ford
JamieFord Jamie Ford
What?! Celebrities use ghostwriters? Next you’re going to tell me Pamela Anderson’s boobs aren’t real.

But while I appreciate the sentiment, I’m not quite sure the general public finds this quite so obvious. Why? Because celebrities flat out say they wrote the novel themselves. Okay, first off, I think I should clarify. I do not have a problem with celebrity book deals. Yes, even novels (as opposed to tell-alls and whatnot). I think they are solid business investments that consistently seem to make money for publishers and, therefore, for the publishing industry as a whole, appear to be a net positive. I even like the celeb books that I’ve read. Lauren Conrad’s books are actually really enjoyable and I would totally recommend them for a fun beach read.

But the NYT article points to something that has been bugging me for a long time. The celebrities are saying they literally wrote the novels. For instance, when asked by Matt Lauer if she really wrote the book A Shore Thing, Snooki replied, “I did…Because if you read it, you’ll know the first page that I wrote it. Cause, like, it’s all my language.” As you might have guessed, Snooki did, indeed, have a co-writer.

When Nicole Richie was asked about her writing routine for her second novel she said that she writes early in the morning, before the rest of her family woke up and that she writes all her own stories. Nicole Richie’s publisher later corrected, saying that a ghostwriter did most of the book’s writing.

So, I don’t know why this bugs me so badly, but it does. I guess because it’s just a flat out lie and implies that writing is pretty easy. Maybe it’s because I’m a ghostwriter myself. Of course, my form of ghostwriting is different. I don’t write for a celebrity. Instead, I write under a series pseudonym. Plus, on the first page it says “Special Thanks to Chandler Craig.” So, I feel from that, most people could imply that I wrote the thing. But, if my editor was asked in front of a gajillion people on the Today Show if she wrote the book and she said, “Yes, I wrote the whole thing by myself,” I think I’d be sort of annoyed.

I’m not saying celebrities need to volunteer the information. I’m not saying that the ghostwriters’ names should be on the book, although I do believe they should be in the acknowledgments. I’m not even saying that a celeb can’t evade the question like crazy if asked. But I feel that a celebrity point blank saying that he or she wrote the book is a misrepresentation of the product.

So, what do y’all think? Do you care? Does it bother you as writers? As readers? Am I being overly sensitive?

And for fun, here are a couple other celebrity quotes about writing:

Us Weekly asked Lauren Conrad when she found time to write: “Between 11 p.m. and 2 a.m. My phone doesn’t ring, and there’s nothing on TV!”

Hilary Duff on publishing deadlines: “Then it got hectic. I was planning the wedding, and there’s deadlines with that, too, like getting the location and getting your dress at a certain time … I tend to do everything at the last minute … I couldn’t even choose which one is harder. I guess I’d say the book.”

Writer’s Melancholy

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I’m totally getting why people say they are “going into their ‘Writing Cave’” now. I’ve been working a lot lately and every time I emerge into the great outdoors, I think the sunlight will blind me. Other than time spent sleeping, I’ve probably spent an hour a day away from my computer at most this week. At this rate, I feel certain I’ll need glasses in less than a month…just in time for law school graduation, of course.

I even googled “melancholy writers.” People had a long list of favorites. Edgar Allan Poe seemed to top the list followed closely by Sylvia Plath. Fans seemed also to have a penchant for Shakespeare circa Titus Adronicus.

It’s not that writing usually makes me particularly melancholy. But I’m working to turn in Ghostwriting Book 9 by May 3 and it seems my new best friend (read: only friend) is my laptop screen. And, let’s be honest, back-lighting is nobody’s best friend.

So if writing requires you to be glued to your chair, how do y’all avoid the feeling that, well, you’re perpetually glued to your chair?

For me it’s tanning, walks, boot camp and date nights right now. But I’m on the lookout for non-time-consuming suggestions (for now) or any suggestions for the future!