'Don't you want to write your own books?'
As a ghostwriter, I get asked this a lot. A lot.
I think a lot of people must feel that ghosts are frustrated writers, never quite believing in themselves enough to get their own book out there, or perhaps having led terribly dull lives that would not lead themselves to memoir, or maybe just never having a single idea in their ghostly little heads. No. No. No.
Firstly, as a ghostwriter, you can’t ever really question your ability to write so it certainly isn’t a case of not ‘believing’. There is so much more to the process than the writing of a manuscript, that you would fall at the first hurdle if you did not have complete confidence in that aspect. Dealing with clients, negotiating projects, often working with publishers, marketing teams, PR companies, not to mention the thousands of hours of completely unqualified counselling over the years, means that the actual writing has to be a given.
Secondly, our terribly dull lives are full of hugely interesting people, so, at the very least, all ghosts have a book about ghosting in them; however, on a personal level, if I ever decided to write my own memoir, I’m pretty sure I’d have to give up work for a decade to get most of it covered, and I’ve never met another ghost who isn’t the same. Remember, we can get a book out of very little for other people – just imagine what we could do with our own experiences.
Thirdly, the ghost as ‘ideas-free zone’ is quite a popular one. I have to admit, I probably promote this to some extent myself – I want clients to feel confident about working with me, but I also want them to realise it is still their story. Often the only way to do this is to play down what I do. It can backfire, and I was referred to as a ‘secretary’ quite recently – however, that is water off a duck’s back, in the same way as the fact that the many, many ideas I have had for fiction over the years have now, pretty much, all been written by other people.
That is what spurred me on to write this blog – when I read that an author has signed up for a series that is pretty much exactly what I had thought I would write a few years ago, I did have a tiny moment of ... sadness, annoyance, irritation, and many other things. It doesn’t matter though because I do believe that there are no original ideas. Everyone has thought of everything, it is just the execution of it that differs. As I have ghosted, I have also fidgeted around the notion of writing my own novels. But I never do them. They’re in my head, and they stay there.
Yes, I probably do need a ghostwriter, but what this has all told me is that:
(a) If it’s going nowhere, you need to get on with your ideas and contact someone today if you want to see your story written; and,(b) It can be healthier to give yourself a deadline and if the story isn’t told, by then, put it away, accept that it isn’t meant to be, because feeling the constant pressure of disappointment in yourself can do a lot of damage.
And to the author who has just got a very nice deal for the book I have wanted to write for a very long time? Good luck – I’m looking forward to seeing what you do with it!
Linda Watson-Brown is the ghostwriter behind many recent titles. Her most recent books are ‘Letters to Sarah’ with Sara Payne, and ‘Please, Let Me Go’ by Caitlin Spencer, both Sunday Times bestsellers.