Every now and then I’m asked about the various resources I use when I’m working on ghostwriting a book. These things change occasionally, so I thought it would be a good idea to share what I am using as my main book writing tools in 2021. So here they are: from recording interviews to organising to drafting to (almost) collaborating.
Being willing to reveal a bit of yourself, especially through a bit of self-effacing humour, will lighten your text and give your readers something to connect to.
But this blog post is not about that sort of vulnerability.
No, this time I want to remind you of two of the less inspiring but just-as-important vulnerabilities every writer faces. Those vulnerabilities are backup and data security.
I was reminded recently about this by a rare computer crash that led to me losing a small amount of work. It wasn’t important and was easily recovered, but it could have been so much worse. Imagine losing a whole book to a hard drive crash!
If there’s one thing you learn from spending a chunk of your career in the world of books and writing, it’s that there are a lot of great stories out there. Personal stories of remarkable success against the odds. Business stories of risk taking and growth. Political stories of intrigue and persistence.
It would be great if all these stories could be told. As Spanish philosopher George Santayana famously wrote, ‘Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it’. Ideally, the stories would be recorded in books because books last. They go onto shelves and into libraries. They won’t disappear or become unreadable with new technologies.
Unfortunately, many terrific stories are never written down. Sometimes that’s because their owners don’t want to share them. Often
Ghostwriter characters don't make it into fiction very often, but when they do they always seem to find themselves in jeopardy.
In the 2010 Roman Polanski film The Ghost Writer, Ewan McGregor plays a ghostwriter working for a former British prime minister. In the end he knows too much and ... it doesn't end well.
In the Netflix series House of Cards, Paul Sparks plays ghostwriter Thomas Yates who, after struggling to extract a decent memoir out of the president, fails to keep his professional distance, you might say. It takes a while – three seasons in fact – but it doesn't end well for him either.
And now we have Australian writer Richard Flanagan's latest novel, First Person, in which the narrator is a ghostwriter hired to author the memoir of a notorious conman. The story was inspired by Flanagan's own experience, very early in his career, of ghostwriting the autobiography of fraudster John Friedrich in 1991.
I love that my work as a ghostwriter gives me the opportunity to help people get their stories told. What I love even more is the fact that working on other people's stories gives me a front-row seat to those yarns.
Take Around the Grounds, for instance – a book that will be released by Finch Publishing on August 1.
For this book I've been working with former ABC radio broadcaster Peter Newlinds. Peter's story is a celebration of sport, but from the spectator's side of the fence. This perspective gives the story a level of accessibility that most sporting memoirs, written as they are by former players, can't have. Few of us have the ability to play elite sport, but all of us are more than capable of joining in from the relative safety of the stands.
Of course we don't all have access to the commentary box as Peter did…
If you spotted the deliberate extra capital in the title of this post, you may not need to read on. If, on the other hand, you think there should be more capital letters, then you should keep reading. Lately I’ve noticed an outbreak of Excessive Use Of Capitals At The Start Of Words. So I thought it might be good to recap on the main rules and current preferences.
Like many of you, I have a lot of books on the shelves of my office, not to mention beside my bed. I’m a sucker for a snappy title which, combined with the instant gratification offered by online shopping, has made building a large collection all too easy in recent years. Of course, some of those books are still in the ‘queue’ to be read. Others have been partially read but they (or I) ran out of puff before finishing them. And then there are the few – the very few – that have been read from end to end and marked throughout with comments and/or sticky labels.
True, most of us are still coming to grips with the fact of Christmas decorations having been up for weeks. But before we know it, Xmas ‘11 will have been and gone and New Year’s Eve will be upon us. Which means only one thing: resolution time again. Now, be honest. Do you remember a single resolution made for this year? I’m guessing not. Most people struggle to remember, let alone implement, their annual commitments to themselves, largely because they are made in haste (and sometimes stupor) to the strains of Auld Lang Syne.
How much have you retained of the grammar you learnt at school? I’m guessing not a lot – at least not in a formal sense. ‘Dominant clauses’, ‘past participles’ and ‘future perfect tense’? If you can define all those you probably don’t need to read on. Strangely, although most of us left a lot of grammar behind when we walked out of our final English exam, there are other English lessons which have stuck fast – despite their being wrong or now out-of-date.
After Melbourne author Anh Do won a few prizes recently for his book The Happiest Refugee, there was a bit of media eyebrow-raising when it came to light that Do had had the assistance of a ghostwriter in putting together his book. The unspoken implication seemed to be that perhaps Do’s award-winning credentials should be questioned for his having had this assistance. There is something odd about writing. Perhaps because we all learnt to write at school, and because there is no special equipment required, it is common for people to feel guilty about seeking help – or even a second opinion – on their writing. It’s a guilt few would feel about getting help with a computer problem or a presentation.
But writing is not easy.
Every writer and self-employed person understands the challenge of focus. How to get things done – to be productive – and avoid the myriad distractions which ceaselessly badger us for our attention. Last year I discovered a simple technique which has made a huge difference to the way I manage my time. It's so effective that I've actually stuck with it for a few months now. That makes it worth sharing.
Is it only me? Am I the only one who doesn’t get the whole NAB “It’s over between us” thing? Sure, the big bank launched their campaign with a big bang earlier this week, and sure, they have garnered plenty of attention. But what does it all mean? One of the challenges of selling something intangible – and in trying to change the bank’s image they are selling something intangible – is that you have to use words. There is nothing to take a picture of, no ‘whiter than white’ image to leave us with; there is nothing to touch, none of the knobs and dials of the hi-fi showroom.
On a recent trip to Vietnam I found myself sitting in a hotel lobby for a few minutes. With nothing else to do, I eavesdropped on the communication taking place between staff and guests at reception. (Beware the bored writer.) As I listened, small misunderstandings seemed to creep into nearly every conversation I heard across the reception desk. Check out times, payment terms, tour arrangements, laundry queries … you name it. The most straightforward query would bounce out of control like a fumbled catch in the outfield.
Five years ago I independently published my first book. I did so largely because I like to play with new technology and publishing a book allowed me to try digital ‘print-on-demand’ technology. ‘POD’ promised to greatly simplify and reduce the cost of book production. I won’t be retiring, or even snacking, on proceeds from the sale of that book, but I did learn lessons which have been applied to the publication of a number of other books since. This week I’ve republished that book using even more current technology: e-book technology. Within an hour of uploading the book it was available for purchase online.
The problem with blogs is that they have no editorial filter. Everything gets through, no matter how shrill, elongated or irrelevant. Newspapers have the opposite problem. Their editorial filters are increasingly clogged, nothing getting through except what already has before: the same old arguments from the same old writers. Which is why both readers and writers need access to a middle ground, to independent publications like New Matilda.
