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WHAT IS A GHOSTWRITER? |
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Ghostwriter The ghostwriter will write your story for you. You may be the head of a big corporation, a busy doctor, a pop star or a retired soldier with extraordinary memories to share. You will spend time with the ghost discussing your life. He will then record your story on tape and prepare the manuscript: either the entire book, or one chapter and an outline, depending on the arrangement that has been made, and whether or not a publisher is already in the picture. The good ghost will always remember whose story is being told and will use the tape to capture your voice, your turn of phrase, your personality. The skill of the ghost can be judged by the questions he asks. I worked with the actor John Le Mesurier on his autobiography A Jobbing Actor. He was an amazing raconteur and told exquisitely fine stories. The only problem was, on paper they were a bit flat. It was my job to twist those stories around, perhaps put the end at the beginning, change the setting and find the emotional heart, the part that hooks the audience. The objective is to capture the essence of the story and make it work for the reader. All writing, ultimately, is to be shared and that must be foremost in our mind. There is an important distinction between the author and the writer of this work. The author provides the idea for a novel or screenplay, spills his guts out for the autobiography, or relates the theory evolved through years of experience as, say, a psychiatrist, school teacher or police detective. The writer, like the traffic controller on the railways, must organise the flow and keep both the author contented and the narrative a pleasure to read. You may well ask why a writer becomes a ghostwriter? It usually happens by accident. A journalist is invited to work on a book and the ghost emerges like the spook in a Victorian vicarage. Unlike his incorporeal counterpart, the ghost likes people; you've got to enjoy listening to stories. But there is another reason: when you have a subject telling their tale, the ghost escapes much arduous research and can write the book in a much shorter period of time. Publishers, of course, are more likely to make offers on a book submitted by an agent when they know that an accredited ghostwriter is part of the package. For people who want to preserve a family record, the ghostwriter provides a professional piece of work they will be proud to hand down to future generations. Self-publishing's long tradition has many famous names to its credit - even James Joyce - and today systems are in place for all books to find distribution. Editor - Script-Editor You send your novel, autobiography, travelogue, newspaper article, short story, radio play or movie script to an editor and his job is to make it come alive. There are two distinct ways that an editor works. One is to read the piece thoroughly, then produce a report pointing out the weaknesses and suggesting ways in which it can be improved. There are shortcomings to this method and I favour my own system: I read a piece of work and write directly on the hard copy, showing where the story can be told more clearly, more succinctly, or more amusingly, and pointing out where grammar and spellings need correcting. Where necessary I write a big PTO and explain on the back of the sheet exactly why I would make these changes. It is important to stress, that a good editor maintains the idiosyncrasies of the writer. Nigerian novelist Kingsley Erujaroh's Anywhere But Here had been well received by a number of publishers but the book needed reigning in; it was almost too exuberant. I had to get a feel for the patois, the rhythm of Kingsley's voice. It was his story that was of interest and I had to avoid imposing my own style as I edited his work. Kingsley Erujaroh's problem is universal in as much as publishers are not prepared to spend the time (read: money) required to get a manuscript in shape. Many books are rejected, not necessarily because they are not good enough, but because they need editing. The most common mistake new writers make is telling, not showing. Here's just one example:
John was a brutal man. He made Mary nervous and she never knew when she was going to feel the weight of his big hands. If we really want to see inside that relationship, a brief scene will bring it alive for the reader. Mary heard the front door slam. She glanced around the kitchen. The pots were simmering on the stove; there were fresh flowers in the vase. John liked order. She looked at herself in the small mirror over the refrigerator as she took out an ice-cold can of beer for him. She sighed. At least the bruise under her eye had almost healed. We can guess what kind of man John is and we haven't even met him. Script-Editor No film or TV script should ever be sent to a broadcaster or production company without first being read by an editor. Better still, a script should go to several editors and readers. Films cost millions to make - dollars, pounds, euros - and the success of attracting talent and finance will depend on the script. Top actors have agents who read material before it ever reaches them, the same with directors. Production companies employ teams to read scripts and you have to get over that initial hurdle before a script even reaches the senior reader's desk. From there, it's a long, long way to the office where the producer has the power to green light your movie. No time spent developing, editing, restructuring and tuning a film script is time wasted. Co-Writer The co-writer drafts your autobiography or your novel with you. This is the most difficult of all tasks – as they say, a camel is a horse designed by a committee and, likewise, agreeing on how a piece of work should be shaped while it's actually in progress can lead to pistols at dawn. The first take on anything written, like sculpture, is best left to one pair of hands, unless the co-writers have a clear idea of their objectives. I did co-write with Iris Gioia the travel book Brief Spring, A Journey Through Eastern Europe. We set out together as the Berlin Wall came down in 1989 and journeyed from East Germany to Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania, arriving during the riots in Bucharest and living through the earthquake that rocked Timisoara, where the first bullets of the revolution had been fired. The account of our journey is not a single narrative, however, but is told in alternating essays, the co-writers often disagreeing on observations and opinions. The book appeared both in the United States and Britain and among several good reviews my favourite was by Brendan O'Keefe in The Observer, who wrote: "A journey realised in fascinating detail by two sensitive and humane writers." Co-writing is more commonly the domain of the screenplay. A first-time writer may have a good story and needs a screenplay to be written, or has written a screenplay and needs a new draft, edit or polish. Film is a collaborative process and two heads in this case really are better than one. Screenwriter The screenwriter turns your original idea or novel (published or unpublished) into a script. Alternatively, as stated above, he takes your script and does a new draft or polish. More films are being made and released than ever before. There are high quality screenwriting programmes and many books on how to write screenplays. But the eye of a professional will give the finished work a better chance in this competitive but rewarding field. As a screenwriter, I have won the European Media Development Agency Award for my adaptation of the Freya North novel Sally for De Warrenne Pictures. I have sold options on screenplays and have worked as a script-editor under the tutelage of Tudor Gates at Drumbeat Productions, a company with a dozen films to its credit. Those experiences were put to good use in my book, Making Short Films: The Complete Guide From Script To Screen, published in spring 2008. For the project, I devised the Eight-Point Guide to writing shorts and put the theory into practise writing and directing the 10-minute mini-drama Greta May. Writing screenplays looks easy. It isn't. William Goldman, author of Adventures in the Screen Trade and screenwriter of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, says only three things count when it comes to making a movie: The Script. The Script. And the Script. I would add my own piece of advice: re-write, rewrite, re-write. What about the money? The above information is filled with personal references to my own books and work. This is not idle boast but a guide to what I have done and might be able to do for other writers trying to get their work read and published. The all-important question now is:
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         "A journey realised in fascinating detail by two sensitive and humane writers." "...a good short film is as hard to put together as a five star banquet and, just as
you would consult a few recipes before you start, short film makers would be well
advised to devour Clifford Thurlow's book." |
© 2010 Clifford Thurlow