Oooooooooooooooo......Ghostwriting

Some of you may recall that I've taken on a ghostwriting project.  One of my friends has a remarkable personal story, one of those that you listen to and say, "That sounds like a novel!"  I am honored that she asked me to help her put her story on paper.

But ghostwriting is hard.  When I'm working on a novel, it flows.  I listen to the voices tell me their stories, and I let it pour onto the page (or rather, click click onto the page).  I recently had someone say to me, "I don't put much stock in it when writers say they didn't know what the character was going to say or where the story was going to go.  That's just, whatever."  Spoken like a non-writer.  I don't know where it's going most of the time.  So much of writing is listening.

But ghostwriting is different.  The story doesn't come from within me.  I listen to voices, but they're informed by the stories I've been given.  I don't cultivate the voices; they've already spoken.

Here's the process we're working through.  My friend is writing out her story in a series of journals which I am transcribing and forming into a memoir.  We've sat for hours looking at pictures and talking about the people, places, and events she's written about.  When I sit down to write, I try to read her notes in her voice, and then keep that voice in the words I put to the page.  I write, imagining what she might have felt, posting questions in the margins asking for the colors of clothes, the sights, smells, thoughts.  I put commentary into the "characters'" minds and make a note to ask if that's a reasonable assumption.

This is hard work.

And yet I love it.  I am a storyteller.  I've written on this blog about the power of stories, the necessity of stories.  So using my words to give voice to someone's authentic story?  I'm all in.

I'll say it again.  We need stories now.  We need your stories.  Pick up a pen.  And if you just can't craft it, find someone who can.  Everyone's life has value and meaning, and everyone's life is worth sharing, if you're up for it.  Tell someone your story.  Validate it.  Affirm it in all its messiness.  Speak it. 

Your story matters.