Goal: write 100 pages of the same story by May 2013
I'm so happy to be writing instead of just talking about writing! I'm going to post my progress for two different works in progress (which I guess basically all my writing is a WIP): my Wynnna story and my Thibault story.
24 pages
5 pages
Even though I'm finally out of my writer's desert, there's one thing that makes me worried. I don't know if there's something wrong with my imagination (is it sick? is it lazy? is it dead?), but I can't invent characters straight out of my head anymore. I base them all off of someone, mostly an actor/actress or some other celebrity, and sometimes an acquaintance. What do prescribe for an ailing imagination (assuming it's ailing and not expired)? Right now I'm giving it a regular dose of The Fellowship of the Ring.
I learned about ghost-writing just recently. Basically, it's like this.
1) Someone has a brilliant idea for a book but doesn't have the time, patience, or skills to write it.
2) That person, the client, hires a ghost-writer to write it for him. (The client may be an expert on something, or he may want the world to know about his extraordinary life, or possibly he is dying to see a riveting plot that is stuck in his head to be made into a novel.)
3) The ghost-writer then interviews the client and writes the desired book from scratch or from a rough draft. Ghost-writers are like actors, because since they are writing for the client, it has to be in the client's voice and communicate the client's message.
4) The client look at what the ghost-writer has written and edit and revises until he approves.
5) When it's finished, the client is pronounced an "author" and the ghost-writer can be pronounced anybody from co-author to officially non-existant as far as the writing is concerned.
In the interviews I read, ghost-writers say they love their jobs and are dedicated to their clients and don't mind getting partial or no credit. All of their answers to questions seem to say one thing: "If you think about it, everyone should have their own book ghost-written!" But no matter which way you slice it, I would have a problem with the process.
If I was the ghost-writer, I would feel so unappreciated to not get credit for all my hard work. I would feel cheated.
And if I were the "author," oh, I would feel royally important having someone interview me and ask for my preference on everything, and it would be so easy! But I would feel like such a cheater to not do the hard work on "my" book.
I guess it all depends on what type of book you are writing and how much credit you give the ghost-writer, but as of now, I'm not quite convinced.
What do you think about ghost-writing?
Have you kept your New Year's resolutions the first 8 days of 2013?
I'm so happy to be writing instead of just talking about writing! I'm going to post my progress for two different works in progress (which I guess basically all my writing is a WIP): my Wynnna story and my Thibault story.
24 pages 5 pagesEven though I'm finally out of my writer's desert, there's one thing that makes me worried. I don't know if there's something wrong with my imagination (is it sick? is it lazy? is it dead?), but I can't invent characters straight out of my head anymore. I base them all off of someone, mostly an actor/actress or some other celebrity, and sometimes an acquaintance. What do prescribe for an ailing imagination (assuming it's ailing and not expired)? Right now I'm giving it a regular dose of The Fellowship of the Ring.
***
1) Someone has a brilliant idea for a book but doesn't have the time, patience, or skills to write it.
2) That person, the client, hires a ghost-writer to write it for him. (The client may be an expert on something, or he may want the world to know about his extraordinary life, or possibly he is dying to see a riveting plot that is stuck in his head to be made into a novel.)
3) The ghost-writer then interviews the client and writes the desired book from scratch or from a rough draft. Ghost-writers are like actors, because since they are writing for the client, it has to be in the client's voice and communicate the client's message.
4) The client look at what the ghost-writer has written and edit and revises until he approves.
5) When it's finished, the client is pronounced an "author" and the ghost-writer can be pronounced anybody from co-author to officially non-existant as far as the writing is concerned.
In the interviews I read, ghost-writers say they love their jobs and are dedicated to their clients and don't mind getting partial or no credit. All of their answers to questions seem to say one thing: "If you think about it, everyone should have their own book ghost-written!" But no matter which way you slice it, I would have a problem with the process.
If I was the ghost-writer, I would feel so unappreciated to not get credit for all my hard work. I would feel cheated.
And if I were the "author," oh, I would feel royally important having someone interview me and ask for my preference on everything, and it would be so easy! But I would feel like such a cheater to not do the hard work on "my" book.I guess it all depends on what type of book you are writing and how much credit you give the ghost-writer, but as of now, I'm not quite convinced.
What do you think about ghost-writing?
Have you kept your New Year's resolutions the first 8 days of 2013?
Alas, I suppose it's like any other thing... such as making a website for someone and putting © whoever-whoever at the bottom instead of your name. But indeed, if you're going to write someone else's idea, why not just write your own?
ReplyDeleteI didn't think about websites. I guess other people getting credit for your work happens a lot.
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