Finding Your Voice: How Ghostwriters Preserve Authenticity in Your Book
October 10, 2024
So, you’ve finally decided to write your autobiography or memoir. Good for you! Putting your life story into print can be an extraordinarily rewarding experience. It’s an opportunity to look back at your life, preserve your legacy, and connect with readers on a very personal level.
But if you’ve found that turning your life experiences into a great read is a daunting process, you’re not alone. Where do you even begin? How do you pare down all those memories? How do you sound like yourself without sounding like a self-promoter?
The answer to all these questions is, “collaborate with a ghostwriter.”
When you do, the story belongs to you, but a ghostwriter who knows the tricks and pitfalls of storytelling listens, learns, and writes using your voice, so your story sounds like you. They join you as a storytelling partner on your literary journey. They bring your memories alive with the same passion and authenticity you would if you had the time and writing ability.
Let’s take a closer look at how ghostwriters do this and why voice and tone are such important aspects of ghostwriting. You’ll see that it’s not so much about stringing sentences together as it is about weaving a heartfelt story that feels like you wrote it. It’s about giving readers an experience that feels like you’re sitting across from them, sharing your story over a cup of coffee.
What is “Voice” in Book Writing?
In writer terminology, “voice” refers to how you are coming across, to writing in your signature style and expressing your essence.
Voice is the literary equivalent of your fingerprint— think of it as your writer’s DNA.
Voice includes the words you choose, how you pace your sentences and string them together, and other elements that combine to let a very distinctive you-ness shine through on each page.
In a book, particularly an autobiography or memoir, you want to maintain that voice, so that readers feel they’re getting to know the real you.
Components of Voice
Let’s look more closely at the components that comprise voice when used together. Voice is a multifaceted element of writing, an “attitude,” that includes:
Diction: Your choice of words gives away details about you. Do you use more formal or more conversational language? Are you more precise or more nonspecific? The words you choose can reveal where you come from, your education, and even aspects of your personality.
Sentence Structure: This refers to the way you build sentences. Are yours usually long and elaborate or short and choppy? These tendencies shape the pace of your writing, much like tempo in music.
Rhythm and Flow: Just as in speech, the rhythm of writing varies between individuals. Some writers use a lyrical cadence, almost poetic at times, while others use a matter-of-fact tempo. Rhythm helps keep a reader engaged and makes your writing more memorable.
Humor and Emotion: Your sense of humor, your ability to convey emotion, and the tone you set through your voice are all vital to your identity as a narrator. Is your voice drier than the Sahara, as sharp as a tack, or as warm as a sunset? Do you use banter, wit, irony, or sincerity? Do you employ self-deprecating humor?
The Challenge of Capturing Voice
While it stands to reason that you should be able to capture your voice in writing (it’s your voice, after all), the reality is a bit trickier. There is an art to infusing your voice in writing.
A good ghostwriter will listen to the way you speak, watch your mannerisms, learn your personality, and then translate it all into a manuscript that feels like you, not la mere transcript of your spoken thoughts or a recitation of “what happened.” It will sound like it’s you talking.
Working with a ghostwriter helps you write a story that’s true to your experience and one that speaks distinctly to readers. Your voice is the beating heart of your story, and a ghostwriter knows how to preserve it throughout your book, making your memoir or autobiography more compelling.
Capturing Your Voice
The ghostwriter will get to know you, your story, and your style of speaking. This usually entails numerous conversations, either in-person or by video conference, in which you elaborate on your life experiences, values, and sense of self. Some of these conversations may be rather intense because of what you’re discussing.
The purposes of these discussions include information gathering and capturing the depth and cadence of your voice to ensure the writing has the proper feel.
You may also be asked to complete questionnaires about your childhood and family to help flesh out your story.
At the heart of good collaboration is the relationship between you and your ghostwriter—one built on trust and mutual understanding.
Your ghostwriter will listen to you, ask questions, and interact in a meaningful way with the story you are telling.
They might ask you to talk about your childhood, a key event in your life, your career path, or all of these.
Your ghostwriter may ask you to talk about your day, your morning, your thoughts, or your feelings.
They will try to inhabit your world, find the rhythms of your voice and discover your point of view.
Expect your ghostwriter to ask about your favorite expressions, the way you characterize events, or your preferred narrative style. They will take note of your mannerisms, your use of metaphor, your humor, and your emotional register—all highly useful information to a writer seeking to give your voice to your story.
A ghostwriter is not just interested in what happened, but in how you make sense of it.
They listen to your voice, not just because they are transcribing your words but also because they are attuned to the qualities that make your way of speaking uniquely you. These include cadences; inflections, the emphases you place on certain words, the emotions you express, your body language, and facial expressions.
For example, if you are talking enthusiastically about a particular event, your ghostwriter will try to replicate that enthusiasm. If you have a wry wit or tend to employ humor to lighten heavy topics, that will be reflected in the manuscript. These choices help readers feel that they’re hearing you speak.
Tone
Voice and tone are closely linked and help create an overall sense of your story in the mind of a reader. Voice is about who you are as a writer; there’s no one else who can do exactly what you do with your voice, your personality, your style, and your word choices.
Tone, on the other hand, is about the feeling or mood of the writing. Tone can vary enormously depending on the context and the content of your story.
Tone is affected greatly by word choice, and can change from scene to scene, or within scenes, depending on the subject matter and your attitude, from seriousness to humor to melancholy to optimism.
A good memoir will also shift tone at various points throughout your narrative, because life is never monotone. Your story will likely include points of joy, sorrow, triumph and struggle, and your memoir will need to match these by using tonal shifts.
For example, when describing a difficult period of your life, such as overcoming a major challenge or loss, your voice may be reflective, mournful, or introspective. The ghostwriter will use language that invites the reader into your inner life to witness and relate to your experience.
Likewise, an account of a great success would call for a bright, triumphant tone. Here, your ghostwriter will use energetic language to convey elation. The pace will likely be quicker too, with shorter, bouncier sentences.
Writing Style
Style is another highly important element of your voice. It is the way you put sentences together, the speed at which you tell your story, and the level of detail you include in descriptions. Writing styles vary wildly; some people favor short, punchy sentences that invoke a feeling of urgency and immediacy; others like prose that is lush, vividly detailed, and rich in imagery.
Your ghost will learn to write in your style, to pace the story at your speed, and to use the level of detail you employ. All while keeping the reader engaged in the experiences you’re sharing.
The Process of Capturing Your Voice
Ghostwriter services typically include the following:
Initial Meetings
At the first few meetings, your ghostwriter will be getting to know you. These are sessions of bonding and voice-recognition, where your ghostwriter will ask about your life, your values and the milestones you want to include in the book. They’ll probably want to see any previous writings or speeches you have done, to help with grasping your style.
Drafting and Feedback
When the ghostwriter has a good sense of your voice and story, they will begin drafting your book. Your writer will develop chapters or sections for your approval, giving them tweaks and refinements that make the writing sound like you and reflect your expectations.
Don’t be afraid to give your ghostwriter honest feedback. If something doesn’t sound like you, or if it doesn’t feel quite right, tell them so. After all, the point is for every word to sound as if you wrote it.
Refining and Polishing
Once your draft is ready, your ghostwriter will provide feedback and work with you until you’re satisfied with the story and the language. They will also polish and further tighten the writing, making sure the voice is consistent and the story flows.
At the end of the process, you will have a manuscript that truly sounds like you, and also like something a professional writer has produced.
Why Voice Matters in Your Memoir
So, why is preserving your voice so important to your autobiography or memoir?
For one thing, voice brings the reader into contact with you— the real you. When your voice is clear and authentic, readers feel as though they’re getting to know you right there in the moment, connecting with you. That makes your story more engaging and powerful.
Second, your voice is what distinguishes your memoir from others that tell similar life stories.
There are countless life stories waiting to be told, but your voice is what makes your memoir a unique piece of literature. A ghostwriter can harness that voice to ensure it remains unique from beginning to end.
Finally, readers are smart; they can tell when a story is real and when it’s fake or overly contrived. When your voice is real, it builds readers’ trust in you. They are more likely to care about what you have to say and believe your experiences and reflections.
This kind of trust engages readers with your memoir and helps it resonate with them.
Using your voice to achieve this emotional involvement can make a good memoir great. It lets your readers walk a mile in your shoes and see with your eyes. It transforms your memoir from a dry chronological record of events into an emotional journey that grabs readers and doesn’t let go.
Writing your own autobiography or memoir is a very personal process, and for many people can be one of the hardest of all projects to tackle. Luckily ghostwriters are there to help. Working closely with you on voice, tone and style, a good ghostwriter can guide you to write a book that sounds like it’s written by you.
So, if you want to tell the story of your life, but need help doing so, think about getting the support of a ghostwriter. Your voice deserves to be heard, and ghostwriter services can provide just the megaphone you need.
