Video Lecture Link: Ghostwriting

Ghost Writing

Biographies, Auto- Biographies & Memoirs

Ghost writing is one of the most common types of writing. Therefore, a large number of ghost writer jobs are available in the market. People love to know about you and your life. So these types of writings are getting popular. A freelance writer can work as a virtual ghost writer to earn money.

Auto-biography

An autobiography tells the story of a person’s own life. Therefore, that person writes himself or he may take guidance from a virtual ghost writer.

Biography

A biography is a detailed account of a person’s life by a third person. It provides basic information about that person’s birth, education, life, and interests.

The purpose of a biography is to share a person’s life with an audience. Mostly biographies are interesting and highlight the achievements of a person. These qualities encourage readers to continue reading.

Memoir

This is a more focused type of ghost writing than an autobiography or a biography. In the memoir, a writer narrates the details of a particular event or situation that occurred in his lifetime.

How to Write

1. Read autobiographies to be familiar with the style.
2. Put yourself in the character to make it alive.
3. If you have forgotten an incident or not sure about it, then write, perhaps it happened or so.
4. Above all, don’t forget ethics in ghost writing.
5. Don’t force an ending or don’t conclude let it be opened.
6. It should have a foundation and all the events should be building blocks to construct it in logical order.

You can get help from the timeline. For example, if a writer wants to write about himself then it can be as shown in the diagram.

Ghost Writing Tips

It is important to know a person’s life in detail to write his biography. A good biography deals with the interesting events of a person’s life, turning points, and achievements. Mostly, it engages the reader and provides personal details. Following steps are important to write a good biography;

Get Permission

It is not necessary that the person should be a public figure or deceased. Therefore, the writer should get permission to make his work easy. Moreover, he can get help from the person whom he is writing about.

Research for Ghost Writing

Paint a thorough picture of the person by making extensive research. There are primary and secondary sources to collect information.

1. 1. Primary sources are emails, journal entries, memoirs, personal websites, interviews, Twitter, and social media.
   2. On the other hand, you can use documentaries and magazines as secondary sources. But they should be reliable.

Introduction to Biography

The first chapter or paragraph of the biography should tell what the reader is going to learn about that person. In short, it is a declaration that the biography will provide relevant information to support it.

Make a Timeline

It consists of the main points of a person’s life in chronological order. You can save time and hassle by knowing the order of events of a person’s life before writing a biography.

Flashback

When you write a biography then there might be an interaction of adults’ life experiences and a flashback to the high school days.

Biography is not a collection of facts and figures but a ghost writer can include his own feelings and opinions. The writer can include why a particular moment was significant and what it meant for society. He can write why that person’s life deserves to be written. But the writer has to keep the audience engaged from the first to the last sentence.