Okay, for anyone who is keeping track, yes, I missed yesterday. However, I’m back today. A good friend passed away and I just didn’t make it to the computer yesterday. I’m really trying to do well with the posting daily challenge. I won’t let one day missed stop me. Now, lets look at ghostwriting.

The biggest challenge in being a ghostwriter is to always write in the author’s voice. Your client is the author. When doing a ghostwriting workshop, I include how to capture that person’s voice.

Some tips are:

Listen to the way they speak.

Ask yourself if there are certain terms or words they use a lot.

Watch for common phrases.

Listen to how they structure their sentences – spoken or written.

Talk with them in person and through emails enough to capture how they say things and how they feel about the subject matter.

Get them to tell you personal stories that will fit in with the theme or subject matter of the book. They will help you maintain their voice, as well as put more of them personally in the book.

Use a recorder if you can. If you’re working with them from half way around the world, talk often on the phone. There may be a video of them speaking that they can send you or one online.

Ask them for notes or any drafts they may have of the book. Those are helpful for sentence structure.

Then, start writing and do the polishing so that your author’s message flows.

Those are the tips for today. Tomorrow I’ll address how to get to know your client through interviews.