How to Create Compelling Content from Other People’s Stories
When ghostwriting, one plus one can be greater than two
I had a browse through Medium for stories about ghostwriting. I found a few explaining how to make money from it (see links at end) but none talking about the process of how you create compelling content from other people’s ideas and stories. This is what I want to address here.
My experience is a little different from those who undertake ghostwriting assignments for direct payment but I expect the process is similar.
At Outdoor Swimmer magazine, we have four primary sources of content: our staff, professional freelance contributors, experts and swimmers. It’s the latter two that provide the opportunities for ghostwriting. As a publisher, I often meet (usually virtually these days) people with fascinating stories or valuable insights to share but who don’t have the time, inclination or skills to create a publishable article. If we want to publish their content, we need to help.
I’m not talking about minor editing here — the type you do when you receive a piece from a professional writer to fine-tune to meet your house-style — I mean everything from this to a full-scale rewrite. Hopefully, the end result is better than either of us could have written alone. It’s also an additional and satisfying way to use your writing skills, experience and creativity without the need to dream up original ideas.
This is the process I go through. I hope it’s a useful guide.
Step 1: Get the content
While I do sometimes work from hastily scribbled notes following a phone call or meeting, I prefer to work with the written word where possible. For example, I might speak to a swimming coach or a personal trainer who has an idea for an article that would be of interest to our readers but has no experience in writing for publication. I simply ask them to dump their thoughts onto paper and not concern themselves with spelling, punctuation or structure. I tell them that is my job. I want their expertise, not their polished prose. Similarly, I might be approached by a swimmer who has completed an amazing challenge that our readers would find inspirational. I ask them to tell the story and forget about the style.
Step 2: Familiarise yourself with the content and remove obvious excess
The two most common issues with potential articles are length (often two to three times the word count asked for, rarely less) and structure. Less common problems include a failure to write in sentences, inconsistent use of tenses, rambling sentences and poor grammar.
One of the constraints of print publishing is that word counts are fixed by your layout and the number of pages allocated for a feature. But this constraint also focuses you on what is essential and what needs to be cut. It is sometimes possible to remove two thirds of the words from an article and keep (and clarify) all the points the author wanted to bring across.
I typically start by reading a text in full, without stopping, although I am sometimes distracted by minor typos that can be fixed with a keystroke. I ask myself: What are the key points the writer is trying to make here? I might scribble a few ideas for a headline and subheads. I then remove anything that is repetitious or has wandered off topic, and review how close I am to the word count limit. If I am 10 to 20% over at this stage that’s good as there will be scope for further tightening at the end without loss of significant content. If it’s above this, I will look for more to cut.
Step 3: Organise the content
The next step is to see if any of the text can be pulled into a side bar or separate section, which can work well on the printed page. This could be, for example, a facts box, case study or a bullet-point list of exercises. Breaking the text up like this will often improve readability.
I like stories to flow logically from one concept to the next, with ideas contained in paragraphs that neatly follow from one to the next. The text doesn’t need to be chronological, but there should be a thread you can follow. I move paragraphs around, split them, merge them differently and sometimes add words to maintain the connections. While doing this, I will also fix errors in tense use, grammar and sentence construction.
Step 4: Refine the text and edit to required length
By now I have a good outline of what the final piece will look like. I imagine it to be something like a sculpture where you can see what it is meant to be, but bits need to be chipped away or smoothed before the final product can be unveiled. I remove excessive and unnecessary adjectives, switch passive sentences into active, and translate wordy phrases into concise ones. This stage may need to be repeated several times to bring the word count into line.
Step 5: Polishing and error correcting
Finally, the article needs to be polished. All the chopping and changing can leave gaps or stray words in the text, mismatched verb endings and missing punctuation. I will insert sub-headings if needed, check picture captions and credits and check the heading.
If I’ve made substantial changes, I will return the article to the original author for approval. The usual response is: “That’s great. Thank you. It’s exactly what I meant to write.” But it’s worth checking. Remember, it’s their name on the published product, not yours. You have to put your ego aside when you’re working with other people’s text. Your satisfaction comes from creating something greater than either of you could have produced alone. Your reward comes from happy readers and (if you’re a publisher or editor) selling more copies of your publication.
I hope that helps. I’d be interested to hear from other writers if you go through a similar process or do something completely different.
I should add that many coaches and swimmers are also accomplished writers who stay on topic and stick to word counts, and only need the lightest of editing.
Links
https://medium.com/publishous/lessons-learned-from-10-years-of-ghostwriting-6ddb6c3c36c0
https://medium.com/1-one-infinity/lying-writing-the-weird-world-of-ghostwriting-95d590e8ceb6
https://medium.com/the-partnered-pen/lying-writing-the-weird-world-of-ghostwriting-df0013b08171
