Table of contents:
- What Voice Matching Actually Means
- The Discovery Process
- Technical Elements of Voice
- Iterating to Achieve a Match
The biggest compliment I can receive as a ghostwriter is hearing an author-client’s friend or family member tell them that they loved the writing in their book. The vast majority of people have no idea that the author worked with a collaborator or ghostwriter, and when that’s not apparent in the writing, it’s a big win for the ghost.
I want their book to sound like they wrote it. That’s my job, after all.
What separates ghostwriters from authors or freelance writers is their ability to write in a way that sounds like someone else — their client. Capturing the language, the pace, the word choice, and the sentence structure of their client’s natural writing style is what differentiates ghostwriters from authors.
Authors share their ideas, their stories, and their expertise in their own words.
The ghostwriter’s challenge is to think about how someone else would explain something when they essentially step into the author’s shoes.
Matching a client’s voice, so that others have no idea that someone else assisted in conveying their message on the page, is the ultimate goal for professional ghostwriters.
What Voice Matching Actually Means
Although matching a client’s written voice is what ghostwriters strive to do, the challenge is more than just mimicking or copying what they say and how they say it. If you wanted to do that, all you have to do is copy and paste what comes from an interview transcript.
Authentic voice matching actually requires the ghostwriter to learn to think how their author-client thinks, how they process information, and how they view the world.
That’s why ghostwriting is such a challenge. Ghostwriters aren’t merely playing a part, such as when a comedian impersonates a well-known figure. That takes talent, certainly, but impersonators are merely copying mannerisms and facial expressions.
Ghostwriters are more like method actors in that they study the life experience of their character to understand their values, what experiences shaped their thought patterns, and their perspective on events. The result is that they get into the heads of their clients so that they can think and write more like them.
You know the ghostwriter has been successful when readers see what’s on the page and recognize the words as having been expressed by the author.
The Discovery Process
Voice matching takes considerable time and effort, which typically begins with information gathering. The ghostwriter and author spend time together, with the ghostwriter asking questions about the author’s experiences, upbringing, likes and dislikes — you name it.
They want to view the author in their natural life, to witness how they behave around other people, what kinds of stories they tell, how they explain difficult concepts, to try to get at why they are the way they are.
You may recall that celebrity ghostwriter J.R. Moehringer moved into a house down the street from Prince Harry for something like a year, so that they could spend a lot of time together while working on the book Spare. Granted, that book was a memoir and not a business book, but the challenge of getting into the head of his client was the same.
In addition to spending time together, with the ghostwriter listening and observing or even shadowing, there is usually a fair amount of existing material that can be used as background research.
I always ask for and study on my own:
- Articles the author has written
- Articles that have been written about the author
- Blog posts
- Social media posts
- Interviews
- Speeches
- Presentations
- Negotiations
In addition to learning how they communicate, I’m looking for patterns I can replicate. This could be recurring phrases they rely on, sentence rhythm and cadence, and techniques they use to emphasize a point or to diffuse tension.
Together with my own meetings and conversations with my client, I start to pick up on how they would say something.
Technical Elements of Voice
Although we don’t typically notice our own unconscious writing preferences, everyone is slightly different.
Some clients write in short, direct sentences that border on abrupt.
Others prefer to overcommunicate and end up using complex analogies, layered stories, and lengthy sentences that can be hard to follow at times.
There is also the component of tone, which helps determine where on the formal-casual spectrum the author lies. Academicians who lecture to classes tend to be more formal and more directive, while managers and business leaders may attempt to be more accessible and approachable. They don’t want to close any doors or hinder discussion, so they may be softer in their language choice and even self-deprecating.
The types of analogies can also differentiate one author from another. Someone who cites other great literary works apparently assumes their reader is well read and will pick up on their references. Whereas someone who relies more heavily on movie analogies or cooking jargon will come off differently to the reader.
A ghostwriter needs to pay attention to those anecdotes and make note of patterns or overreliance on particular types of stories for better voice matching.
Iterating to Achieve a Match
Rarely does a ghostwriter nail an author’s voice on a first draft. In fact, I tell clients that voice matching is not my primary concern initially, although I’m certainly listening and studying and practicing as I create drafts. But matching the author’s authentic voice generally doesn’t happen until the manuscript is complete and we’re at the editing stage.
Once my client has the chance to read all the chapters from start to finish and to recognize their hard work and insights on the page, then we can zero in on how they might express something differently than I’ve captured it.
Sometimes changes are as simple as word choice adjustments. Other times, the changes have to do with sentence length. During that last polishing phase, when all the content is on the page, is when we go through the draft to make sure the author likes what they see.
I hear some business leaders and experts worry about the authenticity of their book if they had a ghostwriter help. If that is one of your concerns, too, let me assure you that your book will be your book because you’re going to be involved in every decision made, every story told, every report cited. What you’re not going to have to do is spend every evening and weekend typing away on your keyboard.
Leave that to your ghostwriter.