Ghostwriting?

Perhaps I am the only one who thought ghostwriting was left to...ghosts! Ah! Ah! Not that I know any ghosts, let alone any writing ones!

I know, I know (now!) it has become a trend. There are movies, books and even websites about this much sought after 'ghostwriting'!

The exact definition of a ghostwriter is someone who writes (an autobiographical or other article) on behalf of another person who is then credited as the author of such.

Not to sound too puritanical, but ghostwriting seems somewhat phony. I am sure there are countless people who would disagree, particularly as I am led to believe this is very lucrative for entrepreneurs. 

To be reasonable, whilst I can see a writer having another person edit his/ her work for obvious  reasons, this is not at all the same.

And for a writer to engage the help of someone to research a subject is quite another thing. There are countless partners in the literary world who are very successful because of their excellent team work: one is a researcher whilst the other is the writer or sometimes they do both.

But I guarantee that to write someone's else assignment in school would scarcely be condone! My generation might seems old fashioned to some but I hardly think this has changed! Then again, rumour has it, there has been ghostwriters for far longer than I ever imagine.

So why exactly is ghostwriting so popular? And where does it end? 

I myself would prefer to think my favourite authors have no use for such schemes. This past weekend I found myself thinking back to a few, if I was a betting person, might actually favour this endeavour and it saddened me.

I resolved to be more observant but since my initial interest has always been the research behind the picture, I feel a tad better. 

Ignorance is after all bliss or so they say...

For any author to sit down and write a book, finishing it, hiring first an agent and then finding a publisher has to be quite of a challenge. And you must sell your books...It can take years and you must live in the meantime...

For some authors, ghostwriting offers solvency and stability. They are then free to dedicate their time to their own writing.

Movies where the leading characters(s) are (too) often doubled leaves me cold. I will not suggest to any actor to take unnecessary risks but perhaps without all the Fx required these days to sell a good movie, we might return to actual acting!

Finally, ghostwriting took an unexpected (but hilarious) turn when broadcast services this past week spoke of ghostwriting being so widespread, the weather stations were actually contracting with services across the country (and beyond !) to provide us with 'accurate' predictions.

And here I thought the inaccurate weather predictions were due to a murky crystal ball...

Ghostwriting anyone?