Ghostwriting Fiction vs Non Fiction

What's the Difference?

Is there a difference in terms of finding the right ghostwriter for your project?

Yes and no.

There's definitely a difference between fiction and nonfiction, of course. But what does that difference have to do with the ghostwriter you choose?

Quite a bit, but maybe not in the way you'd think.

The Obvious Differences

Fiction and nonfiction are different disciplines, and some ghostwriters specialize in one or the other. Sometimes that's a matter of preference. Sometimes it's a matter of skillset. A writer who has spent years crafting true-life narratives may not be the best choice for a science fiction novel set three centuries from now, and vice versa.

The categories branch out further than just fiction and nonfiction, too. Memoirs are based on true events but are not the same as a journalistic account of those events. An autobiography covers a whole life; a memoir focuses on a particular period or theme within one. Literary fiction operates differently from genre fiction. A thriller has its own structural conventions that a writer of, say, quiet domestic novels, may not instinctively know.

So yes, there are real distinctions, and they are worth thinking about when you go looking for a ghostwriter.

Less Obvious Difference: Voice

Here is where fiction and nonfiction diverge in a way that matters enormously.

With nonfiction, and especially memoir, the ghostwriter's central job is to disappear. The finished book has to sound like you. Not like a professional writer tidying up your sentences, but genuinely, unmistakably like the person who lived the story. Readers of memoir are perceptive. They can tell when a book sounds like its subject and when it sounds like someone approximating its subject.

The difference between those two things is the difference between a memoir that moves people and one that merely informs them.

This means a ghostwriter working on your memoir has to spend real time getting inside your voice. How you tell a story. The rhythms of your speech. The kinds of details you reach for. The things you find funny. The things you'd rather skip over, which are often the most important things of all.

Fiction is different. When you hire a ghostwriter to write a novel based on your idea, the voice is something you build together. You may have a strong sense of the tone you want, or you may simply have a story and trust the writer to find the right way to tell it. There's more creative latitude, which is freeing for some clients and unnerving for others. Knowing which one you are is useful going in.

What Matters Most

All of that said, the most important factor in choosing a ghostwriter is not the category of your project. It's the fit between you and the writer.

Ghostwriting a full-length manuscript is a long collaboration. Depending on the project, you may be spending months in close conversation with this person, sharing details of your life, your memories, your ideas, and your fears about whether any of it is going to work. That requires trust. It requires a working relationship that makes you feel comfortable enough to be truly honest.

A technically skilled ghostwriter who doesn't understand what you're going for, or who makes you feel like your story is less interesting than you know it to be, is the wrong ghostwriter for you regardless of their resume. And a writer who truly gets you and your story, who asks the right questions and listens carefully to the answers, is probably the right choice even if their portfolio skews slightly toward a different genre than yours.

So due diligence matters. Talk to more than one ghostwriter. Ask questions. Read samples. Discuss what your story should be. Figure out who you can work with, not just who looks good on paper.

Fiction or Nonfiction: Where to Start

One more thing worth mentioning: some clients arrive unsure whether their story should be fiction or nonfiction in the first place.

This is more common than you'd think, and it's not a silly question. A true story can be told as a memoir, as a novel inspired by real events, or as a screenplay. Each format does different things with the same material. A memoir asks readers to engage with the reality of what happened. A novel based on true events gives the writer more freedom to shape the narrative and protect the people involved. A screenplay condenses everything into scenes and dialogue which becomes a film.

If you're not sure which direction your story should go, that's a conversation worth having before you start writing anything. We've helped clients figure out the right format for their story on many occasions, and it makes everything that follows go more smoothly.

So call or email The Best Ghostwriters today for a free consultation.

Let's figure out where your story belongs and how to get it there.