Writing Without Your Voice, and With Someone Else's

As a student, the voice I use to write essays or discussion posts varies from the voice I use when I’m talking or texting.

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In academic papers, there’s still a hint of my uniqueness in the way I pattern my sentences or the way I pick my words but it’s much more structured and conformed. Professional. Drastically different when I’m talking calmly to my friends who aren’t grading the way I mispronounce “anonymous”.

Two distinct voices from the same person.

Ghostwriting is kind of the same, except it’s not your voice at all.

To write as someone else feels daunting, but it’s not hard to get the basics if ghostwriting is something you want to dabble in. I won’t pretend to know everything about the process, but I can share what’s gotten me this far!

All it Takes is to Get to Know Them.

To start, how do you write without sounding like you?

It’s your words, your hands, your keyboard. It might feel impossible to write as someone you don’t even know.

Let’s say you have a client whose company is developing a new tech product.

Usually, your client will give you a rundown of the technology aspect, so you needn't worry about that; you just need to write. You would then talk to your client for about forty minutes.

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Start to pay attention to the way they present themselves. How they talk and hold themself. The body is just another language you can learn to replicate on paper. Are they slumped over or leaned back? Do they talk with confidence with jokes sprinkled in or are they blunt and very information based?

All this information can be used to capture their voice!

You don’t just have a zoom call to reference either. You would know their name, so you can look them up on easy-peasy on the internet! Have they written any articles for their company? Done a couple interviews? Maybe they have a Facebook? All of this can be learned and absorbed by you to replicate them.

This is just a baseline though, sometimes you might need to look harder or push deeper depending on the client!

Finding Balance is Key.

As a college student, I have to remember when to write as myself and when to write for someone else. Putting it like that sounds easy, but it could become an inconvenience when you forget to make that distinction.

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For example, I have to remember my patterns, my voice without someone else's voice mixing into mine by accident. There are times when I’ve written something and paused because, “huh, that doesn’t sound like me”. 

It’s important that you know and remember what your writing habits are because you could adopt someone else's voice completely and that can be a problem when you can’t hear yourself in your work anymore.

It Gets Easier to Find your Voice.

The best way I know to explain what it’s like to ghostwrite is when you’re invited to a friend’s house for the first time.

It’s new. Awkward. You’re just standing there while your friend is yelling at their dog to stop jumping on you and barking.

You feel out of place, but the more you’re invited over— the more you write— the more you feel at home. You don’t have to ask anymore to grab a drink from their fridge and you remember the way to the bathroom.

There’s no more unfamiliarity because their home feels as familiar to you as your own, and so too will their voice.