When you read back through your manuscript – and you might even get a sense of these parts while writing – you will find passages or sequences that don’t hit the right note. The first step in this revision is ensuring the manuscript works overall. Only then can you tighten up the specific scenes.

Ghostwriting is an exercise in adaptation. My role is to adapt my client’s story or ideas to the written page. In some cases my clients have started with a wealth of material in their podcasts. The task, then, is to adapt hours of interviews and recordings to a book.

Here are three ways I’ve done that with recent clients.

There are times I work with an author who knows exactly what they want their book to be. In these cases it is usually a culmination of their work – many years of blogging and newsletters, years of public speaking or podcasts.

But there are times we discover the book on the way. Like an iceberg, there’s just part of it peering out of the water and we’ll discover the rest of it on the journey. Pull it into the light.

To cover a difficult topic in a way that’s as engaging as Moneyball, there must be a question that pulls us into the book. The chapters, or sequences, must develop from each other. Plunging head first into sabermetrics would have left most readers striking out part way through the first chapter. Instead, Lewis finds a way to open with the narrative to hook us, then deliver the ideas.

Recently I was interviewed about ghostwriting and the question came up again: how do I feel about not getting credit for writing?

I’m fine with it.

Ghostwriting is an exercise in adaptation. My job is to adapt my client’s story or ideas to the written page in a way that captivates their readers. A handful of my clients started the process of writing their book with almost all their material on hand. They had their own podcasts.

Moneyball – both the book and the film – is a great example of a story that grips your attention even though you know the end. If it was a straight sports story then the heartbreaking loss at the end of the season would be the climax. There would be different beats, a different focus, and more attention following the players. Instead, the climax of the story is not on the field.

Writing a book is a huge undertaking. And when the writing is done, there is a massive relief.

The book is not finished.

I have seen friends and clients get too excited here and mess up the launch of their book. They had an amazing book, a real opportunity to make an impact, and then they rushed the end.

Several writers I’ve consulted told me their idea for a story then sat back to watch my reaction.

My question was: what happens next?

There was a premise. They had a first act. It was the start of a story but it wasn’t a story itself.

The old writing adage says to “start as close to the end as possible.”

It’s also essential not to write a story thinking the end is the beginning.

At its heart, Story is about change. But it is not about triumph. It is about the journey there, the conditions that led to the change.