I had no idea what I was getting myself into this summer when I agreed to copy edit a family friend's "book."
Brenda Barion related the story of her son's 2006 Dayton-area murder in a free-form journal that chronicles her entire journey; from the dramatic events that lead up to the murder, to her son's violent death at the end of a sawed-off shotgun, to her crisis of faith, to the courtroom drama that ensued. Brenda got it all down in over 200 pages of densely written text. Written as more of an inspirational story for others who've experienced their own suffering over the loss of a child, Brenda's work was less a true-crime tale than it was a spiritual release and an attempt at healing herself by sharing her story. She wanted a document of her experience; something to share. More than anything she wanted her story published in a book, but lacked confidence in her writing and wasn't sure of how to proceed with what she had already written.
Contacting me through my aunt, Brenda asked that I take a look at her story and let me know if I thought anything could be sculpted from her notes and journal entries. I was eager for the work and excited about editing a book, so agreed to take the job at a meager "friend -of-the-family" fee. After reading Barion's tale in its entirety, it was clear to me that this was going to be more than an editing job.
Barion clearly had the heart and soul of a storyteller but lacked the mechanical skills to make her work coherent in that early incarnation. I was dissatisfied with the idea of jamming in punctuation, arbitrarily breaking blocks of texts into paragraphs, and correcting typos. Her story was clearly a labor of love and she wanted it presented professionally. SO--
For a "friend-of-the-family" upgrade fee, I offered to ghost write her story; recreate it as a non-fiction narrative with chapter breaks, dialogue, story arcs, and fine-tuned characterization. I thought Barion's story a compelling one that, even in its rough original form, showed signs of legitimate drama and suspense. Barion, a God-fearing, church-going woman, wanted the spiritual side of her story to take center stage -- a bit of a challenge for a Godless agnostic like myself-- but the more time I spent in Barion's head...with her friends, family, and congregation on the page -- expressing her spirituality became second nature, and before it was all over (though I remain unconverted) I felt that I understood how individuals can draw strength from their faith. (Without hers, Barion's story might have ended up being even more tragic than it already was.)
Thus began my adventure into the world of ghost writing. Through a series of phone interviews with Barion, court notes, Dayton Daily News clippings, and local TV news transcripts, I reworked Barion's text into a non-fiction novel -- my first! With just a smidge of poetic license, and the courage to create character dialogue attributed to the story's real-life players, I was able to produce something I'm quite proud of. Is Barion's book my best-case-scenario for getting a book credit on Amazon.com?
Not exactly. But it was a revealing journey into the realm of the long-form narrative and it's given me courage to develop and publish long-form fiction and non-fiction. The book's cover says "by Brenda Barion" -- as it should. Ownership of the story is hers and hers alone. I get an editing credit and for my first time around, that's good enough for me. The emotions, the feelings, the remembrances, and the heartbreak are hers and hers alone. But I can still open the book to any page and see the syntax, grammar, word mechanics and dialogue are all me.
The book, Take It Easy, Martha, is available from Amazon.com for $9.95. See the convenient Amazon ad in the right margin of my homepage for more info.
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