For the most part, I really enjoyed the ghost writing experience. It presented a unique challenge in terms of the application of writing skills. It did not, however, sway my views of the ethics regarding such a practice. I still feel that in the end, ghost writing is an act of deceiving the reader. In many ways, taking the words of another and stamping your own name on them constitutes the very definition of plagiarism. Even if the author is profiting from the transaction and is able to relinquish the ownership rights to their work with no reluctance, I still believe that it is wrong for someone to receive intellectual credit for a product that is not theirs. If one does not have the skills to produce literature, it is simply fraudulent to imply that such talent exists. I believe it is analogous to a "singer" who lip syncs. If they do not have the vocal capacity to perform, why would they be allowed to retain such an occupation?
In my personal experience, I ghost wrote a description paper for a friend. She was required to use descriptive language to depict a location that was of special significance to her. The most difficult part of this assignment was describing a place I had never really seen, much less been to. I asked her to talk about the area in a very open and free-flowing conversation. I took notes of specific words that she used in order to get a feel for the way in which she interpreted the landscape. It was also difficult to capture the emotions and sentimentality of another person.
Overall, my friend said she was pleased with the way the paper was written and the language that was used. Obviously, there was some differentiation between her description and mine due mainly to the fact that I had no visual experience with the area being discussed. I found her ideas regarding employing ghost writers to be interesting. She said that if she ever were to have a paper ghost written, she would hire several different people to write different versions and then choose the style which she like best. This idea had never occurred to me before, and I think it stems from perfectionism. Even though this project seemed to go fairly well and was entertaining, I am still opposed to the idea of ghost writing.
