Ghostwriting Dark Memoir

Note: While a lot of the time on this blog, I focus on my wellness journey and experiences with yoga, today’s post is related to another area of my life: writing. My creative journey and career as a writer has led me to writing books for others and I want to share more about what ghostwriting is like—particularly ghostwriting dark memoirs for those who have survived something intense in life, whether that be trauma, a near-death experience, illness, or something that changed them. I hope this post reminds you to write about the difficult things as a way to process and heal!

Inside My Trauma-Informed Ghostwriting Process

I am a memoir ghostwriter for people who have been through hell and back again.

I like helping people understand the things they’ve endured, and I know from my personal experience and from watching ghostwriting clients, that writing about our lives can be a deeply healing process if we embrace the deep emotional layers and really aim to get the truth out.

Your struggles and challenges are what shape you into the strongest version of yourself. And writing about them can have a profound impact on readers, too—people who are struggling with the same things you’ve been through.

This is alchemy. Turning pain into purpose.

I can do this work because I've been there myself. I've experienced dark nights of the soul and emerged from those depths. I've experienced mental health crises, abusive relationship dynamics, addiction, divorce, loss, grief, ambiguous grief, family dynamics, being near a natural disaster, losing everything and needing to build a new life and start over.

I've written about these life experiences, too. I know personally the power of crafting a narrative, letting the first draft be messy and full of letting go. I understand what it means to be the author of your own life.

As an empath and highly sensitive person, I experience the highs and lows of life with intensity. But I embrace and welcome that intensity rather than running from it. I see my sensitivity as one of my greatest strengths. I feel fully. And unlike some, I am willing to lean in and include those things in the writing rather than creating a watered down version.

What Makes Trauma-Informed Ghostwriting Different

Ghostwriting has depth to it. Not only am I stepping into your voice and understanding what happened at a very detailed level, but I’m also help you carve the path to a new identity. The version of you as an author who has already told this story and is now out there living in a new and courageous way.

Ghostwriting as a book shaman is excavating the blueprint of who you are. It's mining for gold in the shit of life that you've been through. It's pulling out the survivor stories buried deep.

Because part of you knows that if you can unearth those things and communicate them with others, you can help people change and heal just like you have.

My foundation as a storyteller runs deep. I was a journalist in my high school and college years and have always loved getting to know people on a deep level through interviewing. I understand the trust required in letting someone into your life to help tell your story. I value truth. Integrity. Meticulousness. And slowing down to take time to celebrate healing and change and to thank people for their willingness to be vulnerable.

I value taking as long as it takes to get the full story out and trusting the process as we get there.

In high school, I wrote two cover feature stories about cancer journeys. One was on a teacher's daughter under age 5 and how her family was facing the unimaginable. The other piece focused on a woman who had gone to my same high school and was also a journalist. She documented her cancer journey in a powerful diary series published by The San Francisco Chronicle that later became an award-winning book. These pieces showed how even in our darkest moments, our stories have the power to connect and heal.

As high school yearbook editor, I covered our school's Every 15 Minutes program. It’s this powerful two-day drunk driving prevention experience where they simulate a crash and hold mock funerals to show students the devastating ripple effects of one terrible decision. I never imagined that decades later I'd be on my couch with my husband, talking about our own years of drinking that led to trauma, took us down dark paths, and ultimately brought us back to choose sobriety.

My Journey as a Trauma Memoir Ghostwriter

My personal journey has shaped how I approach ghostwriting work. I've been in therapy off and on throughout my adult life. I’ve practiced various healing modalities like Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) tapping, both Eastern and Western practices… I've walked through the fire of my own healing because I understand the power of processing what we’ve been through, then writing about it. It has to come from a deep inner place.

I've been studying yoga, Reiki, shamanism, astrology, human design, healing from PTSD, and other healing practices for years. What I've discovered is that the creative process and the healing memoir writing process are intimately connected.

When we write from our wounds and from our scars, we uncover blocks and fears that have been living in our bodies for years. Sometimes they show up as depression or chronic pain, spiraling in and out of toxic relationships, sometimes in other ways. Things shift when we take the time and courage to sit down and write about what happened.

How I Work with Difficult Stories

My ghostwriting process goes deeper than traditional memoir writing services. It’s work as what I call a book shaman.

A book shaman is a guide who helps you navigate the emotional, energetic, and spiritual layers of writing a book. I support you with the healing and inner transformation that naturally unfold when you tell your story. I help you learn to trust yourself and your soul gifts. Your manuscript becomes a portal into a new identity—and I support you in embracing and embodying that new identity.

Through extensive interviews and sacred conversations, I help authors unearth the stories they’re ready to move on from. Ghostwriting isn't therapy, but it definitely touches raw and vulnerable territory and needs to be done in a safe and very mindful way.

Clients often report feeling lighter and different after seeing the words on paper.

I've done this work with a former NFL player, sitting with him as he shared the most difficult moments from his childhood and how they shaped the man who would later go on to be an athlete, a prison guard, and an elite fitness trainer. I'm working on a piece now with a survivor of abuse whose story continues to shock and inspire me. Her willingness and openness to healing is exactly the kind of readiness that makes my job so fulfilling. Week by week, we ground her traumatic experiences into something new. Possibility. Truth. Hope. Trust.

It isn’t easy… sometimes it’s heavy and dark, but it’s worth the work of going there and speaking out loud about what happened.

When someone trusts me with the pieces of themselves they've never spoken aloud, magic happens.

That's why I weave in optional energy work and breathwork as part of my holistic memoir ghostwriting approach. When we're digging up memories that made your world implode, your body needs an anchor. Your nervous system needs to know it's safe to remember, safe to speak, safe to be witnessed.

The interviews are a space where someone can finally see the whole story, honor the most painful parts, and say, “Yes, this matters. Yes, I matter. Yes, I can move forward and author a new chapter of my life.” There's medicine in being truly seen, and I hold energetic space while we work, creating a container strong enough for you to rebuild.

Writing Dark Memoir Is Not for Everyone

Transformational memoir writing isn't for everyone.

Some people want their stories tied up with neat little bows. They want to bypass the truest parts of the story or try to shorcut their own healing. That's not what I do.

I love working with people who are ready to crack themselves open, to really dive deep, but to do so from a space of safety. People who want to learn new tools along the way and who value their own healing process more than the product they’re producing. I want to create a beautifully crafted book you’re proud of but to do it in a way that nourishes and energizes you rather than depletes you.

I love working with people who want to move at their right pace, not rushing anything, and taking breaks when needed. People who want creative freedom and authenticity and who are willing to trust me in the process. I love working with people who understand that their deepest wounds might just be their greatest gifts to the world.

Those seeking a spiritual memoir ghostwriter who can handle mental health memoir content without flinching.

Why I Love This Work

This work gives me purpose. There's nothing quite like witnessing someone step fully into their story, claiming every piece of their journey. Every personal story ghostwriting project teaches me something new about resilience and courage, and about the human capacity to transform suffering into wisdom.

I wake up grateful that I get to hold space for these sacred transformations. That I get to help people alchemize their deepest pain into their greatest medicine. That I get to be trusted with the stories that matter most.

If you're someone who's been through hell and you know you need to write about it, I’m here. If you need a trauma sensitive memoir writer, but don’t know where to start, let’s talk. If you're ready to turn your survival story into a beacon for others walking through their own darkness, if this work calls to something deep in your bones, I'm here.

I understand the memoir ghostwriting process inside and out.

When you really sit with it, you realize that your story isn't just yours anymore. It belongs to everyone who needs to know they can walk through hell and come out holding their own light.

Contact Me About Your Story

Note: Every project I do is unique. Ghostwritten manuscripts that are 40,000-70,000 words generally start at $50,000. I know that might sound expensive if you’re not familiar with the going industry rates for fully ghostwritten books.

If you’d like to better understand how ghostwriting is typically priced, here are a few helpful industry resources:

• How Much Do Ghostwriters Make? Common Rates from Kindlepreneur (updated January 30th, 2024)

• What to Expect When Hiring a Ghostwriter (Updated February 2025)

• Straight Talk for New Authors: What To Expect About The Cost of Hiring a Ghostwriter

• Ghostwriting Trends: A Report from the Gathering of the Ghosts in New York City (February 2025)

• The True Cost of Ghostwriting: What You Need to Know (2025)

Many clients work with me for 9 months to a year and we usually meet in person for at least one weekend to do immersion work.

You're not just paying for a professionally written book. You're investing in a complete life transformation that happens to produce a powerful manuscript along the way.

My clients consistently tell me that the process itself becomes the most valuable part. As we craft your story together, you'll find yourself releasing trauma that's been stored in your body for decades. Patterns that have kept you stuck suddenly become clear. Shame that you've carried for years begins to dissolve as you speak your truth out loud, often for the first time.

The woman I'm working with now told me recently, "I thought I was hiring you to write my book. I didn't realize you were going to help me reclaim my life." There's something profoundly transformative about being truly witnessed in your story without judgment.

By the time we finish, you won't just have a manuscript that can change other people's lives. You'll have:

• Recognized trauma patterns that were keeping you small

• Gained clarity on your purpose and message

• Developed unshakeable confidence in your story's value

• Discovered what being an author means to you

• Experienced what it feels like to be completely seen and honored

• Created a legacy piece that will impact readers for generations

The personal transformation is priceless.

Most of my clients say they would have paid the investment fee just for the healing that happened during our work together and that the professionally written manuscript feels like the most generous bonus imaginable.

Just some food for thought if you’re considering this path ;)

If you’d like to do free 30-minute consultation call: Contact me through my form here.

Frequently Asked Questions About Ghostwriting

What Does a Ghostwriter Actually Do?

A ghostwriter turns your lived experiences, voice, and message into a beautifully written book. This includes interviewing you, shaping your ideas, structuring your story, writing the manuscript in your voice, and revising until it feels true. A trauma-informed ghostwriter goes deeper—helping you process the emotional layers that arise while telling your story so you feel supported through every step of the journey.

How Much Does It Cost to Hire a Memoir Ghostwriter?

Professional ghostwriting for a full-length memoir typically ranges from $40,000–$100,000+, depending on scope, length, complexity, and the writer’s experience. Rates reflect months of collaboration, interviews, writing, editing, and project management. Trauma-informed ghostwriters often charge more because the work requires emotional labor, specialized skill, and a slower, more intentional pacing.

Why Is Ghostwriting So Expensive?

Memoir ghostwriting is a year-long partnership that includes extensive interviews, transcription, story development, deep emotional holding, and writing tens of thousands of polished words in your distinct voice. You're not just hiring a writer—you’re hiring a creative director, a story strategist, and in trauma-informed work, someone trained to help you stay regulated and safe while navigating difficult memories.