History Main / Ghostwriter

** In "The Front", Bart and Lisa write scripts for new ''Itchy & Scratchy'' cartoons, but because the studio doesn't accept scripts from kids, they decide to use Grampa's name.
** In "The Book Job" (guest starring Creator/NeilGaiman), features Lisa finding out that all the young adult books (including her favorite "[[Franchise/HarryPotter Angelica Button]]" series) are really [[ExtrudedBookProduct just based on market research by the publishing companies and then written by teams of writers desperate for work]]. The "authors" who have their names on the book are just made up, backstory and all, and are represented by actors. After finding this out, Homer and Bart assemble a team to create their own hit young adult novel, using Lisa as the author to be credited.
** In "Guess Who's Coming To Criticize Dinner", Homer gets approached to work as a food critic at a Springfield newspaper. However, when his first review gets turned down by the editor, Lisa agrees to help him write his reviews, and continues doing so after he gets hired. That is, till he turns into an excessively CausticCritic, and she stops writing for him afterwards.

Not to be confused with the TV series, ''Series/{{Ghostwriter}}'', or [[Series/Ghostwriter2019 its' reboot]]. Also not to be confused with any author who writes about ghosts, or a ghost who just happens to be a writer. Also not the film, ''Film/TheGhostWriter'', which is ''about'' one, however.

* ''Creator/TerryNation'' apparently did this a lot in the late 70s, right before he left to become a TV producer in America. Although Nation claimed to have written every episode of the first season of Series/BlakesSeven , Creator/ChrisBoucher insists that he wrote all about ''[[Recap/BlakesSevenS1E1TheWayBack The Way Back]]'' from one sentence summaries that were literally written on the back of an envelope. Likewise, Creator/DouglasAdams wrote the entirety of ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS17E1DestinyOfTheDaleks Destiny of The Daleks]]'' from a single page of notes that Nation wrote (possibly on the way to the airport as he left Britain).

* ''Film/Dumas2010'': Auguste Maquet serves as a co-writer for Creator/AlexandreDumas (Creator/GerardDepardieu), helping him with the plot and outlines for his novels. However, Maquet's name doesn't appear on the covers of their work, so Dumas gets all of the credit while Maquet stays in his shadow. For 10 years, Maquet wasn't bothered by it until he ended up using Dumas' name to seduce Charlotte, leading to a quarrel between him and Dumas. This leads to an important question about who's the father of Dumas' [[Literature/TheThreeMusketeers iconic]] [[Literature/TheCountOfMonteCristo works]].

* ''Film/Dumas2010'': Auguste Maquet serves as a co-writer for Creator/AlexandreDumas, helping him with the plot and outlines for his novels. However, Maquet's name doesn't appear on the covers of their work, so Dumas gets all of the credit while Maquet stays in his shadow. For 10 years, Maquet wasn't bothered by it until he ended up using Dumas' name to seduce Charlotte, leading to a quarrel between him and Dumas. This leads to an important question about who's the father of Dumas' [[Literature/TheThreeMusketeers iconic]] [[Literature/TheCountOfMonteCristo works]].
* ''Film/TheGhostWriter'': A ghost writer is called in to pen the autobiography of a British politician, only to discover that his research material includes things that politician ''really'' doesn't want in the book.
* ''Film/{{Poltergay}}'' has a rather literal (i.e. ghostly) example of ghostwriter. Gay ghost Jean-Guy is quite literate and secretely improves the letter protagonist Marc sends to his estranged wife Emma in order to win her heart back with Creator/JeanCocteau verses.

Not to be confused with the TV series, ''Series/{{Ghostwriter}}''. Also not to be confused with any author who writes about ghosts, or a ghost who just happens to be a writer. Also not the film, ''Film/TheGhostWriter'', which is ''about'' one, however.

* In ''Series/{{Bones}}'', Brennan's novels are all co-written by Angela, who handles the books' emotional beats, as Brennan isn't good at understanding emotions.

* ''Film/TheGhostWriter'': A ghost writer is called in to pen the autobiography of a British politician, only to discover that his research material includes things that politician ''really'' doesn't want in the book.

* The ''Literature/GhostsOfFearStreet'' books were written by people besides Creator/RLStine, despite being marketed using his name, with the real author or authors listed inside each book. One ''Ghosts of Fear Street'' book was written by a pair of sisters who go by Creator/AGCascone; they later went on to write their own competing series of books, ''Series/DeadtimeStories''. One of the sisters, Gina, was one of the ghostwriters for the afromentioned

* The job of Auto-Memory Doll service in ''Anime/VioletEvergarden'' is to put client's thoughts into a letter, effecticely writing messages under client's name. The titular protagonist, learns about human emotions as a member of said service.

* About half[[note]]All main series (i.e. numbered) books from 25 to 52, except 26 and 32[[/note]] of the ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' books were ghostwritten, due to the rapid publishing schedule,[[note]]One book published every month, plus one or two special editions per year[[/note]] real life issues,[[note]]Applegate and Grant had their first child[[/note]] and also working on ''Literature/{{Everworld}}'' at the same time.

* One episode of ''Anime/LittleWitchAcademia'' sees Lotte trying to meet the author of her favorite book series. She learns that the books have been written by multiple ghostwriters using the same name. She ends up taking over after the current ghostwriter retires.

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* Writers on various sketchy websites have been known to offer services making custom term papers for any students foolhardy enough to pay them. Needless to say, despite the ghostwriters being paid for their work, this is considered little short of a mortal sin in academia, and is a great way to land in [[CheatersNeverProsper severe trouble for cheating]].

* The season 6 episode of ''Series/TheAvengers'', "Love All", centered around romance novels of this sort. When visiting the publishing house, Steed learns (though unrelated to the actual plot) that the novels are actually generated by a piano-shaped computer. During the climactic fight, it's accidentally activated and spits out a new manuscript.

It may be a FallenOnHardTimesJob.

A part of PlayingCyrano, where a LoveLetter or some other written token of affection is written by someone to be passed off as written by someone else.

Different from writing under a [[PenName pseudonym]], as in that case, the writer is the same person, but under a different name, instead of pretending to be a different writer altogether.

A part of ExtrudedBookProduct schemes, when combined with rapid throughput and likely StrictlyFormula. Also compare HousePseudonym, when a publisher hires a group of ghostwriters to all be published under a collective pen name.

It may be an UncreditedRole, but sometimes they ''are'' credited.

Connected to PreApprovedSermon, whose speaker takes the credit for writing a ghostwriter's sermon, as the ghostwriter wants the sermon and its message to seem authentic, by making listeners think that the sermon was the message of the speaker, instead of the ghostwriter.

To summarize, this is StealingTheCredit, except that you're willingly giving it away, instead.

And in regards to RealLife, this is particularly common for autobiographies written by celebrities. The books are heavily influenced by the featured person, but the actual writing is done by a professional writer rather than the celebrity themselves, but this is a character trope, so unless we know the ghostwriters' names, this is the only place they're going to be mentioned. (Pro tip: When you see a very large celebrity's name on a book with a very small credit saying "With [some writer's name you've never heard of]", that second person probably put most of the words on paper.)

It's also standard practice for politicians and other such public figures to employ speechwriters, which the speaker will then present as their own words. Even many [[RecordedAndStandUpComedy standup comedians]] and [[NewspaperComics newspaper]] cartoonists have been known to hire writers for jokes and gags.

And in regards to RealLife, this is particularly common for autobiographies written by celebrities. The books are heavily influenced by the featured person, but the actual writing is done by a professional writer rather than the celebrity themselves, but this is a character trope, so unless we know the ghostwriters' names, this is the only place they're going to be mentioned. (Pro tip: When you see a very large celebrity's name on a book with a very small credit saying "With [some writer's name you've never heard of]", that second person probably put most of the words on paper.) It's also standard practice for politicians and other such public figures to employ speechwriters, which the speaker will then present as their own words. Even standup comedians and newspaper cartoonists have been known to hire writers for jokes and gags.