Description
We're looking for an experienced ghostwriter to help continue an established science fiction series. Multi-book arc, established voice, full outlines for each remaining book, with scope for many more books beyond this series.
We have worked, and continue to work, with some wonderful fiction writers who found us here on Problogger.
The series in one line: Character-driven SF space opera in the tradition of CJ Cherryh, David Weber and Eric Thomson. Rigorous physics with FTL and telepaths bolted on. Distinctive voices, emotional immersion, plot twists, no Hollywood nonsense.
If you've read CJ Cherryh's Alliance-Union, Company Wars and Chanur books, David Weber's Honor Harrington, or Eric Thomson's Siobhan Dunmoore, you'll recognize the territory.
Less military hardware, more political maneuvering and character interiority.
Themes of duty and honor run throughout.
Physics generally behaves (low-mass bodies don't hold atmospheres, spacecraft don't bank in space to maneuver, vacuum doesn't act like air) even though FTL and gestalt telepathic aliens exist.
The series follows a young woman from a fallen aristocracy, navigating lethal human and alien politics, conspiracy, and an invasion nobody saw coming.
You'll be given the existing books to read as part of onboarding, full outlines for each remaining book, and clear editorial guidance.
The voice is specific. Here's what you need to be able to do:
- Write first person, present tense, with italicized inner thoughts in a register distinct from the narration
- Switch POV to third person on occasion (POV only changes at chapter breaks, with the POV character named in the chapter heading)
- Build scenes on subtext, where surface dialogue and real stakes don't match
- Differentiate characters through rhythm, phrasing and word choice, not dialect or verbal tics
- Use short sentences and fragments to escalate tension at emotional peaks
- Handle plot logic. Interrogations, political maneuvering, relationships and investigative scenes all need to hold up
- Weave hard-SF physics into any scene, even emotional or physical conflict, without pausing to lecture
- Keep emotional stakes restrained and earned. No purple prose
What we're filtering against: flowery writing at emotional peaks, characters that blur together in dialogue, physics errors, inner thoughts that read like narration with italics.
Pay: 3c per word.
Pace: 10,000 polished words per week. Revisions and editorial feedback are part of the process.
If the pace doesn't work for you, please don't apply.
Writers who deliver to deadline and match the voice will be offered the full series, with potential for further work across additional series.
No AI-generated text. This is non-negotiable.
Application Instructions
To apply, please introduce yourself and answer:
1. Which SF authors have most shaped your writing, and have you read any of the comp authors above?
2. How do you approach picking up an established series and matching an existing voice?
3. Are you fluent in written and spoken US English?
Have you written or ghostwritten a novel before, ideally a series?
4. Can you deliver 10,000 polished words per week consistently?
5. Are you comfortable writing first person present tense with a distinct inner-thought track, and switching to third person at chapter breaks when needed?
Please attach a writing sample (PDF only) showing science fiction from a young woman's close perspective. Pieces with political tension or subtextual dialogue are especially welcome.
We read every application carefully. Thank you for your interest in the series.