Charles Kingsley | Premier Ghostwriting Services

A published author with over a decade of professional experience.

projects Charles Kingsley has worked on

The hidden hand behind multiple published books and produced scripts.

Bookwriting

Charles Kingsley is the terminus for writers who want to finally turn their story idea into a book. You might be starting from a single sentence. Or maybe you're in the middle of a manuscript that you just don't know how to finish. Whatever stage of the game, Charles meets you where you are and navigates you to the finish line. One page at a time.Some writers worry that handing their book over to someone else means losing their voice or that they’ll get back something technically finished but no longer theirs. Charles doesn't work that way. Every plot beat, every character arc, every chapter is outlined and reviewed by you before anything moves forward. Nothing gets locked in without your say so. Nothing is done until you're happy. Because Charles Kingsley isn't for people who want to "become" writers. It's for people who already are writers, who already have a book inside them, yet simply don’t have the technical skill (or time) to get it down on paper.This isn't a transcription service. It's a collaboration. The process is designed to keep momentum moving forward while ensuring enough flexibility to meet your story's demands, until the book in your hands sounds exactly like the one in your head.To learn more about the step-by-step process, see How Does It Work?

Fiction Ghostwriting

Much to people's surprise, ghostwriting is extremely common in fiction, with everything from The Count of Monte Cristo to James Patterson's potboilers being written by "co-authors." Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys were all written by a coterie of writers collectively operating as ‘Carolyn Keene’ and ‘Franklin W. Dixon.’ And now more than ever, celebrities are getting into fiction writing with the help of ghostwriters.When fiction writing, Charles doesn't just use your name—he writes your novel, filtered through a decade’s worth of passion, insight, and real-world implementation. Writing is a craft and Charles works like a craftsman. He learns how your characters talk, what your world looks like, and then writes the way you would if you had the time and technical skills to do it yourself. Some clients arrive with a single scene stuck in their head. Others with three hundred pages that don't hold together. Either way, with Charles Kingsley navigating, the book always comes out the way it should—the way you wrote it.Charles Kingsley has written in nearly all genres of fiction and continues to write heavily in:

His speciality, however, is upmarket thrillers...

• What is an Upmarket Thriller?

Nonfiction Ghostwriting

Today it’s almost unheard of for a nonfiction book to become a bestseller without a significant amount of editing, rewriting, and usually, full-on ghostwriting. Indeed an estimated 80% of all celebrity memoirs are completely ghostwritten. That’s books by Michelle Obama, Donald Trump, Prince Harry. And this practice is not new. JFK, Malcom X, and Hedy Lamarr all co-wrote their autobiographies with the assistance of ghostwriters. It’s not a shortcut. It’s just how the best stories get told.With Charles Kingsley, you bring the material—the events, the arguments, the life you lived (or the one you're interested in telling)—and he brings the craftsmanship. Whether it's a memoir, autofiction, or any other form of nonfiction book idea, Charles works one-on-one with you to capture your story in all of its complexity and nuance. Through thorough interviews and copious amounts of research, Charles works hard to develop a high-degree of trust with every client he works with, conscious he's being given stewardship of their most personal, sensitive, and vulnerable details of a person's life in order to tell their story properly.Because no matter the sub-genre, it all comes down to the same thing when writing nonfiction: you take something real and give it the most suitable story shape, so that a reader can understand both on a factual and emotional level. In short, you get to the heart of the matter.In terms of nonfiction, Charles Kingsley typically takes on:

Though if your book sits outside any of these categories, please don't hesitate to reach out. Charles is always interested in hearing—and telling—new stories.

Screenwriting

Everyone has a great script idea floating around in their head. A horror film concept. Or the perfect meet-cute scene for a romantic comedy. Perhaps it’s a particular historical episode that you’re dying to see turned into a mini-series. Whatever it is, Charles will hone your idea into a compelling professional script, giving your thoughts structure, voice, and thematic weight. Giving them specificity. Making them both real... and marketable.Maybe you've got the vibe and atmosphere nailed down. Maybe you feel like you know your particular protagonist inside and out. Or maybe you don't have anything. Either way, Charles provides the skills necessary to get everything down on the page. And with Charles at your side, steering through the murky waters of set-ups and payoffs, midpoint twists, and rendering an organic world within the structure-heavy conventions of scripts, you can rest easy knowing that your vision will be perfectly captured on the page… and soon to be rendered on the screen.But how common are ghostwriters in film and television?Well, in Hollywood, ghostwriting is the law of the land. The Wizard of Oz, Schindler’s List, The Godfather, Superman, The Bourne Ultimatum—all of these scripts were completed via the contributions of uncredited writers. Some call them script doctors, others call them fixers, but whatever they're called, they’re ghostwriters. They’re authors who help bring a project to fruition behind the scenes.And in television writers' rooms, it's simply collaborative authorship by design. Everyone knows multiple people touch the script before it sees the light of day, and credit is genuinely shared (though unevenly, as showrunners often rewrite everyone's drafts).To learn more about the step-by-step process, see How Does It Work?

Screenplays

Writing for the big screen can be a challenging endeavour. There are various plots and sub-plots to keep track of. Character arcs to set up and resolve. Dramatic questions that need to be posed and answered, and at the right time. Then, of course, there’s dialogue. There’s pacing. Have you introduced your central conflict successfully? What about stakes? Urgency?It can all quickly become overwhelming. But with Charles as your guide, you’re always in good hands. With his narrative expertise, he’ll turn your movie idea (or existing draft) into a final script, ready to be pitched to filmmakers, producers, and agents. Having worked on numerous screenplays throughout his career, several of which have been produced (and several more in pre- and post-production), Charles is the perfect ghost to help you finally realize your silver screen dreams.

Charles writes feature-length screenplays, as well as short films, in nearly every genre, currently writing in:

As with his fiction bookwriting, however, his specialization is in writing upmarket thrillers...

• What is an Upmarket Thriller?

Teleplays

Writing for television is similar to writing for film, but with several unique distinctions. Along with adhering to the rigid formatting and time considerations inherent in all screenwriting, teleplays also face additional challenges.You need to tell your script's story in thirty or sixty minutes, not a hundred-and-twenty like with films. You need to juggle past and future plots, setting up events and characters that will return episodes (and sometimes seasons) later, while also keeping your established characters consistent with what audiences have previously seen. When writing for network television, you need to include clear act breaks and adhere to specific censorship standards.But thankfully, Charles has the skills to turn your idea into a gripping pilot, sure to have readers begging for more episodes. And if you’re inclined to develop a full season or limited series, well, Charles has got you covered there too, having written whole series of television for clients in the past.Charles writes television scripts in both the one-hour prestige format as well as the classic thirty-minute format, in nearly every genre. He currently writes:

As with his fiction bookwriting, however, his specialization is upmarket thrillers...

• What is an Upmarket Thriller?

Editing

So you’ve done it. You’ve gotten your story down, whether in part or in sum, by hook or by crook. It's out of your head and there on the page as a finished or unfinished draft. And yet… something isn’t quite right. Perhaps you feel you’re way off the mark or perhaps just a couple nudges from completion. Either way, you know your story is not done yet. And frustratingly, you’re not quite sure why.That’s where Charles Kingsley comes in. He will assess your manuscript at whatever stage of completion it's at and provide a comprehensive edit, helping you get your story finished. Whether book or script, Charles will give your story the final polish it needs to render it a completed, compelling, and ultimately publishable (or produceable) narrative.As an editor, Charles reads your script or manuscript, learns your story inside and out, discovers your narrative intentions, your desires, your vision, and then gets to work bringing it up to a professional standard. He offers Development, Line, and Copy edits, for both books and film & television scripts...

Developmental Editing

A developmental edit is a big-picture structural pass on a story. It focuses on the macro issues—structure, plot beats, characterization, themes, pacing—while ignoring micro issues such as sentence structure, word choice, and grammar. Think of it as the editorial equivalent of inspecting the foundations of a house. Something you want to do well before considering paint swatches.In practice, Charles Kingsley will produce two deliverables when hired to complete a developmental edit: an Editorial Report and a Marked-Up Manuscript. The Editorial Report will be a comprehensive letter addressed to you, the author, covering the manuscript's major strengths and weaknesses, while the Marked-Up Manuscript will provide marginal comments throughout the draft for additional clarification.

Line Editing

A line edit works at the sentence and paragraph level. It’s a trees and not a forest edit. Instead of asking "Does this book work?", a line editor asks "Does this sentence, this paragraph, this page work? The focus is on prose style and flow. Word choice, rhythm, and clarity. It corrects awkward phrasing, too much repetition (or lack thereof), and assesses whether the voice stays consistent throughout the manuscript.For example, when hired to provide a line edit, Charles will rewrite clunky sentences, trim redundant words, and tighten rambling paragraphs. He will flag metaphors that don’t land. It’s a creative, judgment-based edit, but unlike a developmental edit, does not engage with correcting big-picture narrative issues.

Copyediting

A copyedit is the technical-accuracy pass that typically comes after a developmental and line edit. By this stage the big-picture structural issues, as well as the prose and style issues, are already settled and all that’s left is to proofread the manuscript and correct for technical errors. Much less creative, but just as critical.Copyediting covers things like grammar, spelling, and punctuation. All typos are rooted out and eliminated. Style and proper nouns are examined for consistency. Consider it the final spot-check for imperfections. One last glance in the mirror before your story is ready to be presented to the world.

All three editing services—Developmental, Line, and Copy—can be provided as an all-inclusive package. Please contact Charles Kingsley for more details.

Upmarket Thrillers

Looking to take your story to the next level? Want to give it that unforgettable, cinematic edge that keeps audiences returning to it time and time again? Then why not hypercharge your narrative with the specific devices inherent in the greatest stories ever told.No matter whether your concept seems firmly rooted in one genre (be it romance, mystery, science-fiction, horror, action, adventure, etc.), you can deliver a jolt of electricity to any narrative by implementing the mechanisms of a very particular type of story. You can take a potentially stale and lifeless narrative and make it more suspenseful. Make it sexier. Make it unforgettable.The Godfather could have been nothing more than a dull, stuffy melodrama if not told in a very specific way. Same goes for countless other classics, such as Casablanca, Psycho, and The Day of the Jackal, or modern masterpieces There Will Be Blood, Zodiac, and Sicario.All of them pulpy, edge-of-your seat nail-biters. All of them universal and grounded yet with grand life-or-death stakes. And though all are ostensibly of different genres, they nevertheless fall under the banner of that very particular type of story that seems to outshine all others.A type of story that I like to call the upmarket thriller.

What is an Upmarket Thriller?

The ultimate genre, really.Upmarket is an industry term used to describe stories that contain elements of both commercial and literary fiction. Stories that take existing genre tropes and add to them deeper characterization, an elevated writing style, and penetrating questions about the human condition.Thrillers, on the other hand, are a genre defined by their reliance on mystery, suspense, and an overall foreboding tone. Characters are duplicitous, the plot revelations are devastating, and the line between good and evil is murky to non-existent.

examples of Upmarket Thrillers

In other words, upmarket thrillers combine the best of both worlds. They use commercial tropes as the digestible framework with which to explore complex metaphysical themes. Put simply, whether a novel or screenplay, they are enigmatic stories well-told. Dark and exciting narratives that leave the audience with thought-provoking questions long after the final page has been turned.And whether one of the many sub-genres—action, crime, spy, legal, political, historical—they are perhaps the most cinematic of all stories. No Country for Old Men, The Maltese Falcon, Gone Girl, The Silence of the Lambs, Casino Royale, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, A Clockwork Orange, The Talented Mr. Ripley—these are all upmarket thrillers. Shows like True Detective, Breaking Bad, and Peaky Blinders would fit into the category as well.You can see now why I've made them my speciality.

So, if you're looking to hypercharge your story and turn into a pulse-pounding experience, make it an upmarket thriller with the help of Charles Kingsley.Your audience will thank you for it.

Rates

Ghostwriting | Books

Full-service manuscript ghostwriting, including consultation, drafting, and two rounds of revision. This includes both fiction and nonfiction ghostwriting.

Ghostwriting | Film & Television

Screenplay and treatment writing for film and television. All formats include two rounds of revisions.

Editorial Services

Manuscript editing and script assessment. Rates are per word unless otherwise stated.

All rates are indicative, quoted in USD, and are exclusive of applicable taxes. To discuss a project or request a bespoke rate, please contact: [email protected].