Member Spotlight: Luna Corbden

Thank you for this opportunity. My name is Luna. I’ve been writing professionally for 16 years, while writing for clients since 2019. Before that, I volunteered to do all the technical writing in my IT career. My skill base and interests are diverse, as I’ve written everything from procedural documentation to fantasy novels.

How did you land your first book ghostwriting project?

I originally made a name for myself in a small niche with my self-published book on undue influence and religious trauma recovery (Recovering Agency: Lifting the Veil of Mormon Mind Control). From there I picked up a couple of editing clients without any other advertising.

That’s also why my first ghostwriting client contacted me. My research and writing skills stood out to him. He wanted a book on how to develop critical thinking skills after a faith transition, the kind of book I might have written on my own. I already knew quite a bit about rationality, avoiding biases and logical fallacies, and how to recognize manipulation, so I enjoyed doing the deeper research to make these concepts more widely accessible.

What is your favorite type of project or client?

I look for any project that aligns with my values and fulfills my sense of purpose. Very often, this lands in spaces like spirituality, personal development, and trauma recovery. I’ve also developed a strong sense of narrative, i.e. how to make a good story great. I’m very excited by narrative nonfiction, like memoir, particularly where the subject has a clear thematic arc to draw from in their own life, where they have overcome obstacles and changed the world while fulfilling their own sense of purpose.

I also love when I can bring my own interests and expertise to a project. I never stop learning and I can spot patterns and connections between disparate subjects. It’s good to be able to put that knowledge to use sometimes. These topics include psychology, religion, philosophy, neurodiversity, social justice and power dynamics, the history of video games and the internet, culture, and music.

Whether writing or editing, I enjoy supporting people who are doing great things, but who don’t have time or all the skills to put their message into words.

The reader is the third party to this contract, and I like to educate, inspire, and provoke thought while connecting readers to their own values and to each other through the clarity of words.

What’s your favorite question to ask clients during an interview?

Well, that depends on the project.

I learned working in the technology industry that sometimes what people ask for on the surface is not what they really need. My first job is to suss that out before starting on the problem. Maybe they call frantic because their email isn’t working, but mainly, they need to send a file by the deadline. There might be a faster way to do that for now, and we can fix the email later.

This also applies to writing. What is the client’s underlying goal? Maybe they want to “tell their story,” but what is their story really about? What do they want the reader to understand?

Whether writing a memoir, how-to, or science fiction book, the interview isn’t just about collecting rote instructions or unconnected anecdotes. An LLM can do that. The human element, and the key writing skill, is to peel away the obvious surface layer to discover the deeper meaning. And we do that through questions tailored for the project.

What are the best parts of this career?

Writing feels purposeful to me. I’m working for myself and working one-on-on with a real person who actually cares about the project.

The wheels of industry aren’t really set up for freewheeling freelancers. We’re meant to graduate school for the purpose of being a cog in the machine: dehumanized, used up, and tossed out. There is very little room made for art in this world, because the system only values what it feeds money to. Those who aren’t valued don’t get to survive, and so rarely do art or connection make the cut.

But ghostwriting and editing allow for survival and meaning.

What’s one thing clients might be surprised to know about you?

People are usually surprised to learn I’m autistic.

How can people reach you?

You can learn more about me at my website: https://recoveringagency.com/freelance-services/ or email me directly at luna@corbden.com.