Writing Mentors: What they do and how to select one

Why hire a professional writing mentor or coach? Isn’t it enough to attend a class/workshop or a writing group? Or ask a friend or relative to comment? It depends what you want and need.

If you want  lots of opinions, stick with your group. But the comments you receive will vary—some helpful, and others confusing or demoralising. If you slavishly follow everyone’s  suggestions, you’ll end up with a dog’s breakfast.

The experience has some pluses. It can build  your resilience for receiving criticism. It may help you clarify what YOU want to do with your writing, where YOU want your story to head.

What about having a friend or relative informally comment on your work? Sometimes this arrangement works. But does your chosen person have the experience and expertise to—

• understand your work and provide helpful comments
• nurture you and your writing
• interact positively with you
• let you retain control of your ideas and your writing?

If you cannot answer these questions with a resounding ‘yes’, consider a professional mentor.

What good mentors do

Using a writing mentor is a big step up from the group or friend-mentor experience, in terms of the kind of feedback received. The best writing mentors help writers learn to chip away at the block of marble that is their prose piece, revealing the beauty of the story it contains.

Good mentors—

• provide  expert, specific advice about what is and is not working
  They focus on major issues, such as how your story hangs together, what your characters are doing or could be doing,  what retards your story’s momentum, what story elements are not pulling their weight.
  They explain why these are weaknesses and suggest  how to fix them.
• put aside their personal preferences 
  They accept the style and content you have chosen, rather than moulding your writing to meet their personal preferences.

• let you control your work
  They give suggestions, leaving it up to you to accept or reject them.
• don’t nitpick
  They concentrate on major issues and leave minor items—misspellings, grammatical errors—-for  fixing your final draft.

• help you set and work with writing goals
  
•  help you establish good writing habits

• suggest markets for your work.

Get a mentor early

A writer once sent in a huge, completed manuscript for a writing assessor to analyse. The assessor later told me that it would have been better for the writer to have asked for  feedback earlier. ‘She would have saved herself a lot of major rewriting.’ If you want a mentor, consider involving the mentor early in your writing project.

Be cautious about the long-term

Beware of mentor who want you to sign a long-term contract. You could start with a short period with your mentor, or have a pay-as-you-go arrangemen. If the experience is positive, you can consider a longer-term arrangement.

Choosing a writing mentor

A professional writing mentor, like a freelance editor or writer, is a gun for hire.  If you decide to choose a mentor,  exercise care to ensure you get what you want.

• Identify your aims
  What issues or problems do you seek help for?
  Example:  I am writing a crime novel, set in the Outback. I have chosen my characters and plot , and have written a few chapters. But I’m running out of steam. My writing group says I need to develop the characters more but I’m not sure how. Also,  I find it hard to stay motivated.

• Search the field
  Collect names of possible mentors by asking others for suggestions, and checking information from writing centres or professional associations. Develop a list of possibilities, and then check out their websites to find what the kinds of services they provide and the costs involved.

  Do you want written responses only? Do some  face-to-face interaction?

• Ask for details about services and costs.
  Cautionary tale: One writer paid a huge sum for a professional critique—and received a single-sentence comment:  ‘Your material is not publishable’.
  When selecting a mentor, learn what is and is not included in the price.
  How often can you send material?
  How much  feedback will you get, when will you receive it, and what kind of feedback is provided?
  How can you contact the mentor ? E.g.:  face-to-face, email, telephone, Skype? How often?
• Check background and interests
   Ask for the mentor’s resume to discover if the professional background, education, successes suits your needs. How long have the person mentored? What is the scope of their mentoring? What successes have they had with their clients?

  Background. Why do they mentor? What is their area of expertise? What is their style in providing feedback?.Writing and publishing experience—or not? Some mentors are published writers, but others are not. Mentors who do not write themselves may have a strong background in editing, publishing, or teaching.

• Test the chemistry
  The quality of  being mentored depends greatly on the chemistry between you, the writer, and your mentor. Does the menotor seem informal or formal? Humorous or serious? Fussy or forgiving? Rule-oriented or organic?

  What suits you? Can you test-drive the mentoring experience. by accepting a free initial consultation or analysis of your material? Can you ask potential mentors to provide a short trial evaluation of one of your pieces?

  Evaluate the feedback received. Are the person’s comments helpful? Clear?  Important or picky? Do they help you see things in a new light? Do they address any issues you asked about?