How to Mentor an Aspiring Writer
If you are a published writer, an aspiring writer could benefit greatly from everything you've learned up to this point in your career. You probably have no idea how much knowledge and experience you've accumulated since you started your journey from aspiring to published writer, but it's almost certainly a lot. Mentoring another aspiring writer is a way to pass along your knowledge, shorten that person's learning curve and help him get into publication.
Other People Are Reading
Instructions
-
-
1
Ask the aspiring writer you will be working with about what kind of writing she likes to do, her writing goals, how you can assist her in achieving those goals, what she wants to learn from you and how she learns best. Ask if she has any completed writing or works in progress to share with you.
-
2
Review the aspiring writer's work to determine her skill level with English and grammar, assess her writing style, consider which markets might be appropriate for her work after it has been more fully developed and determine how you can best help her develop and take her writing to the next level.
-
-
3
Discuss the kind of feedback the aspiring writer would like to receive. She may only want to know if her English, grammar and word usage are appropriate. Perhaps she wants to know if her fictional characters seem real or her dialogue is genuine and believable. Maybe she wants to know what you think of her plot development. Each aspiring writer will have different desires or expectations when asking for feedback, and you should know what those expectations are so you can provide that specific kind of feedback.
-
4
Critique the aspiring writer's sample work according to the parameters she set for you. At this point, you may want to limit your feedback to those items she specified. Providing too much information or a critique she perceives as critical could crush her fragile confidence at this point in the game. Later, as you get to know the aspiring writer and she gets to know you, you can provide more specific tips and advice, such as how to make her work "even better."
-
5
Suggest books or publications the aspiring writer should read and study to strengthen her writing skills in specific areas. There are dozens of writing books available that cover everything from character development to writing articles for magazines, from writing creative nonfiction to creating children's storybooks and everything in between. Recommend books you already know are helpful and will address the skills you think this particular writer should more fully develop.
-
6
Consider how you can best help the aspiring writer achieve her specific goals. For instance, if her dream is to get a young adult Christian novel published, you can suggest she review the Christian Writers Market Guide to look for potential markets. You could even lend her your copy of the book to use.
-
7
Share industry news and information with the aspiring writer. As a published writer, you probably already have some contacts in the industry or subscribe to emails or publications that help keep you abreast of changes in the marketplace, new trends or other industry news. Pass that along to the writer you're mentoring and let her benefit from the inside scoop.
-
8
Set up regular meetings or sessions with the writer you're helping so you can provide regular, consistent feedback and to ensure the writer is making steady efforts and progress toward the development of her skills and craft. These sessions could be weekly or monthly, depending on both of your schedules. You should both be committed to keeping these meetings as a sign of your commitment to this ongoing relationship.
-
9
Teach the aspiring writer a specific skill. Perhaps you notice that this writer has a habit of telling the reader everything when, in fact, she could be showing the writer instead. Use a session to teach the aspiring writer how to show, not tell. Provide writing exercises she can complete to develop this new skill.
-
10
Give the aspiring writer positive feedback. Show her specific areas where she is growing as a writer, help her compare her before and after writing samples to identify skills she is developing and encourage her to keep on writing despite any discouragement she may feel. Explain how long it takes to become a good writer and how much longer still it often takes to become a published writer. Teach her about the submission and review process, what she can expect and how to improve her odds of getting published in a particular area. Feed her ego a bit and tell her what she's good at. Writing critiques are a lot easier to accept when they include positive comments as well as areas for improvement.
-
11
Invite the writer you're mentoring to ask you questions. Sometimes it's hard to know what to tell the aspiring writer or what she really wants to learn. She can help set the pace for your sessions and her own development by identifying what she needs to know.
-
12
Answer questions as completely as you can without overwhelming her. Depending on the age and experience of the writer, you may want to provide information and advice in bite-sized morsels so she can absorb it. You don't have to teach her everything at once. But when you see her learning and developing, provide more morsels to feed her hunger for knowledge.
-
13
Assign writing exercises, provide writing prompts and story starters and use the tools at your disposal to help the aspiring writer keep moving forward, learning and growing as a writer.
-
14
Ask the aspiring writer to provide you with feedback periodically, as well. You need to know if you are helping or hindering her progress, providing the information she needs when she needs it or overwhelming her with too much information, confusing her or clarifying new concepts. You need to know if you should speed up or slow down, if she is ready for you to suggest possible markets for her completed work and if she finds your mentoring relationship with her beneficial.
-
15
Decide mutually whether the two of you should reconsider your mentoring relationship with one another. If the collaboration is meeting both of your needs and your personalities click, this could become a long-term friendship and student/teacher relationship. If for some reason the two of you just aren't clicking or you have a clash of personalities, it may be best to go your separate ways. Rest assured, no matter how long the mentoring relationship lasts, you will both come away from the collaboration having gained some valuable insights and experiences you can both use in the future--and in your respective writing careers.
-
1
Tips & Warnings
Suggest good writing classes that will help the aspiring writer better develop particular skills.
Put the aspiring writer you are mentoring in touch with some of the great online writing groups for her genre of choice, to garner additional support for her writing efforts and to get her involved with a community of like-minded people she can relate to.
Help the aspiring writer to set realistic, achievable goals. For instance, a good goal is to submit two stories to potential markets but not to get two stories published. The first is good because that goal is within her control, but the latter is totally outside of her control. Once she submits the stories, the editor alone will determine what gets accepted and published.
Never promise an aspiring writer you can help get her published or in any other way guarantee the outcome of your relationship or the mentoring experience. You can help and you can coach, but the writer herself must be willing to do the necessary work. You can assist in skill development, but you can't make an editor like her work.
