So, I don't care what you call me - writing mentor, writing coach or book coach - just call me!
I am here to help and I know I can improve your writing skills and the manuscript you are working on. Here are some tips to get the best value from any writing coach ...but especially me.
Tip #1 - Don't wait until it is too late
Too often writers approach me for help on a completed manuscript. It is so much harder to make sense of, and drastically re-structure, a story of, say, 300-400 pages than it is to work on the concepts and plot line in summary form before much writing has been done. As well, I find that, when I am involved in the planning stages, I act as a catalyst for ideas because the writer bounces ideas off me and I make suggestions.
All writing coaches have their own techniques and processes: I favour starting with a Structural Mentoring package -- in fact, I won't take on chapter-by-chapter mentoring without this first step. It gives me an overview of the novel, allows me to ensure that all the essential elements of a good commercial plot have been included, and gives me an early opportunity to strengthen the plot and make helpful suggestions. I offer this service at $34.99 (Australian dollars), so novice writers can afford some professional help.
Tip #2 - Be open to new ideas
It seems logical that, if you are paying good money to have a writing mentor help you, you should be open to what he or she suggests. Of course, most new writers are willing, but occasionally it becomes clear that a writer really only wants a pat on the head and reassurance that his or her book is wonderful. Suggestions for improvement are met with antipathy and are rarely employed. This is one of the main reasons I suggest you find and employ your writing coach in the planning stages. Once you have sweated over a story for twelve months, come to know the characters as family, and have the story line cemented into your brain, it becomes extremely difficult to accept that something should be drastically changed -- for example, a different POV character or a change of plot ending, or a darling to be killed.
Tip #3 - Don't be discouraged by helpful criticism
“I write one page of masterpiece to ninety-one pages of shit. I try to put the shit in the wastebasket.”
Ernest Hemingway - in a letter to F. Scott Fitzgerald
Here we have an acknowledged literary master admitting that much of what he turned out each day was not great writing. Unfortunately, most of us do not have this acute ability to evaluate our own writing and, in fact, can fool ourselves into thinking our writing is brilliant when it isn't. Consequently, when a knowledgeable outsider looks at your work and tells you a section is not so good, this news should not send you into a spiral of depression or make you decide to take up the violin instead.
If you have a mentor who can tell you WHY the writing is not so great and HOW you can improve it, you should be heartened, not disillusioned. Many novice writers try too hard: they believe that flowery writing, dripping with metaphors and esoteric thoughts, is 'writerly'. It can come as a blow when a writing mentor slashes through what the writer had thought were some of the best pages.
Tip #4 - Be mindful that all critiquing is subjective
I have just finished arguing that mentoring clients should keep an open mind and accept changes suggested by their writing coach, so this point may seem like a complete contradiction. Sometimes you just have to follow your gut instinct. I always start by spelling out to new clients that critiques are subjective, that I am human and have my share of foibles, preferences and even prejudices. For example, I really don't like present tense narration and I urge writers to avoid omniscient narration if they want to involve the reader's heart. And, yes, many successful authors have used those features cleverly.
I am sure other writing mentors will agree that we do not pretend to sit in the clouds among the gods and hand down judgement accompanied by lightning bolts. I analyse my clients' work and offer the most honest professional advice that I can. I always offer reasons for my criticism and suggest alternatives. However, I stress to my clients that, if, after giving my suggestions serious consideration, they still feel their own version is best, they must NEVER make changes just because I said so. I want clients to be blown away by the 'right-ness' of the suggested change, because they need to be able to make it their own ... it must never be a half-hearted add-on.
Tip #5 - Try mentoring and see the difference
If you try mentoring on just one manuscript, I am sure you will experience a surge in quality, and have a companion to discuss problems with along the writing path.
Who can afford a mentor? Good point.
Many excellent mentors who frequently work with published authors are undoubtedly beyond the budget of a new aspiring writer.
I would like to believe that most novice writers could afford the help I offer. I charge $7.00 per 1000 words. That certainly mounts up, if you have written a 100,000 word novel, ($700) but if you think of it as $14-$28 (Australian) dollars for the average 2000-4000 word chapter, a fee you pay when you send each individual chapter, perhaps spread over a year, you may find it more palatable. I require no contract, so if you do not think you are getting fantastic advice and good value for money, you simply stop sending chapters.
Check the services I offer on the Services page and contact me now - no obligation.