Mentorships and manuscript evaluations
This past week the topic of mentorships and manuscript evaluations came up on the Indigo Community Forum, so I thought I'd bring it up here as well.
Outside my work teaching advanced novel and advanced fiction at UBC, in the optional-residency CW MFA program, I do take on private mentorships and manuscript evaluations for fiction when I have time, and if I think I can really help the writer. Anyone interested can contact me at books@gailanderson-dargatz.ca and I'll send back a sheet with details and fees.
Booming Ground (the UBC non-credit CW program) also offers a great mentorship and manuscript evaluation service with some of Canada's best writers, as does the Writers Union of Canada.
I'm also interested in hearing from other professional writers who offer mentoring as I'm often approached by apprentice writers looking for mentorship, but I don't always have time to provide it, and would like to have a list of writers on hand that I can pass along. If you're interested, let me know, again at books@gailanderson-dargatz.ca.
Mentorship is one-on-one teaching or guiding a writer through process. The writer submits a story or portion of their manuscript by email once a month over the course of several months. I use the writer's own material as an opportunity to discuss elements of craft. So I'll give notes about the manuscript that are instructive, and I also give detailed comments on the manuscript itself (using the comment function on word). The writer and I discuss these notes, and then the writer goes off to rewrite and prepare the next month's submission.
Manuscript evaluation is also an opportunity for mentorship, so I offer instruction on elements of craft as I offer advice on how to improve the manuscript itself.
On her blog, Sandra Gulland points out that mentorships are not only for apprentice, or unpublished writers. She writes, "I enrolled in a Humber correspondence course while writing Tales of Passion, Tales of Woe. I was fortunate enough to have Carol Shields, a correspondence I treasure. I realize now, too, that I'm in the process of setting up a mentorship with Dan Smetanka for my next novel. Writers work alone, but it's important to set up a support system, be it a writers' group, a teacher, an editor, friend, family -- or (in my case) all of the above."
Ain't that the truth? I still have readers who offer feedback on my manuscripts. The legendary writer and teacher Jack Hodgins has not only been one of those readers, but my mentor right from the start of my career. I understand, now, just how generous he has been with his time. The fees I charge for mentorships never, ever cover the time involved. But the act of mentoring feeds my soul, makes me feel a part of a continuum and a community. Here's to all those who pass on the torch.
Outside my work teaching advanced novel and advanced fiction at UBC, in the optional-residency CW MFA program, I do take on private mentorships and manuscript evaluations for fiction when I have time, and if I think I can really help the writer. Anyone interested can contact me at books@gailanderson-dargatz.ca and I'll send back a sheet with details and fees.
Booming Ground (the UBC non-credit CW program) also offers a great mentorship and manuscript evaluation service with some of Canada's best writers, as does the Writers Union of Canada.
I'm also interested in hearing from other professional writers who offer mentoring as I'm often approached by apprentice writers looking for mentorship, but I don't always have time to provide it, and would like to have a list of writers on hand that I can pass along. If you're interested, let me know, again at books@gailanderson-dargatz.ca.
Mentorship is one-on-one teaching or guiding a writer through process. The writer submits a story or portion of their manuscript by email once a month over the course of several months. I use the writer's own material as an opportunity to discuss elements of craft. So I'll give notes about the manuscript that are instructive, and I also give detailed comments on the manuscript itself (using the comment function on word). The writer and I discuss these notes, and then the writer goes off to rewrite and prepare the next month's submission.
Manuscript evaluation is also an opportunity for mentorship, so I offer instruction on elements of craft as I offer advice on how to improve the manuscript itself.
On her blog, Sandra Gulland points out that mentorships are not only for apprentice, or unpublished writers. She writes, "I enrolled in a Humber correspondence course while writing Tales of Passion, Tales of Woe. I was fortunate enough to have Carol Shields, a correspondence I treasure. I realize now, too, that I'm in the process of setting up a mentorship with Dan Smetanka for my next novel. Writers work alone, but it's important to set up a support system, be it a writers' group, a teacher, an editor, friend, family -- or (in my case) all of the above."
Ain't that the truth? I still have readers who offer feedback on my manuscripts. The legendary writer and teacher Jack Hodgins has not only been one of those readers, but my mentor right from the start of my career. I understand, now, just how generous he has been with his time. The fees I charge for mentorships never, ever cover the time involved. But the act of mentoring feeds my soul, makes me feel a part of a continuum and a community. Here's to all those who pass on the torch.
posted by Gail Anderson-Dargatz at
10:07 AM
