Last year, for the first time I was a writing mentor and had a mentor of my own. The experiences hardly overlapped which in hindsight was a shame, as I have learned so much from being on the other side of the relationship these past few months.
Let’s start with the mentee. Up until October 2011 I was mentoring Sandra Greaves. She had come to me as a client of Adventures in Fiction (this is not an advert honest!). They sift through writers (and often the mentor gets the final choice between two possible candidates) and you work with them for up to 18 months on their manuscript. Because of this pre selection you know when you get the script that it is already going to be good, but Sandra’s novel Gabbleratchet really shone. It is a lovely, exciting, scary/spooky story pitched perfectly for middle grade readers.
And I am glad to say that wasn’t just my opinion. Gabbleratchet has been selected as one of twelve novels to be included in SCWBI’s (Society of Children’s Writers and Book Illustrators) 2012’s Undiscovered Voices collection that goes to agents and editors and has produced some of the most exciting new writers published in the past few years.
I loved working with Sandra, (as with my previous mentees) she was willing to work hard, wanted to make her script the best it could be, and not put off by my clumsy (metaphorical) boots stomping all over her work. I hope I was a sounding board, helping to find ways out of writerly holes, talking about characters and story and being a sort of chief cheerleader and hand holder through revision and rewriting.
So what do I get out of it? A bit of money obviously, but I do love reading and even more selfishly it is SO much easier to see one’s own mistakes in other people’s work. And seeing a story change and grow is a fantastic privilege.
One more thing, my condensed tips, which I am sure Sandra knows off by heart;
1. Dramatise – let the reader live the action
2. Never forget to write (and dramatise) the difficult scenes – not just the major action chase/battle/whatever but also the crucial changes of heart, the moment of falling in love or epiphany etc.
3. DRAMATISE
So the view from the other side of the fence? Well since October I’ve been blessed to work with Julie Rutterford. She is mentoring me as I write a TV drama series. Julie has written everything, from Life on Mars, to The Lakes, to Hustle to Five Daughters. She is brilliant at it. It is like having an older sister on the end of the phone who knows EVERYTHING. She is the perfect secret friend who is prepared to talk around and about and through all aspects of my story world. She spots flaws and helps me sort them out without never once making me feel like a know nothing idiot. Apart from learning about screenwriting Julie has taught me loads about successful mentoring.
I think the most important thing a mentor can do is give their clients confidence. Not false confidence obviously, but the ability to recognise when things are right, and when you just might have something, and that you just might be able to do anything!
And of course that the second, and third, and fourth, and fifth draft will be even better……