Occasionally I work closely with a writer as he or she develops a longer work.

Why would you want a mentor?

Writing a novel entails a huge amount of commitment, perseverance and self-belief - if there is someone there who will, metaphorically, hold your hand, it can help you through the long dark nights of the soul when you lose faith in what you're doing, when your characters seem to have been cut out of recycled cardboard, when your plot is a muddle, when every phrase you write is a cliche, when you cannot for the life of you imagine why anybody in their right mind would want to read what you've laboured so hard to produce.

What is a mentor's role?

A mentor is someone who will both guide and encourage you. Someone who's faced the same practical problems and issues of self-doubt as you have and will sympathise - but do more than just sympathise: a mentor will offer you constructive advice, help you focus on correcting individual weaknesses, take an overview of your work, assist you in targeting it to a market. A mentor will reassure you and offer comfort - but will also nag and chivvy you to keep going and to keep striving to make your work the best it can possibly be.

How does fictionfire mentoring work?

If we agree that mentoring would be useful to you, I will be there for you as the work progresses. You would have the freedom to develop your writing at your own pace, or if you wish, we can agree targets and a timetable, where I would expect you to deliver instalments of the work, of up to ten thousand words each time (there's nothing like a deadline to rev up productivity!). I will go over the manuscript, aiming to give you close-focus editorial advice. In addition, I will discuss with you what your aims are, how you feel you're progressing, how to overcome obstacles in your writing life, how the plot is taking shape, what the strengths and weaknesses of the work are, whether you are maintaining pace and focus, what qualities your writing has and how to sharpen your style. In the later stages, I'll offer advice about revision, along with how best to pitch the work to the market.

Dialogue will be established through email, telephone discussion and, if I think it is appropriate, one-to-one meetings.

As this relationship demands long-term mutual trust and a serious commitment on your part, do please contact me first, at info@fictionfire.co.uk  to discuss your plans and requirements. I reserve the right not to take on a client if I feel I cannot make a useful contribution and also to terminate any mentoring relationship if I feel it is not working out satisfactorily.

Go to How to Submit for further details on how to send me your material.

For prices for this service, go to Fees.