Do you want a writing partner or mentor?

Provided a Mentor doesn't refer to me as "Grasshopper" and a Partner doesn't expect sexual favors, either one would suffice for me.

Gehanna

Huh?

P.S.

Here are my definitions:

A mentor is someone who knows more than you do and is willing to take you under his/her wing to answer questions, possibly provide feedback on your work, etc.

A partner is someone who you actually write with. Maybe one of you is the "idea person" and the other is the "get it on paper" sort. Maybe one writes, then the other edits. Maybe you take turns writing pages or chapters.

Lines can overlap, but neither is inherently a more "serious" relationship than the other. A writing partnership is not necessarily "loose" or "fun." My partnerships are work. If I have a need for someone with expertise in a particular area, and I ask that person to be a co-writer, I expect him/her to take it as a business relationship, not as a "hey, let's motivate each other and laugh a lot" thing-- though the latter is what others want.

Hermit (and everyone else), I'm with Jenna. A little confused. Is there anything I or another mod can do?

I don't know what a "mod" is, but if you want to be mentored, go to http://www.allexperts.com. Lots of mentors there.

Susan Rand
THE PYGMY PRESS
ePublishing at its Best
Editing/Writing Services
Jobs for Writers

Gehanna said:

Provided a Mentor doesn't refer to me as "Grasshopper" and a Partner doesn't expect sexual favors, either one would suffice for me.

Gehanna

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The best of both worlds would be to have a mentor you could exchange sexual favors with every day, then write about it.

P.S.: Ladies, I'm available...

mentor

Yep, I think Jenna has it exactly right. Hermit's writing partner sounds more like a mentor than his mentor does.

I would like a mentor or writing partner to help me with my screenplay that i'm working on....I want to do this right so I can get it sold...Not only that, but I would like to know the steps in which to get a screenplay submitted.... So I guess i'm not sure what I want Just someone to guide me but yet give me suggestions...

Bill

I have discovered through working with other writers, that I do better on my own when it comes to creating work. I find that we often have two very different ideas of what we want for the book and that creates conflict I don't like to deal with.

Mentor is definately for me, someone who can show me what I am doing wrong and help me understand how to fix it.

To me a mentor is someone who helps you grow in the writing craft where as a writing partner is either someone who encourages you to write and you are each working on your seperate books and you bounce ideas off one another to help move your story along, or a co-writer who you write a book with.

My poor friends and family tend to be my "writing partners" because I bounce my ideas off them and talk to them about my story and characters and they often read and give light input. I have that, I definately need a mentor. Someone who can help me tear down what I have written and make it better and help me fine tune the craft and the book.



Sara

I, too, am wondering where all these "is requireds" came from...? And as for "A mentor is required to teach through subtle & obscure means," that is just blatantly ridiculous. What's needed in writing instruction is clarity and brevity.

There are any number of people who are willing and able to help you with your writing, but those who will mentor you through an entire book (which may take years) or even a course in short story writing for free are going to be thin on the ground, and unreliable at best. A mentor is valuable to you because they know more than you do about the subject. Why should they give away valuable knowledge it has taken them half a lifetime to learn so another writer can skip their way through their apprenticeship, especially when effective "mentors" mostly use their time to write?

All the information you need is available to you at your public library, for cheap on amazon.com and in writing groups online, as well as through courses at your local community college or university.

If you're not willing to pay, it's best to mentor yourself. It takes a lot longer but it's cheap.

Catty

Hermit said:

A mentor is required to oversee your continuing education in writing.
A mentor is required to teach you the 'higher' elements of the dicipline.
A mentor is required to disregard all student's excuses and limitations.
A mentor is required to teach through subtle & obscure means.
A mentor is required to show through previous public example.
A mentor is required to restict you to the rules and guidelines.


A writing partner will encourage you to write every day.
A writing partner will make sure you didn't miss a comma.
A writing partner will read your stuff within interest in his/her own interest.
A writing partner will email you when you're not active anymore
A writing partner will go find someone else when bored with the topic

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i have to admit i dont get the very last sentance there...bored with what topic? but anyway...in my view...a MENTOR should be ALL those things rolled into one package surely...a mentor wouldnt be a very good mentor unless you felt comfortable enough to have a laugh and have fun etc.... i mean the definitions of a mentor above sound a bit...well...strict lol....but hey....

what do i know...i asked for someone to just give me advice...anyone at all...from any writing discipline....and well...no one wants to know lmao...

so i guess im going it alone on this one.

cant even get anyone to comment on the stuff ive shared in the share your work forum....im guessing its so bad people cant possibly put its badness into words

NaomiRE said:

cant even get anyone to comment on the stuff ive shared in the share your work forum....im guessing its so bad people cant possibly put its badness into words

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Hi NaomiRE,
I found your link and commented. You might also want to post your link to your piece in the playwrite section and ask them to comment on it. It is more likely they will find it that way.
Sara

ask me one question and if you like my answer then ill try to help you some more.Artistry only.I dont have a buisness head

Hello John13,

I have a single question for you. It may come across as though I am trying to make fun of you but, I'm not.

My question is:

Why are you not using the space bar after the period at the end of your sentences?

Sincerely,
Gehanna

A mentor....

I'm confused too.
I just came over to check my personal and unverified definitions against what might be understood on the board.
I would personally define 'mentor' as a professional (ie someone who receives money in exchange for writing), who guides and teaches someone of less experience. To me that would mean guidance for career and business as well as in the craft itself.
I would have figured a writing partner to be someone on the same level (more or less) with whom one undertakes a specific writing task. Conditions and division of labour would vary, so if the labour was divided into one person writing and the other encouraging and editing, that would probably still be a writing partnership. But it would end after that task, rather than continue over a career or apprenticeship.
This means I don't have a term for what falls in-between, a longer-term relationship between people, neither of whom are published, but one of whom encourages, advises and reviews the other.
Where would beta-reader fit in, or is that term not being used because of the fanfic associations or not meaning anything to some percentage of the members here?

I would hope that anyone entering either sort of relationship makes sure that both parties have defined their terms and been clear what they expect. (This is the same advice I give to anyone in the SCA considering becoming a squire, apprentice or protege to a peer. Just because each relationship is individual doesn't mean that there should be no base-level of obligation.)
-Barbara