Looking for a mentor? Somebody to help me identify my weaknesses, develop my strengths?

Jadeyn M · Mar 1, 2012

I'm an English major and avid reader/writer. As much as I love writing, I find it rather difficult to get decent critiques on my work. I have two friends with whom I occasionally share, but their experience with literature is a bit different than mine, and the feedback I receive is rather superficial. I value highly my instructors' opinions, but they are often busy with other, more important things.

I have a handful of completed short stories of various genres (two are a bit surreal, one is a ghost story, and two are more realistic - I don't stay in one place quite easily). I began short stories in the last year, after taking a Creative Writing class at my college. I write poetry and am tackling a longer project at the moment, though it is through the stories I hope to find my flaws and strengths.

My writing style is not easy for me to describe. It's something of a combination of older/modern influences. I've been told by another that it's kind of formal, but perhaps only in structure; I see it as rather quick-moving, the pace being a flaw in some instances. If anybody is willing to advise me on my craft, I would greatly appreciate it.

Thank you.

underthecity · Mar 1, 2012

Jadeyn,

I'd like to repeat to you the same thing we've said on several of these recent, similar threads. First off, please read at least some of the stickies in this forum, and maybe also Maryn's thread titled "Why I won't beta read your book." I'm sure you're nice person and all, but we stress to new posters at AW to please get involved in the community for a while before asking for critiques, mentors, partners, beta readers, etc.

Once people have gotten to know you better, and you've accumulated at least fifty posts, you can post your work in Share Your Work for peer review and critique. We also ask that you visit SYW and start critiquing others' works, because AW is a give-and-take kind of place.

THEN people will be more willing to advise you on your craft.

Maryn · Mar 1, 2012

I echo underthecity, and note that while my Why I Won't Beta thread makes me sound irascible, I'm actually a sweetie.

The thing is, asking someone to beta read, or mentor, or improve one's writing mechanics, or whatever a recent arrival hopes to gain, is asking quite a bit of the other person. Many of us burned more than once are leery of newcomers who ask before giving of themselves.

So tell you what. You make five posts a day here for two weeks, at least one of substance every day (like a critique or a detailed reply to a complex question), and shazam, you will not only be well past the minimum number of posts to get your work critiqued in public, but your name will be on people's radar. Keep that up--especially the critique and substance part--and by the time you hit 200 or 300 posts, I bet somebody will take you up on the mentor thing.

We like to help other writers, we really do. I've been helped here, and I've done what I could to help others. But if you offer your time to new arrivals, you'll quickly find, as so many have, that way too many of them are here to take what they can get and give back as little as possible. So what we hope for is you showing us that isn't you, that you want to be a part of this community rather than mine it for its benefits to you.

Maryn, who has a tendency to ramble, proven above

quicklime · Mar 1, 2012

Jadeyn,

hello from (barely) up north....seconding what's been said, check out Maryn's "why I won't beta" thread. Maryn is a terrible, evil troll who lives to make writers cry, and she has a hate-on for anyone with dark hair, toes, or skin. Hence her horrible, mean thread.

seriously, Maryn is actually very eloquent about the issue of betas, mostly because she has worked with LOTS of them in the past. There's just some things in there to consider, because most of them ARE fixable, and most of them come down to "get to know folks a bit before you ask a favor."

No biggie, and if you want a small taste of near-instant gratification, in the meantime go rack up 50 posts (critiquing others is a great way to do so, because you learn a shit-ton, a little-known metric unit of measurement, of stuff from critiquing very quickly that will help your craft) and drop a segment in SYW. After/besides/during that, hang out a bit and contribute, make a (hopefully good) name for yourself....a beta is a bit like marriage, not many people want to jump in at the "mail order bride" stage, so give us all a chance to get to know you, and you to get to know us, and you'll be well on the way to finding someone compatible.

welcome, and look around. expect to find a beta, just expect, if you do it right, that you won't (and perhaps shouldn't) be finding one this week already.....

Quick

quicklime · Mar 1, 2012

aaah, maryn beat me into the thread anyway :-(

*clearly not so Quick

Jamiekswriter · Mar 1, 2012

Another avenue you could try is joining your local writer's organization. I know that my RWA group does monthly crit groups and assigns new members a PRO (completed ms was sent to agent or publisher) or PAN (published) author to be their mentor.

Good luck!

Maryn · Mar 1, 2012

quicklime said:
aaah, maryn beat me into the thread anyway :-(

*clearly not so Quick

But definitely with a hint of lime!

Jadeyn M · Mar 1, 2012

Hey, thanks everybody. I know I haven't been here very long (and I admit to actually reading the "Why I Won't Beta Read Your Book" - obviously, I don't learn), nor have I been quite active as I should. I understand your points completely. I suppose my mistake was thinking that my request wasn't quite the same as a beta-reader request. I had looked for other requests for mentors (for reference) but only found one, and it was a bit odd.

Regardless, my mistake should prove to other newbs the correct way to go. Cheers!

Bufty · Mar 2, 2012

Mentoring has demands way in excess of a beta reader.

Looking for a mentor? Somebody to help me identify my weaknesses, develop my strengths?

Jadeyn M

underthecity

Finestkind

Maryn

Baaa!

quicklime

all out of fucks to give

quicklime

all out of fucks to give

Jamiekswriter

USA Today Bestselling Author

Maryn

Baaa!

Jadeyn M

Bufty

Where have the last ten years gone?