Looking for a writing Mentor or Buddy

I do hope you find something willing to work with you.

On a side note...

Ohoopee said:

I don't like posting anything I have written in any forum so it is hard for me to get good feed back. I am also willing to give feed back from my own limited experience and do anything else to help that I can.

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Why is that? Afraid of feedback? Or getting your work stolen?

Have you tried looking into the SYW section here? The SYW is secure, and it's a place designed to help others learn. Posting your work there can a great learning experience, and critiquing other people's work can also teach you a lot.

Working under a mentor can be beneficial, but it's also very limiting, and it's a lot of work for that single person to handle. Working with a group broadens what you can learn and puts less strain on the people trying to help you as a whole.

Ohoopee said:

Hello,

My reasoning is because one day, like most writers, I hope to get my work published. I have been told that Forums are kind of a Gray area because sometimes work posted in a forum can be considered published by some people. I had a writing buddy briefly but we only communicated through PM's in the forum and he got banned for some reason. He did advise me not to post anything into the forums that I might want to get published one day. Now I don't plan to post whole chapters anyway but he said it didn't take much being post to mess you up. I am just scared of it to be honest. I know that section is secure but I am still just scared that one day I may actually get a publishing offer just to have them say "Sorry you posted a paragraph of this work on this forum. It has been published and we can't help you." I'm being paranoid I know.

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Generally, that type of prohibition on forum posting applies to open forums - someplace anyone can see it and that search engines can grab it. The SYW forums here are password-protected.

Also, the prohibition on posting your work doesn't, in any way, apply to a paragraph or even a few thousand words of a novel-length ms. That's just not the case. If you're unsure, feel free to go to the Ask the Agent or Ask the Editor sections and check previous threads or ask there.

Ohoopee said:

Hello,

My reasoning is because one day, like most writers, I hope to get my work published. I have been told that Forums are kind of a Gray area because sometimes work posted in a forum can be considered published by some people. I had a writing buddy briefly but we only communicated through PM's in the forum and he got banned for some reason. He did advise me not to post anything into the forums that I might want to get published one day. Now I don't plan to post whole chapters anyway but he said it didn't take much being post to mess you up. I am just scared of it to be honest. I know that section is secure but I am still just scared that one day I may actually get a publishing offer just to have them say "Sorry you posted a paragraph of this work on this forum. It has been published and we can't help you." I'm being paranoid I know.

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Like cornflake has said, the SYW section is password protected. It does not take your first publishing rights away. Posting on a blog, where someone can find your work from a search engine would. But not the SYW section.

There's been... dozens, if not hundreds of people who post their first chapters in the SYW section before they start querying and then published that exact same writing later. I've seen it at least a dozen times now. If the SYW section took your first publishing rights away, MacAllister (the owner of AW) would have egg on her face from putting such a section of the board up.

I suggest you go look at the SYW section. Critique, comment on other people's work. Check out the first 200 words thread in the Sci-Fi and Fantasy section, and possible test the waters there. Yeah, it is scary, but it's a lot easier and the people are a lot nicer than what you'd find if you went straight to publishing. People don't give a shit about you after you've published your story; your work will be beat to hell and back if the reader wishes to say a thing or two. In the SYW section, the people there wish to help you, not to scare you. It's a great way to get over your fear and possibly keep any naysayers from naysaying about problems you could have fixed.
Read all the stickies in the Main Board of the SYW section, and just remember that people are there to help you.


I also have to mention, being a mentor is a lot of work. Someone is devoting a lot of their time and efforts towards you, and regardless of how you try to help them out, it's still a one-way battle. I suggest, instead, find a critique buddy who likes your writing/story from the SYW section, and you can learn off of one another.

Again, best wishes.