One-to-One Mentoring for Writers: Growth, Motivation and Inspiration
One-to-one mentoring for writers working on short stories, novels, or creative non-fiction. Each mentoring session includes a one-hour consultation on Skype or Zoom along with detailed feedback on a short story or novel extract (up to 5,000 words).
Mentoring sessions are held by me, Shaun Levin.
Even before I started publishing short stories in the early 1990s, my writing mentors have always been a combination of peer-writers, and the work and lives of writers from previous generations. My mentors are other writers who believe deeply in the value of writing as an art-form, and who, through their writing and their ideas about writing, have shown me ways to work with words I'd not previously considered.
As a mentor, I will be a fellow writer on your journey. I will bring my experience and insight of over 20 years of writing, publishing, and teaching creative writing to our work together. I will nudge you towards listening closely to your work and where it can lead you. Yes, writing is wordcount + hours, but it is also art and creative expression. I believe we write – fiction or memoir – to make sense of who we are as individuals and to uncover some of the mysteries of humankind. These values and this outlook are what I will bring to our work together.
Whether you'd like feedback on a particular story, a collection of stories, creative non-fiction pieces, or a novel, I'll work closely with you and suggest ways to strengthen and deepen your work. Our starting point will always be the words on the page. I will help you identify what the writing itself reveals about the story's potential. We'll look at style, vocabulary and form to gain insight into the themes and concerns of your work, and the direction you could keep developing in as a writer.
How does your story, novel, or collection fit into the overall picture of your writing ambition and what you'd like to achieve as a writer? I'll encourage you to consider how you position your work, the tradition you see yourself working in, the writers you'd like to sit alongside on the bookshelf, and, if relevant, help you find ways to better integrate writing into your life.
If you're feeling stuck, we can write together for some of the time and discuss ways to develop the pieces you produce. When you book multiple sessions, I will support you between our meetings, and suggest ways to build your network of fellow writers and boost your accountability.
Having published books and short stories with independent publishers, as well as being a strong believer in the importance of self-publishing, I'd be happy to work with you to explore the different options to get your work out there. I will encourage you to submit work to journals and anthologies, and work closely with you to select the best and most appropriate places to send your work.
I also offer mentoring for creative writing tutors. I will help you design a writing workshop or a series of workshops. Having run creative writing courses for over 20 years in traditional settings, as well as one-off and ongoing workshops, I can work with you to brainstorm and plan a course or series of writing workshops. This mentoring option is particularly suited to writers who've recently completed their studies and are looking to generate more income to support their writing. I'll work with you to: generate ideas for workshops; help you turn what you're passionate about into writing-related activities; and suggest ways to set up your own workshops as well as approach relevant host organisations. We can also arrange a post-workshop debriefing session.
If you have any questions about any of the mentoring options, please do get in touch with me via shaun@shaunlevin.com or through this form.
About me: Shaun Levin is the author of Snapshots of The Boy, A Year of Two Summers and Seven Sweet Things, amongst other books. His series of writing guides, The Writing Notebooks, are devised to support writers in taking on a book-length project. He is the creator of Writing Maps and runs The A3 Press, an independent chapbook press. Shaun has been teaching creative writing for over twenty years and has worked closely with thousands of writers at all stages of their writing journey.