I'm a patient and flexible person normally, and I totally get the highs and lows of writing a book. Editing a book isn't easy, and can be hard on confidence. As a mentor, I'm helping you polish your book, but I am also here to encourage, coach, and empower!

In other words, YOU GOT THIS!

I like being able to go with the flow and adapt to your needs and questions about your book, and when needed, be honest about what isn't working. I wouldn't be doing you a service to follow a rigid feedback matrix, or gush that all is wonderful.

Sometimes it might be frustrating to hear a passage you really loved needs to go, or a dialogue you wrote is not working. I will endeavour to be positive and encouraging in that critique.

One quote that sticks with me is "Kill Your Darlings" - A link to the origin of the phrase is here (copy and paste): 

https://slate.com/culture/2013/10/kill-your-darlings-writing-advice-what-writer-really-said-to-murder-your-babies.html 

I also fully adhere to the idea of a crappy first draft. It is easier to edit a story that is written, rather than a blank page, right? So who cares if your first draft is a rough and chaotic mess? We'll straighten it out together.

The jist is this: There is more than one way to polish a manuscript, and I am hopeful that during mentoring, we can find what works best together! I'm here to mentor you!

How We'll Work Together

When mentoring with me, I'll want to read your book beforehand and get a feel for what we need to work on most. Then, as a general way to structure the work we need to do, this is what we'll work through:

I'll create an editorial letter for you to read over with some of the major and then minor areas I think we need to look at, and order of priority. This would be working on plot hitches, pacing, character development, settings, appropriate content, and overall flow of the book. We'll also look at Wattpad story-specific elements of hooks, cliffhangers, and audience engagement.

This is called a structural edit and the most important part of getting your book ready! You have a say in what you think at this stage and we discuss together! This is *your* book, so my suggestions are just that and we can brainstorm together!

We can do a line edit together once we have a good structural edit done, to tighten up dialogue and interactions, and make each scene shine! Again, this is collaborative and can be lots of fun to think up new ways to say something, finding those moments where we can show, not tell, and get creative! Line edits are my favourite part of editing!

If we have time, we can look at grammar, and do a copyedit. Major grammatical errors we'll likely catch in the line edit. I do highly encourage you to do a grammar edit on your own too, and use a grammar plugin if necessary.

I do have some basics about the way we'll interact:

I use Google Docs. We can share without fuss, and the commenting features are easily learned if you've never used them before.

If your story is long, let's split the files into sections (acts, chapter groupings etc) to make it easier to work in

I'll show you how I use headings to work in a long manuscript, to jump around easily!

I like email. We can keep track of conversations and schedules.

My email interfaces with my calendar seamlessly

I'll also send reminders and anything I think you might find useful

Memes are a communication language as well. I think laughter is important!

I like Google Meet or Zoom. Either/or works for me! I would love to ensure we have a few face to face meetings because talking through questions and challenges in your book can sometimes be 1000x easier than typing them out.

I will want to schedule our meetings. Staying on track and having a schedule is important, because...

I work remotely. This year, during the mentoring period, you'll find me travelling through the United States in my RV!

I need to schedule my mentoring/writing time. We'll both be working hard to get your book ready, so making sure I give myself adequate time to complete tasks (and giving you time as well) is important!

Let me know if you have any questions, or suggestions!

Next: Mentor Wish List