Mentors and mentoring

Well I would expect so... this is after all a Spanking Library!

Whilst I am deeply flattered to be considered 'experienced' ... (thank you, CS)


... as a practising English teacher, I 'wade' through 50-errors-a-page texts for a living, and would be reluctant to take on any more of that kind of proof-reading. However, I think the mentoring is an excellent idea, and I would be happy to share in it, for plot/character/structure feedback.

Why TEM is much more than 'experienced' ...........why he's downright Venerable. Grin!

and the answer is

"Quis autem rectores rectores qui in rectores qui mentoring mentor?"

I think. Or else this is talking about mentoring someones rectum, I am not sure for sure

If someone wants someone else here to mentor his/her rectum, I suggest looking elsewhere.

With mentoring you'd also have to take into account what certain people like and don't like for instance. I know of one very talented writer who just doesn't get F/F and has problems judging those stories because of his bias.

Seegee
I don't think we are asking anyone to comment or judge on any piece at all, let alone all of them.

An author requesting us to give input would post the piece in the mentoring section. After giving time for those who wished to give input had done so, it would be amended (or not) and uploaded. None of us are in any way obligated to make comments on a submission.

We might have a convention among ourselves, whereby authors add an initial paragraph for the time in which the work is on the monitoring board, to give a quick synopsis and his/her aims, so that we can tell if the piece is one that we would want to read.

Is there to be a mentoring section? I don't want to pour cold water on this idea but is there not something to be said for just getting on with it and actually writing instead of all this fussing and advice giving! How do you know the person who is giving the advice is competent to be giving advice in the first place? It might end up as writing by committee if enough people get involved! Anyway that is my spot of mentoring advice which I am sure no one wanted to hear!!

I have to agree with Blimp on this one, I would not like to see it on the forum. If ones need help they can read other stories and individually ask other authors. That is my thinking but then I am only one.

blimp
It will not be compulsory. Those who want advice will have a means to ask, those that want to offer some advice can do so, and all the rest need not bother either way.

The case in point that started my thoughts on this, is that I could have used feed back on my story "Christine" before it got published. As it is, I have published a tale in which a very simple correction would have prevented possible confusion over who said what at the very end. That is not a matter for a committee - just a friendly word from a fellow author would have sufficed.

But you are right to ask if the idea is actually going to result in any changes in the way we do things. By my reckoning, we have not yet had enough "Ayes" to show that effort needed to make the idea happen is warranted.