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Tahlia Newland

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What’s most useful writing courses or mentors?

October 26, 2018 by Tahlia Newland

Have you considered looking at writing courses or a writing mentor or coach? When I started writing my first novel, Lethal Inheritance, I just wrote. As expected, my first draft wasn’t very good – actually it was terrible. At some point during the next draft I realized that I didn’t really know what made good writing. I knew it when I read it, but I hadn’t analyzed it since High School 35 years ago – eek, that’s showing my age!

Writing Courses

I looked into doing a writing course.  What was I going to get for my (considerable) financial investment?  Most course curriculums covered things like writing articles, newspaper reports, short stories and countless exercises to help you structure the perfect sentence, paragraph etc. Novel writing was just one part of these courses, often not a very big part, and how to get published was usually a little module tacked on the end. This is all good for people who don’t know what to write and are interested in all kinds of writing, but that’s not me. I had a novel in mind, and all I wanted to do was learn how to write it well.

These courses were all very time-consuming expensive (for this long-term artist). And I didn’t think they would actually help me decide exactly how to handle that tricky scene. What I needed was too specific. Writing courses, I decided, didn’t fit my needs.

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Workshops

Some authors, often well-known ones, give workshops on aspects of writing, especially during writer’s festivals. Workshops give you the option to study a specific aspect of the craft rather than doing a general course. I decided to look into this option and see if I could find workshops to help me.

One Sydney writer’s festival, I went to a workshop on writing fantasy, another one on getting a publisher (given by a publisher) and various other topics related to writing a novel.  Later I was lucky enough to be able to participate in a series on editing given by a major Australian editor, Selina Hannet-Hutchins. Her workshops were of enormous help to me. If you ever get a chance to work with her, take it.

The workshops were all interesting, and some were more helpful that others, but again I found my real requirements too specific to be covered in a general workshop. I would come home,  re-evaluate my novel in light of what I’d learned and still find that it hadn’t helped me with the specific issues related to my book.

Blogs

Enter, (drum roll here) the internet. Here I found my refresher course in grammar, and I learnt  things like: it’s best to use mostly ‘said’ for dialogue tags; don’t use too many adjectives; view adverbs as mortal enemies; show rather than tell; don’t have long descriptive passages; avoid info dumps and flashbacks and so on. I also learnt about pacing, dialogue, character development etc etc.  I found the information on the craft of writing all a bit daunting. If I’d known all these details before I started, I might have been too terrified of failure to even begin writing, or I might have stifled my ideas by too much self criticism too early.

Nevertheless, writing blogs are a wealth of information and education on the craft of writing. Some are written by experienced writers, writing coaches or editors who really know their stuff, but some are written by hack writers who have no business trying to teach others, so check out their qualifications before taking them as a valid teacher. I recommend Jami Gould’s blog. She has great tips on every aspect of writing fiction. Anything you want to research on writing, go there and search her blog for it.

As with any new knowledge, it’s up to us how we apply it practically. We can ask questions on a blog and get a reply, but we can’t go into anything too deeply in blog comments, so we have to practice applying our new knowlege ourselves, and we can still not know what is the best way to handle a specific issue we might have with our story. That’s how it was with me. I applied all this knowlege and looked at my book again and again, but I still had no idea whether the story was any good or whether or not it was finished and ready to submit to publishers.

What I really needed, I realised, was not general learning about writing, but rather help with writing my novel.

Mentors

A well-known artist told a talented friend of a friend of mine not to waste time going to art school, but to choose an artist she admired and get them to mentor her. That’s what this person did, and she’s since had an exhibition in New York. In the art world that’s equivalent to landing a big publishing deal.

After hearing this story I decided to spend the money on a professional manuscript appraisal with someone who was willing to mentor me until I’d fixed the problems. I was careful to choose someone who was well qualified and respected in the industry. The money I spent was a big investment for me, but it was well worth it. With this move I got my first confidence boost from an industry professional – along with lots of very constructive criticism, of course. That’s what you’re paying for.

After the appraisal cost, I paid for her time answering my emails, but I was able to ask her anything and be specific as I liked, and I would get a well-considered reply.  This was the level of assistance I needed. I paid less than I would’ve for a course on writing a novel and I got the specific help I needed.

If you’re looking for a mentor, that’s an area I can help you with. I support authors all the way from an initial manuscript appraisal to publication. Read more on my Editing Services page or contact me now.

Do qualifications help you get published?

One of the first questions someone asked at that workshop on how to get a publisher was, “Are publishers and agents more inclined to look at work by someone with a writing qualification?”

The publisher’s reply? “No. More writers without qualifications get novels published than those with formal qualifications.”

Evidently although writing courses foster excellent technique, many tend to squash creativity, presumably not intentionally.

So, when writing’s coursing through your veins and you need help, do you go off and do a writing course, or do you get a professional to work with you on what you’re writing?

Have you done a writing course? Did it help you write what you wanted to write?


This is part of a series of blog posts on how to write a novel. It doesn’t just cover the technical details, but also the emotional journey we take and the personal challenges we meet on the road from potential author to author. Join the journey now, and don’t miss a post, click here to sign up to get my Novel Revision Checklist and links to the articles sent to your inbox.

If you’re an author check out my editing services.

You’ll also find my book on writing, The Elements of Active Prose: Writing Tips to Make Your Prose Shine, very helpful.

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You’ll also get fortnightly articles on writing sent to your inbox.

If you like stories with action, romance and a contemplative element, you’ll enjoy my fiction, so take a look in my bookshop before you go.

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Comments

  1. Kenneth L. Decroo says

    October 31, 2018 at 3:03 am

    After writing, on and off, on Almost Human for nearly twenty years, I decided to take a writing class at the UC Riverside offered by a New York Times bestselling author. This was a good decision as it focused on the novel and we were allowed to share our work. I learned very quickly what was good and bad writing. Later, I was invited to the professor’s private workshop. I was the only unpublished writer in the group. This was not a feel-good support group, but rather a brutally honest assessment of my work. I grew as a writer that year. The best decision I made was hiring Tahlia Newland as my editor. Our relationship has grown to where I think of her as my mentor. My work has improved immensely since working with her.

    • Tahlia Newland says

      November 5, 2018 at 11:23 am

      Thanks for the lovely words, Ken; I appreciate that. I always love to see a writer grow.

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Hi I’m Tahlia Newland

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