Individual Writing Mentorship

Have you ever been in a class or lecture and heard some writing advice that sounded great at the time and you got excited to apply it to your own work, but then later you couldn’t figure out exactly how?

Yes, thanks, sounds good. Now, how do I actually do it??

No matter how well I explain a topic or how granular I get, in a classroom setting I can’t take the time to offer each person individualized guidance based on their unique challenges and strengths. General storytelling knowledge is still really useful, and it’s a great place to start.

But imagine this: a sustained practice of one-on-one learning from an advisor who gets to know you and understands your work, who can teach you skills and systems tailored specifically to your unique needs, processes, goals, and project, as well as guide you through the emotional and psychological writing difficulties that pop up along the way.

With this mentorship, you get an experienced teacher, an accountability coach, a story consultant, a kind and critical reader, a writing therapist, and an enthusiastic supporter who can evolve with your growing needs and capabilities, all in one, and all to yourself!

What You Get:

An eight-month individually-tailored program designed around your specific skills, goals, processes, and project. Writing is a long game, and with this mentorship we are going to dive deep into your unique and particular writing world and figure out the best ways to inspire you to write more, motivate you to keep writing, and steer you to write better.  

  • Intention-Setting Zoom Call
    • One hour zoom call to get us started. We will talk about what you are looking for in this mentor relationship, your project and your process, your goals, your challenges and struggles, what you want to improve, your schedule, your capacity, and anything else that will help us design a plan specifically for your needs, wants, and growth.
  • Monthly Zoom Call
    • One hour zoom call to discuss your progress and struggles, your recent challenges and/or triumphs, the pages you send that month and beyond, as well as any story-specific questions or brainstorming. One hour gives us a good amount of time to fully address issues as they arise and leave you feeling confident in next steps.
  • Verbal Feedback on up to 15* double-spaced pages each month
    • A week before our call each month, you will send me some pages for us to talk about. They can be super-rough (or even super-duper-rough) or more polished continuous pages, a collection of scenes, several versions of one scene, free-writes, lists, outlines, word vomit, a combination of the above, and/or anything else related to your story. This keeps you accountable and gives me a deepening insight into your writing and project.  
    • *The regular number of pages you submit each month can be increased but will require a monthly cost adjustment.
    • If you want me to read any pages in advance of the mentorship, or additional pages as needed for context, this can be done at a reduced rate of $1.40 per page to help facilitate the most accurate recommendations.
  • Monthly Email Check-In
    • A week before our call, I will email you a reminder to send your pages as well as a check-in to get you thinking about how your work is progressing and how we can best use our next scheduled Zoom time.
  • Monthly Post-Call “Homework” Email
    • After each of our Zooms, I will send you specially selected resources, readings, and/or exercises to directly expand, address, and support what we discussed, and/or that I think would benefit your writing and process.
  • Guest Speaker Visit for all Mentees
    • Zoom visit and Q&A with special guest(s) TBD (an agent and/or published author) around month 7
  • Mid-Way Zoom Call Month 4
    • A half hour zoom call to evaluate our progress and process halfway through the program to check-in and see if there are any shifts or changes necessary to the plan or our working style or relationship.
  • Bonus: During these 8 months, you can book up to 5 additional hours each month with me for a reduced rate of $70/hr

Total cost is $160 per month on a month-to-month basis, with payments due the 15th of the previous month.

I’m planning for most people to start this program in September so we can take advantage of that “back to school” feeling, but if you would like to start sooner, absolutely let me know! It can begin as soon as you’d like, and/or last longer than the 8 months if you want to continue beyond the “school year.”

I was an EV Mentor for Pen Center’s Emerging Voices Fellowship in LA years ago and this is loosely based on that format, but it can truly be whatever you need and want, and if you’re not sure what that is, I can help you figure it out. Bottom line is this: If you want to study more strategically and progress more quickly with a personalized plan that will take your writing to the next level, this might be the perfect fit.

Email me at melanie.thorne@ymail.com with questions or to sign up! Hope to see you and your writing soon.