Where the Conversation Went Next: Mentoring

A few weeks after Silbrith volunteered to act as my editor, she mentioned writing missing scenes for one of my stories. I was filled with curiosity and convinced her to send me one of those scenes. What I remember most about the one she sent was the sense of place it had – Silbrith used to live in NYC and that fact was apparent from her evocative descriptions. She brought back memories of my last trip to New York and made me want to return.

Of course I had to encourage her to keep writing.

Acting as a mentor for a new writer can be gratifying and a little terrifying. I wanted to provide useful feedback that would help my self-declared grasshopper. That involved giving constructive criticism and pointing out potential areas for improvement. However, criticism can easily lead to pain and angst if you aren’t careful. Therefore, I wanted to be positive and make the process a pleasant and happy one so she wouldn’t give up. I was fortunate indeed that Silbrith is an amazingly quick study who embraced suggestions rather than being hurt or insulted. My role was made easier by the fact that I’ve always been able to find things to praise in her works.

I endeavored to make my feedback friendly rather than harsh. I tried to give suggestions rather than saying something was wrong. And I listened. If Silbrith expressed dissatisfaction with an element of her work, or a desire to emulate something I’d done, I thought about techniques I’d tried and shared what I’d learned. For instance, to get in the voice of the White Collar characters sometimes I’d watch episodes with closed captioning on, and read the lines as they spoke.

One of the biggest temptations in working with a newbie in writing (as well as other fields) is the “here, let me fix it” syndrome. It’s sometimes faster and easier for an expert to revise a paragraph than it is to think through and describe what needs to change and why. Forcing myself to step back and provide guidance rather than doing rewrites has been a great experience. It’s made me think about the craft of writing. I’m convinced it’s made me a stronger writer than I was two years ago.

Meanwhile Silbrith’s growth as a writer has been amazing. Her stories were always fun and imaginative, but the depth of her plots and her skill in weaving stories together are truly thrilling now. I’m incredibly honored to have had a small part in helping her realize her potential.

And that leads us to where we quickly moved in our writing conversation: being collaborators. That’s the topic for my next post.