Mentoring & Editing Support

Writing can be difficult and lonely. I know how important it is to have that person who sees your writing and goes there with you.

“Yesterday incapable of writing even one word. Today no better. Who will save me?”

The Diaries of Franz Kafka, 1914-1923.

I can provide mentoring and editorial support for a range of projects. I am especially interested and experienced in supporting the development of poetry, experimental prose and fiction. I also love hard to categorise and in-between genres.

Whether you’re stuck on one particular slippery question, trying to find your way into a new project, or working towards a draft or collection, I can offer attentive reading, thoughtful feedback and a collaborative space to work out what your writing needs next.

What you can expect to get out of this process

A clearer sense of what your work is doing, as well as what it might do next.

A deeper understanding of the questions, ideas and impulses animating your writing.

Practical, considered suggestions for revision and development.

A renewed sense of direction and confidence in how to proceed.

My approach is collaborative and responsive to the work itself. I’m interested in helping you strengthen your writing without losing sight of what makes it yours. Authenticity is everything. Truth and fabrication are entirely entangled.

When it comes to questions of craft, I’m a believer in the Anne Carson school of thought, “Just think about something and follow it down to where it gets true.”

I enjoy working with writers driven by emotionality, authenticity; bold writing and voices; outsider writing; feminist theory; horror; big, weird ideas; formal innovation; boundary pushing writing; the expression of dense & difficult ideas, as well as minor feelings (shame, suspicion, irritation, self-doubt, etc).

One off: £200

I’ll read up to 2,500 words, and we’ll spend an hour talking about the work.

Written feedback is included.

For when you’re stuck on a particular piece or need a fresh perspective.

We might explore questions of voice, direction and vision; look closely at what’s happening on the page; talk about close, sentence-level edits; or work through one particular problem.

This is an opportunity to get some distance from your writing, see it from a different perspective and begin to work out what it needs.

6 weeks: £400

I’ll read 12,000 words and we’ll talk for 3 hours talking about the work across our time together. Written feedback included.

For writers who want sustained attention and support as their work develops.

This option is suited to writers developing a draft, working towards a collection, or wanting to explore a project in greater depth.

We can follow the work as it changes. With more time, we can return to questions that emerge along the way, and consider possible directions for revision.

12 weeks: £900

I’ll read up to 25,000 words, and we’ll spend six hours talking about the work across our time together. Written feedback is included.

For longer projects that need consistency, continuity and room to develop.

This option offers space to stay with a project over a longer period: to explore its underlying questions, think through structure and direction; work out how its different parts might come together.

It’s an opportunity to give a substantial piece of writing sustained attention, with someone alongside you as it takes shape.

My Approach

Mentoring can help writers to strengthen their work. It allows you to see your work from new perspectives. This process will depend on what you’re looking for. For me, a big part of writing involves working out what’s central to the work: discerning the questions that animate it, noticing what’s already there, and finding ways to bring it into sharper focus.

I’m interested in helping you develop your own instincts and possibilities as a writer, rather than imposing a formula on the work. My background is in experimental poetics, writing and prose. I have a research PhD in experimental writing by women. I’m drawn towards uniqueness in writing. I’m a champion of bold experimentation.

My strengths

To consider the work’s underlying concerns, tensions and preoccupations
To help writers to identify what’s distinctive about their voice (and lean into this)
To discuss structure, form and language in relation to the ideas being explored
To work out what to preserve, what to change and what to experiment with next

If you’d like to email me about working together, get in touch.

If you are unsure as to whether this kind of support is right for you and your project, I offer a brief FREE 20 minute introductory conversation.

When emailing me, please aim to include:

Links to any published work available online.
A few sentences about you and where you’re based.
A brief description of your project and/or your aims (under 250 words please).