by Linda Phillips-Jones, Ph.D.

For creative people, the most important start in professional literary work is a good mentor. A person who will help you believe in yourself, and your talent, give effective advice, and accompany you to success. Often, many young talented people do not have such support, simply get frustrated and stop writing. So how to support a defined coach, a young talent, to give him a path to success? Let's talk about the most successful examples of communication and cooperation with novice authors, after which they become successful in their work.

Attunement to the positive

If the mentor, who will read the work of a young author, will have a positive attitude in advance, he will probably see something interesting and extraordinary there. Conversely, a skeptic will always look for errors and omissions. It is very important to look at the writing through the eyes of the author, to try to understand what he wanted to convey, even if he did not succeed the first time. Or maybe there were a few sentences for which he should be praised? You need to set up feedback with the author so that he is ready to hear your review and draw conclusions.

The best practice is to start a review with praise. Let it be small, but well-deserved. This will make it easier to move on to the points that still need to be worked on. Show that you appreciate the author's effort, this will encourage him to try even harder next time.

Step-by-step review

If it is a complex work that is carried out over a long period of time, then be in constant contact with the author. Sometimes a timely remark in the middle of a work process can help to successfully complete the work. Good tips and mentoring quotes can lead the author to new ideas that will add freshness and novelty to the work.

“The Big Three”: Why is it important?

It is customary to call the key aspects of the mentor's communication with the author the "Big Three". The process includes analyzing what the author is talking about, how he is talking, and with whom. By directing a young writer to improve himself in these areas, you will help him understand the key essence of what he is working on.

You can consider several ideas with the author and detail them at the planning level. Next, analyze which voice is suitable for presenting a particular opinion. It can be formal or informal communication. Having picked up the key elements of writing in time, the author will continue to work in the right direction.

Point out solutions to problems

An important indicator of a good mentor is how he analyzes the writing together with the author. The best strategy will be to point out not just the problems in the text, but specifically the options for solving them. It is worth offering your own vision of how to solve the situation, but leaving the possibility for the author to make a decision himself. Effective feedback consists precisely in dialogue, which will ultimately lead to an accurate and effective solution. Good mentor quotes together with the author's openness in the search for non-standard approaches and methods of solving will give an excellent result.

Another form of solution is the formation of target questions about the text, which will help the author to find the necessary answers on his own. Use direct and tangential questions to give the author the opportunity to fully reveal himself in his creative work. This will help him set the right goal. Of course, mentoring support will depend on the specialist's expertise and experience.

How to deal with errors

Highlighting all errors and inaccuracies in the text and showing them to the author is not the best way to increase his professionalism. First of all, he cannot always independently understand the nature of the mistake made. It is best to show an example of a solution and give him the opportunity to find similar inaccuracies in the text. To simplify the task, you can mark problem areas. In this way, the author will know exactly where he should work on the text.

You can also provide examples of professional writing service EssayWriter. This will allow you to demonstrate live content and how it works, and what you need to focus on.

Form of reply to the author

There is no single form of feedback that all mentors can use. Everyone chooses independently how to communicate with young authors. The most common ways:

  • Oral face-to-face communication (of course, if there is such an opportunity, communicating directly is more convenient and effective)
  • Oral distance communication (a common form of education in modern conditions)
  • Written (response-review to the mail. However, make sure that in the letter you have expressed all the main thoughts about the text that will help the author become better)

How to evaluate work?

A common practice today is the lack of a clear assessment of creative work. Instead, the mentors analyze in detail its advantages and disadvantages and give a number of recommendations. This is considered more effective feedback for the author himself. After all, the assessment itself is only a level, but the analysis of how the author reached this level and how he can grow further is much broader.