Fiction Mentorships
Have you ever wished you had your own mentor or editor on tap?
Someone who can answer your writing questions? Your publishing questions? And someone qualified to offer feedback on your writing?
Have you ever wished you had your own mentor/editor on tap?
That’s just what our mentoring program is about.
We have a limited number of fiction mentorships available each year. The mentorships provide you a one-on-one relationship with your mentor to help you hone your writing and give you the guidance you need to kickstart or finish your novel.
Your mentorship is for a minimum period of six months. One of the key aims of the program is to help you gain confidence in your creative writing skills and in the direction of your story. Time is an important part of the writing process, and it is important to take it slowly and develop your skills.
Through your password-protected personal mentoring page, you will be able to:
- Ask your mentor questions about writing issues
- Upload your writing so that your mentor can provide feedback on it.
As your personal mentoring page is online, you can access it from wherever you are: at work, at home, on holidays, while travelling – wherever you are connected to the internet. Importantly, your “conversations” with your mentor remain on your personal mentoring page so that you can refer back to your mentor’s advice whenever you need to.
Who is eligible to apply for mentorship?
In order to apply for a fiction mentorship, you must have completed any two of the following courses at the Australian Writers’ Centre:
- Creative Writing Stage 1
- How to Write for Children and Young Adults
- Novel Writing Essentials
- Write Your Novel
You will have completed either the online or face-to-face versions. If you have not completed at least two of the courses you are not eligible for mentoring.
How to apply
You need to apply for a mentorship – please fill in the form below to receive more information and an application form.
We specialise in adult literary, general, women’s, science fiction and fantasy, and crime fiction. We also have mentors available for children’s fiction. It is worthwhile approaching us even if your work falls outside these genres as we may have a mentor available.
Cost of mentorship
Application fee: $50
Mentorship fee: $450 per month for a minimum of six months
Mentors
Please note that mentors are not always available, especially when they are are deep into the creative process of writing their own manuscripts!
Cathie Tasker is a fiction editor with over 25 years’ experience. She has mentored many manuscripts to publication and is experienced at guiding and motivating writers to improve their work.
Cathie has worked as an editor and publisher with HarperCollins, Scholastic Australia and Koala Books. She also worked as Marketing Manager for Koala Books and as a Book Club Editor at Scholastic Australia. In her career, Cathie has edited and commissioned nearly 800 books, many of which went on to become bestsellers and win awards. More
Dr Pamela Freeman is the award-winning author of more than 30 books. Pamela has a doctorate in Creative Writing, is the director of creative writing at the Australian Writers’ Centre and has developed many highly regarded writing courses that have inspired and educated thousands of writers.
Her most recent book, published under the name of Pamela Hart, is The Desert Nurse, a WWI historical novel set in Cairo and the Sinai, and covers the entire war, ending on Armistice Day. In 2017 A Letter from Italy, a historical novel set at the height of World War I was published.
In 2016, The War Bride, a historical novel set shortly after World War I was published, sequel to The Soldier’s Wife (2015) (all published by Hachette Australia). For children, her most recent publication is the Princess Betony series published by Walker Books. Her new books for kids are Amazing Australian Women – a non-fiction picture book about 12 women who shaped history (Hachette Australia 2108) and Fastest Ship in Space – a fantastic space adventure (Christmas Press 2018). More
Sean Williams is an award-winning, #1 New York Times Best Seller author of over 40 novels, 100-plus stories, some odd poems and even a sci-fi musical. As well as his original fiction for readers of all ages, he has worked in universes created by other people, such as Star Wars and Doctor Who. He enjoys collaborating, most recently with Garth Nix on the first book of their new series, Have Sword, Will Travel. He has a PhD in the literary use and misuse of teleporters, and enjoys living just up the road from the finest chocolate factory in Australia. More
