Teaching and Mentoring: The Perfect Antidote to Writer’s Block

Guest blogger, Maree Giles

For as long as I can remember I’ve loved reading and writing, so it seemed natural to take it a step further and share my knowledge and experience with others once I’d been published. Writing can be a solitary occupation, and I’m happy to admit that the loneliness can sometimes be overwhelming. Teaching creative writing and mentoring can help to fill that void. Some of the things I’ve learned about writing over the years crystallized during some of my teaching sessions, so it’s not all one-way traffic. Suddenly I really understood what was meant by voice, passive versus active, oblique dialogue, pace and plotting. More than that, I realised how hard writing is, how deep writers have to delve to produce a good piece of writing. I’ve always understood how powerful the written word can be, but observing others struggling to express what is rattling around in their mind is humbling. Teaching and mentoring highlights for me that writing is a process. What a writer visualizes is rarely apparent or encapsulated at the first draft stage. Writing is re-writing. It takes time, enormous patience, attention to detail, self-discipline, knowledge and understanding of craft, and bull-headed determination.

Last year I taught three six-week creative writing courses at Writers’ Centres in New South Wales, Australia (see links below). My pupils were a mixed bunch and included several teachers, a Hollywood animator, an actress, two amateur singers, a former prostitute who switched to a singing career, a dancer, several jaded journalists, a nurse, a single mother, a published poet, several shy students, and some who tried to run the classes for me! As usual several people approached me to ask if I would look at their manuscripts in my own time. My time was precious but happily their requests led to private mentoring sessions. Fact: writers crave feedback. They want the distance from their manuscript that they find so hard to achieve themselves. An eagle’s-eye view of the whole. It really is an important service. I love seeing new writers when they have a sudden epiphany about aspects of their writing once a fresh set of eyes has identified flaws. Mentoring is a rewarding and sought-after service.

Travel and interacting with other writers is the perfect antidote to writer’s block. I learn as much from my students as they do from me. Many are talented but unsure of their work. Sharing your writing with others is so important to gain perspective.
I’ve also been working with Business and Law students for the past two years at Kingston University, London, as a Royal Literary Fund Fellow. The RLF places one hundred writers in universities across Britain every year to help students enrich their written work. As the Fellowship only takes up two days out of five there is plenty of time left for your own writing. It has been a truly valuable experience meeting and helping students from all over the world.

Lately I’ve been working as a dissertation supervisor on the Creative Writing MA at Kingston Uni, which has taken me back to what I love best: fiction. The three eager students assigned to me began with rough drafts of their dissertations – each are writing novels – and together we have explored ways to fix any defects. It’s interesting that the same mistakes crop up: bland adjectives, too many adverbs and qualifiers, the mishandling of speech tags, telling not showing etc. When they realise that good writing is all about re-writing, they stop worrying and get down to the hard graft of rendering the original vision.

There are no plans to run more courses next year, as I am preparing to move from England to France. Once I am settled I’ll set up regular residential creative writing courses, and continue to mentor any writers who approach me for help.

I highly recommend mentoring and teaching to published writers as a way to supplement their income, especially those who feel isolated or simply ready to share their experience and expertise. At first it’s a real challenge. Suddenly launching yourself into a sociable role that requires different qualities to working alone can be terrifying. With time and experience it does get easier. Eventually you look forward to standing in front of a room full of enthusiastic novices and talking about the craft of writing, especially when their work improves.

Let’s not forget that writing is a craft that can be learned like any other. It simply takes dedication, hard work and a little imagination. For me, writing and teaching about writing is the best job in the world – tough at times – but endlessly fascinating.

Maree Giles is an Australian author, editor, poet, journalist, creative writing teacher and mentor, and the mother of two grown-up children. In 2009-2010 she was a Royal Literary Fund Fellow at Kingston University, London, and is currently a dissertation supervisor on their Creative Writing MA. Maree has more than thirty years experience working with words and couldn’t imagine doing anything else. Novels, poetry, great journalism, interesting people and places – these are what motivate her to write, and to teach others about the craft and joys of writing. Her three novels are published by Virago Press, London www.virago.co.uk . Maree moved to the UK in 1980. She has taught creative writing at some of Australia’s top writing centres such as Varuna, the Writer’s House in Katoomba, the Sydney Writer’s Centre, and the NSW Writers’ Centre, and has been a guest speaker and tutor at the Byron Bay Writers’ Festival and the Sydney Writers’ Festival. She has given talks and readings at many other events and on national radio in both countries. She is working on her fourth novel, a story inspired by the life of Australian’s Queen of Etiquette, June Dally-Watkins and America’s First Lady of Manners, Elizabeth Post. To contact Maree please email her agent Sarah Molloy at: www.amheath.com/

Maree’s other websites
Royal Literary Fund
Kingston University, London, Creative Writing MA
Sydney Writers’ Centre, Australia
Varuna, The Writers’ House, Katoomba, NSW, Australia
NSW Writers’ Centre, Sydney, Australia
Sydney Writers’ Centre Podcast with Maree Giles
Maree’s blog
Maree’s publisher
Maree’s Literary Agent