Chris Pink interviews me about my work as a fiction coach

Q1 Using as few words as possible, what’s your background and how did you become a fiction-writing coach?

10 steps:

I grew up in a family of teachers – Private tutor at age 17 – English degree – More tutoring – Trained to be a secondary school teacher – Spent 6 years working in digital publishing and started writing novels – Took novel-writing courses and researched approaches to teaching creative writing – My fellow students said I was good at giving feedback on their novels so… – Started coaching them on a voluntary basis – Gained experience – Started doing it for money.

Q2 Many amateur writers – and even a few who have enjoyed a degree of commercial success – are sceptical about paying for someone to review their work. In your opinion, what’s the number 1 benefit a writer can get from going through this process?

You can gain awareness of the strengths and weaknesses of your writing and how to improve.

Q3 Your rates are very reasonable, can you tell us what your ethos is for editing, and what aspects of your service you consider unique?

I aim to help writers to help themselves. Rather than tweaking novels on a word-by-word basis, I provide feedback on the writer’s style, characters, plot etc. I suggest practical approaches the writer can use to troubleshoot any ‘problems’ he has with his writing. I encourage the writer to think about his target market: Whom is the novel targeted at? What do the target readers tend to want from a reading experience and is the writer providing that?

Q4 Numerous online novel-review companies have sprung up as digital publishing breaks new ground with big sales and stories of huge money. These companies invariably offer a less personal service than you strive to offer. How would you say your coaching differs from these companies?

I want to help writers to write to the best of their abilities. I don’t like to review a novel until I’ve got a good sense of the writer’s aims, needs and concerns, so I’ll phone the writer at the start of the process to have a good old chat! It’s good to hear the writer’s voice and for him or her to hear mine! I offer a low-cost trial: I’ll review three chapters for £35 and give honest feedback, which I’ll follow up with another phone discussion. The writer can check he’s happy with the feedback before entrusting me with the whole novel to review. I’ll only accept the job if I feel I’m the right person to help him or her. I really respect anyone who has managed to write a novel – it’s a major achievement and I want to honour that.

Q5 When you’re starting out, it’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking that all you have to do is hand an editor your manuscript and that’s it: they’ll make it perfect. Could you explain what a writer can do to make your job easier and the result more effective?

When you’ve finished your first draft, leave it for a month so that you can get some distance from it. On an index card, write a list of ten aims you have for your writing, e.g. ‘Concise narrative, arresting characters, comprehensive plot, short chapters, realistic dialogue…’ Edit your manuscript, cutting or adapting any sections which don’t fulfil your aims. Repeat the process until your aims have been met. Tidy up the manuscript (grammar, punctuation) before sending it to be reviewed. This will help the reviewer to read quickly and efficiently (and you’ll pay less!).

The interview was published on Chris Pink’s blog on 16.05.11

What my clients say about my fiction coaching services