Turning up the Heat on your Writing
Happy summer, everyone! In today’s newsletter, we deep dive on a new service I’m providing: writing coaching and mentoring.
While I've been coaching and mentoring academically for years, I am offering this service for fiction writing for the first time. You might wonder why a writer would need a coach. Well, here are just five of the things I can help with, in either a one-off Flower Hour, or regular mentoring sessions:
1. Be a Happier Writer
The world we live in strongly encourages us to monetize our hobbies, and there is a natural tendency to want to make a career out of the things we love to do. However, when writing becomes a job, it can be really easy to lose sight of why you do it in the first place. Janette Gellar, who had a Flower Hour with me, says:
Vicky taught me to embrace the book that I wrote from my heart, to love its complex plot, and that my book didn't need to fit into one specific box.
My coaching prioritises maintaining a healthy, positive relationship with writing. Ditch the tortured writer stereotype, and make a career as an author while still loving the act of getting words on the page.
2. Work out Plot Problems
I am first and foremost a developmental editor, and working out story and character arcs is my favourite thing to do. This could be the technicalities of 'what needs to happen next', or it could be ensuring your characters engage emotionally in the story. Mentee Val Rigodon says:
Vicky is an expert with story structure and plot. Within our first few sessions, they were able to help me diagnose my writing issues and get me on track to healing them.
Whether you want to work out a particular problem, or try ongoing coaching to focus on multiple tricky chapters, don't suffer with your story problems alone!
3. Improve Your Writing Skills
A fixed course of coaching can be a great way to work on improving writing skills. I trained and worked for a year at Swansea University's Centre for Academic Success, helping students to improve specific written English skills. This could be anything from nailing down punctuating your dialogue correctly, to making a first-person narrative sound more natural. We can focus on one or two skills per session and really get down into the technical nitty-gritty of writing.
4. Work out Next Steps
Publishing has expanded and changed so much in the last ten years, it's not uncommon for an author to get to the end of their manuscript and think, "Now what?" My clients over the last seven years have done all sorts to successfully get their stories out there, and I am more than happy to help build community and give an honest run-down of the options. We are really lucky to live in a time when there isn't one all-encompassing way to get your stories out to readers, and I can help you identify what success looks like for you, and what the next steps are to get there.
5. Accountability and Cheerleading
While I have a charging structure for one-off and regular hour-long sessions, coaching can also be as light-touch as you want. Even if you just want email check-ins and a monthly get-together to discuss any issues and set goals. If you want some coaching but want a more casual arrangement, something more text-based, or a similar bespoke arrangement, just drop me an email to info@vickybrewstereditor.com to talk about what that might look like.
Coaching can be booked as single one-hour sessions (Flower Hours), as a set course of coaching, or as unlimited ongoing sessions for as long as you need them. All hour-long sessions include reading and assessment in advance of up to 3,000 words, which will be returned with comments. And as a special offer for my newsletter subscribers, when you book five sessions, you get the sixth completely free! Book for coaching today by emailing info@vickybrewstereditor.com.
If you want to benefit from exclusive offers and discounts, subscribe to my newsletter now:
Upcoming Events
July 31st 6:30 p.m. BST — SFRA Conference: I’ll be presenting a paper on “Rewilding the Apocalypse in Contemporary Horror Fiction”.
August 16th 10:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. BST — Romancing the Gothic: I’ll be covering all things Gothic and asexual in my hour-long talk, “Introduction to Gothic Asexuality”.
August 17th — Two Tunnels 5K Race: As those of you who follow me on social media will know, I’ve been working on my running and I’ll be running my first proper 5K race at Two Tunnels near Bath. I’m raising money for my local cat charity, Swansea Cats and Kittens. I used to volunteer as a fosterer for this charity, raising and socialising kittens to be rehomed. They are very small and local, but do such amazing work keeping our local cat community safe and healthy, rehoming cats and kittens, and helping with the costs of neutering to control feral cat overpopulation. Please do consider sponsoring me — and keep your eyes peeled, I’m hoping to be up to a 10K by December, and a half marathon for next year!
Social Media
As well as Instagram and Bluesky, I have started posting on Tiktok. I am so far an embarrassing old person over there, but that has its own charm, right? If you don’t already follow me on social media, then wow, are you missing out on some hot content — including giveaways, book reviews, community news, and writing and editing tips. Follow me here: