Moniack Mhor’s online programme offers a bespoke approach to mentoring. Put simply, it supports writers at every level of ability and at every stage of writing.
Our mentors are professional writers with tutoring and mentoring experience, who often lead our residential courses. You can request as many tailor-made sessions as required.
We can facilitate one-off sessions or a longer mentoring arrangement. Perhaps you want to refine a short story in one two-hour session? Or perhaps you could benefit from longer-term support for your work in progress?
You may be looking for general advice, considering structure, deepening your understanding of the process or learning editorial skills. You may want to focus on preparing your work for submission and elements such as drawing up a synopsis, how to order your material and advice on publishing.
Scroll down for more details about our mentoring models. Some models include more face-to-face time, whereas others allow increased time for your mentor to read more of your work and feed back to you in report form. If you don’t see anything that suits your needs, let us know. By discussing your expectations, we’ll try to create your ideal mentoring experience.
“We have all been there: in our heads we have written nothing short of a masterpiece. But it takes the cool rational opinion of an objective if sympathetic reader to see how ‘the masterpiece’ could be improved. In short, good solid, supportive criticism from an informed third party is an essential part of becoming a better writer. Even for authors of masterpieces!” Mark Cocker
Depending on availability we can currently mentor writers working in Fiction, Poetry, Crime Fiction, Nature Writing, Historical, Songwriting, Memoir and Biography. You can find out more about our mentors here.
How do I book a session or organise a mentoring arrangement?
It’s easy. Just familiarise yourself with our mentors, think closely about what you want to achieve and email mentoring@moniackmhor.org.uk to begin the process. We will then ask you to submit a form with your personal details, what stage you are at with your writing, and what you want to focus on or achieve when working with your mentor. We’ll ask you to list these priorities in a hierarchy so that your mentor can tailor your feedback.
After this, we will introduce you and your mentor by email, liaise with you both to schedule a date for your first session, and help with booking any subsequent sessions. Throughout the process, you will work closely with your mentor and, at all times, a member of the Moniack Mhor team will be available for support and to answer any questions you may have.
To find out more please email mentoring@moniackmhor.org.uk.
If you already have a project in mind you can download an enquiry form and email your completed form to mentoring@moniackmhor.org.uk. This will help us to better understand how we can support you.
“My mentor spent a lot of time, above and beyond, with me and provided written feedback and tips. He also pointed me in a different form direction which suited my style – I doubt I would have found it by myself.” Jay Wilson
How much does it cost?
Generally, each session costs £150 which includes up to 2 hours of your mentor’s time. Depending on the model you choose, this will be divided between face-to-face time, reading and reporting. We also offer a more in-depth arrangement for fiction, non-fiction and poetry.
As with all of our programmes, the Moniack Mhor Bursary Scheme can support your fee if finances create a barrier to accessing our support.
Mentoring Models
Fiction/Non-Fiction | Poetry | Songwriting
Fiction / Non-Fiction
Model 1 – Getting to Know Your Work (£150)
2 hours of tutor time
- Submit up to 2,000 words ahead of first session and between sessions (if booking more than one session)
- Submit up to 500 word synopsis to provide your mentor with more context
- Up to one hour of face-to-face meeting or phone time with your mentor
- Follow-on email from your mentor after your conversation to confirm/agree 3 recommended next steps for your work
Model 2 – The Critical Read (£150)
2 hours of tutor time
- Submit up to 5,000 words
- Submit up to 500 word synopsis to provide your mentor with more context
- Receive a written report on your work
Please note that Model 2 does not include any face-to-face feedback, therefore we can only offer this as part of an ongoing mentoring agreement as a follow-up session.
Model 3 – The Redraft (£200)
2 hours and 40 minutes of tutor time
- Submit up to 2,000 words for an initial read, including an optional short synopsis of up to 500 words
- 40-min face-to-face time
- Agree a redraft time with your mentor and resubmit your piece of work
- Receive a feedback email from your mentor
Model 4 – Longer Submission (£260)
3.5 hours of tutor time
- Submission of up to 7,500 words
- Submission of up to 500 word synopsis to provide context
- Receive a written report from your mentor
- 45-min face-to-face time
Model 5 – Preparing for Submission (£150)
2 hours of tutor time
Most of our mentors can offer support with industry skills and preparing your work for submission. This can include:
- General discussion surrounding publishing advice
- Drawing up a synopsis and covering letter
- How to order your material
- Approaching agents and editors
To be able to advise you on preparing for submission your mentor should be familiar with your work. Therefore we can only offer this as part of an ongoing mentoring agreement as a follow-up session to one of the sessions above. Please contact us if you have any questions.
Poetry
Model 1 – The Essential Basics (£150)
2 hours of tutor time
- Submission of up to 3 poems or up to 100 lines, and a short covering letter of up to 500 words to provide additional context
- 1 hour of face-to-face meeting or phone time
- After your meeting, you will receive an email from your mentor to confirm/agree 3 recommended next steps for your work
This model is ideal for those who might be new to poetry, more experienced writers seeking a standalone session, or anyone keen to focus on the mechanics of writing in more general terms. But the session could equally be used to get to know your tutor, – the perfect entry point for a longer mentoring arrangement. Some writers might wish to move on from this first session to a more in-depth written report, as detailed in Model 2.
Model 2 – Line by Line (£150)
2 hours of tutor time
- Submit up to 5 poems or 150 lines and a short covering letter of up to 500 words to provide additional context
- Receive a report on your work that includes detailed, line-by-line comments and advice
Please note: If booking this model as a one-off session, we can offer a 30-min face-to-face time option on top of the above for £200 in total.
Model 3 – Redraft (£200)
2 hours and 40 minutes of tutor time
- Submit up to 3 poems or 100 lines and a short covering letter of up to 500 words to provide additional context
- 40-min face-to-face time
- Agree a redraft time with your mentor and resubmit your work
- Receive a feedback email from your mentor
This option lends itself well to a one-off session.
Model 4 – The Pamphlet (£260)
3.5 hours of tutor time
- Submit your pamphlet of up to 32 pages
- 30-min face-to-face time
- Advice about sequencing and selection
- Looking at themes in your work
Model 5 – The Manuscript (£450)
6 hours of tutor time
- Submit your manuscript of up to 60 pages
- Up to 1-hr face-to-face feedback
- Advice about sequencing and selection
- Looking at themes in your work
Songwriting
Our mentors are available to assist at any stage of your songwriting journey, however early in the process you might be. Please note our models have recently changed to accommodate more time for your mentor to plan your sessions. Each session will be one hour in length with an additional 30 minutes for your tutor to plan your session and provide feedback.
Model 1 – Workshop Your Song (£105)
1.5 hours of tutor time
- Submit a song to be workshopped by your mentor
- 1 hour of face-to-face time, working together to reach a target
- Sessions will cover recommendations and next steps
Model 2 – Co-write (£105)
1.5 hours of tutor time
- Work towards co-writing a song with your mentor
- 1 hour of face-to-face time, working together to reach a target
- Sessions will cover recommendations and next steps
Model 3 – Journey Together (£105)
1.5 hours of tutor time
Book multiple 1 hour sessions within a longer mentoring arrangement that could support you from a starting point e.g. co-writing through to industry skills such as recording and production.
- 1 hour of face-to-face time, working together to reach a target
- In the first hour-long slot, you will discuss your goals both artistically and practically to design the best way of supporting your work going forward. A structure will then be put in place for your next hour-long meeting.
Please remember the above models can be just a starting point, we can work closely with you to ensure we have the right fit for your work and recommend changes to the above models. If there is a better fit for you, just tell us and we can make arrangements.
Picture Book Creation
Model 1 – Getting to Know Your Work – For either author or illustrator or both (£150)
2 hours of tutor time
For authors:
- Submit up to two picture book ideas up to 1500 words in total ahead of first session (these can be unfinished, work-in-progress ideas), and further edits between sessions (if booking more than one session). New ideas can also be included in future sessions, as and when they emerge.
- Submit work in progress, ideas and early stage plans if feeling stuck.
For illustrators:
- Submit rough sketches and approaches to finished art/portfolio for two works in progress.
For author illustrators:
- Submit one picture book idea of up to 1000 words in total ahead of first session.
- Submit rough sketches and approaches to finished art/portfolio for two works in progress.
All models above include:
- Up to one hour of face-to-face meeting or zoom/phone time with your mentor.
- Follow-on email from your mentor after your conversation to suggest recommended next steps for your work.
To find out more please email mentoring@moniackmhor.org.uk.
If you already have a project in mind you can download an enquiry form and email your completed form to mentoring@moniackmhor.org.uk. This will help us to better understand how we can support you.
Moniack Mhor will be piloting this scheme from February 2021 for six months; as a result, the above may be subject to changes based on evaluation.
Please note that depending on availability we may not be able to pair you with a tutor immediately and we may operate a waiting list.
Meet Our Mentors
Cynthia Rogerson – Fiction
Cynthia Rogerson is a Californian Scottish writer living in the Highlands. Winner of the V.S. Pritchett Prize, she’s published five novels and a collection of short stories. She’s taught on the Edinburgh University Creative Writing programme and holds an RLF Fellowship.
Cynthia is able to assist with any aspect of fiction writing, from finding inspiration to fine-tuning a work in progress.
Melvin Burgess – Fiction, YA Fiction
Melvin Burgess has been writing fiction for young people since his first book, The Cry of the Wolf, was published in 1990. His 1996 novel Junk kick-started the YA genre and achieved great acclaim at home and abroad.
Melvin can help you with structuring your work,
and finding balance for the various elements – character, plot and pacing.
Elizabeth Reeder – Fiction, Non-fiction
Elizabeth Reeder, originally from Chicago, has lived in Scotland for over twenty years. She writes fiction (novels and stories), creative non-fiction and hybrid writing that flourishes between forms. Her most recent novel, An Archive of Happiness, has been longlisted for the Highland Book Prize.
Karen Campbell – Fiction, Crime Fiction
Karen Campbell is a fiction writer, originally from Glasgow, and now living in Galloway. Before turning to writing, she was a police officer, in Glasgow. Karen is currently Writer in Residence at Dumfries and Galloway Council, working on Here Is Our Story – a collection of short fiction and monologues about the experiences of Council staff during COVID.
Karen is available to help with fiction writing, including contemporary and historical, and also crime fiction.
Kerry Hudson – Fiction, Non-Fiction
Kerry Hudson was born in Aberdeen. Her first novel, Tony Hogan Bought Me an Ice-cream Float Before He Stole My Ma, was the winner of the Scottish First Book Award while also being shortlisted for the Southbank Sky Arts Literature Award, Guardian First Book Award, Green Carnation Prize, Author’s Club First Novel Prize and the Polari First Book Award.
Kerry can assist with every aspect of fiction and non – fiction writing including initial planning, character development, dialogue, plotting, editing and polishing ready for submission to agents.
Mark Cocker – Nature, Biography, Memoir, Historical
Mark Cocker is a multi-award-winning author of creative non-fiction, as well as a naturalist and environmental tutor. He writes and broadcasts on nature and wildlife in a variety of national media including the Guardian and Guardian Weekly. Our Place (Cape, 2018) was shortlisted for the Thwaites Wainwright and the Richard Jefferies Prizes and A Claxton Diary won the East Anglia Book Award in 2019.
Mark is happy to assist with all aspects of writing in a suite of creative non fiction genres – biography, history, memoir and nature writing – and has 30 years’ experience of the professional writing industry.
Cal Flyn – Non-Fiction, Nature Writing
Cal Flyn is a writer from the Highlands of Scotland. Her first book Thicker Than Water (2016), about frontier violence in colonial Australia, was a Times book of the year. Her second book, Islands of Abandonment—about the ecology and psychology of abandoned places—is out now. It has been shortlisted for the Wainwright Prize for writing on global conservation and the British Academy Book Prize. It has also been longlisted for the 2021 Baillie Gifford Prize.
Cal is able to assist with nature writing, science and environment writing, nonfiction book proposals, journalistic pitch writing, and
longform journalism.
Laura Wilson – Crime Fiction
Laura Wilson is the author of thirteen psychological crime novels, two of which were shortlisted for the Crime Writers’ Association Gold Dagger Award. Laura is the Guardian’s crime and thriller fiction reviewer. She has taught on the Crime/Thriller MA course at City University, London, and written a series of Crime Fiction Masterclass columns for Mslexia magazine.
Laura is available to help you to work on all the key elements of suspense fiction, from narrative hooks, plotting and pacing to characterisation and sustaining tension.
Leila Aboulela – Fiction, Short Stories, Radio Plays (available from May)
Leila Aboulela was born in Cairo, grew up in Khartoum and moved in her mid-twenties to Aberdeen. She is the author of five novels. Leila was the first winner of the Caine Prize for African Writing and her latest story collection, Elsewhere, Home won the Saltire Fiction Book of the Year Award.
Cynan Jones – Fiction
Cynan Jones is a fiction writer from the west coast of Wales. He is the author of six books, published in over 20 countries, and his stories have appeared in a variety of anthologies and journals including Granta and The New Yorker. He has also written a screenplay for the hit crime drama Hinterland, a collection of tales for children, and a number of stories for BBC Radio. He has been longlisted and shortlisted for numerous awards, and won, among other prizes, the Wales Book of the Year Fiction Prize, a Jerwood Fiction Uncovered Award, and the BBC National Short Story Award.
This wide experience means he’s able to help with all aspects of your fiction, whatever stage your story is at, particularly if what you’re writing is a little out of the ordinary.
Kevin MacNeil – Fiction, Short Stories, Scriptwriting (stage or screen), Poetry, Narrative Non-Fiction
Kevin is a leading Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and screenwriter, born and raised in the Outer Hebrides. His most recent novel, The Brilliant & Forever, was published to huge critical acclaim and was shortlisted for the Saltire Fiction of the Year Award in 2016.
Kevin is able to assist with everything from large-scale elements of structure to tailoring the most effective sentences for the context. He can help beginners shape their ideas or help advanced writers complete a final draft of their project. He strives to be encouraging, friendly, meticulous and helpful.
Jenny Valentine – YA and Middle Grade Fiction
Jenny Valentine is an award winning writer for Young Adults. Her first novel Finding Violet Park won the Guardian prize in 2007 and was followed by Broken Soup, The Ant Colony, The Double Life of Cassiel Roadnight, Hello Now and the Carnegie shortlisted Fire Colour One, as well as Iggy and Me, a series for younger children and the middle grade trilogy A girl called Joy.
Jenny is able to assist with motivation and momentum, character development and all the decision making that comes with seeing a project through to the end.
Jen Hadfield – Poetry
Jen Hadfield is a poet published by Picador, whose fourth collection The Stone Age explores neurodiversity and is forthcoming with Picador in 2021. She is also working on a collection of essays about Shetland, where she is building a house, very slowly.
Jen can assist with poetic and hybrid projects (prose-poetry, text-visual art crossovers), with an intuitive approach to form and a particular focus on voice. She works with writers at all levels of confidence.
John Glenday – Poetry
John Glenday is the author of four poetry collections. His most recent, The Golden Mean (Picador, 2015), won the Roehampton Poetry Prize and was shortlisted for the Saltire Scottish Poetry Book of the Year. A pamphlet, The Firth, was published by Mariscat Press in 2020 and Picador brought out his Selected Poems in the same year.
John is an experienced mentor and has run online surgeries for the Poetry Society for a number of years.
Boo Hewerdine – Songwriting
Boo Hewerdine is a singer-songwriter and experienced tutor. He has written songs for Eddi Reader, k.d. lang, Chris Difford and many others. 2019 album Before finds Boo Hewerdine focused on the art of reduction, consumed by fine details and found sound, songs where the fragility and beauty of life are laid bare with a stark emotive honesty.
This year he has written with Adam Holmes for his new album Dreamwaver, among other projects.
Findlay Napier – Songwriting
Findlay Napier is one of the finest singer songwriters and teaching artists in Scotland. His collaborations with Boo Hewerdine (VIP and Glasgow) brought his supreme songwriting and storytelling gifts, allied with magpie-minded imagination and magnificent vocals to the attention of audiences across the UK, Europe and North America.
Findlay can assist with all areas of songwriting from idea generation through to the finished song.
James Mayhew – Picture Book Creation
James Mayhew has been creating books for children for over 30 years. His many titles include the classic best-selling Katie series, Ella Bella Ballerina and Koshka’s Tales. James is also the illustrator of Joyce Dunbar’s Mouse & Mole series, Zeb Soanes’s Gaspard the Fox, Ian Eagleton’s Nen & The Lonely Fisherman, and the Mrs Noah books by Jackie Morris.
James loves experimenting with different techniques and can help you find just the right approach for each new project.
Al Smith – Playwriting and Screenwriting
Al Smith’s recent plays include Rare Earth Mettle and Harrogate (both for the Royal Court), Diary of a Madman (Traverse & Gate Theatre) and Radio (Arcola, for Audible). For Harrogate he was nominated for Most Promising Playwright at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards.
Al can help you with any aspect of your play, be it for stage or radio, at first spark or near final draft.