Writing Advice - Using the Internet as a Mentor

I remember when I was a teenager, just starting to write seriously, and I would watch all these shows about young writers who would, by incredible strokes of good fortune, find mentors and with the mentors help they came into their own and grew up to be great writers. The one that most profoundly affected me was Finding Forestor with Sean Connery. I swear I watched that movie at least once a month for years. And I was so jealous of the kid in the movie, all I wanted was an old writer with strange habits to decide I was brilliant and teach me to write. 

Now years later, I’m still wishing for this to happen, though to a significantly lesser degree. Because I discovered the internet. The internet has lovely writing communities and is a wonderful resource for all writers. There are numerous sites and I won’t bother listing all the ones I can think of because each is tailored to different things and you would have to choose on your own which is best for you. I started with an account on Deviantart and stuck with it for years though it took an exceptionally long time to reach large number of followers. It’s not about the number though, it’s about the quality. I have over a hundred followers on that site but only a handful that give consistent and well thought out critique as well as support. I still remember fangirling a little bit when a writer who I had been following for years found me when I switched to a new account. I guess when I added her to my new watchers list she checked out my gallery. The fact that she decided to follow me as well at the point felt like a great testimony to my growth as a writer. And after that she continued to consistently have lovely things to say about my writing and gave good advice on the pieces.

Which leads me to another important thing. If you have a physical mentor he/she can get up in your face, possibly rant and fuss till you listen to what they have to say. Online people usually leave one comment and let it be. If you ignore their advice or get upset with them or overly defensive about something they voiced an opinion on odds are they won’t bother to critique you again. They may not even keep reading your work. So remember to be nice to your readers, particularly the ones who leave feedback. 

Very importantly, remember you are not the only writer on the internet. Don’t forget to seek out other writers and interact with them and their writing as well. It’s only polite to give back to a community, especially if they’re helping you at as well. 

The benefits of using the internet as a mentor is that you get not one person’s perspective but many. It takes patience and perseverance but it’s well worth it in the end.