Teaching and mentoring

My approach as a creative writing mentor is informed partly by the teaching I received during my Creative Writing MA and PhD, partly by teaching I have done myself as a qualified secondary school teacher and as an undergraduate tutor, and partly by my own experience, over many years as a writer and also as a sponsor for recovering addicts. I find that people write best when they feel deeply connected to their work and are supported to develop their own vision, and my own successes as a writer have always come when I feel I’m writing exactly what I want to, writing the things only I could write. Sometimes this feeling can be quite subtle and difficult to access, so one of my aims while mentoring you would be to help you locate that for yourself, so you can enjoy your writing as much as possible and produce your best work.

Getting to this place might have a lot to do with conscious ‘craft’, or nothing at all; you might be writing with a view to getting published, or for another reason. My focus as a teacher will be to help you write exactly the way you want to write through us having wide-ranging discussions about your writing practice and your artistic influences, as well as more intensive focus on work you’ve sent me in advance, or looking together at writing you admire. If you find it helpful I can also set exercises for you between sessions, or let you write what comes to you.

I teach via video call, or in person in a Norwich cafe or on the UEA campus. I also offer detailed readers’ reports by email, and also will be offering bespoke correspondence tuition, where we don’t have calls but just email back and forth, so if you would like me to quote for this please do make an enquiry using the button below.

Types of teaching

I offer:

  • Teaching sessions for 1 hour at a time, via video call or in person in Norwich. I can read work in advance of these sessions (up to 5,000 words of prose), or we can work on exercises or just talk during the session itself.
  • Detailed readers’ reports on a piece of prose
  • Correspondence teaching

You can download my latest price list below. I offer a reduced rate for 18-25-year-olds, full-time students, and those on low incomes. If you would like to arrange tuition for a young person under 18, or for anything not listed on the price list, please get in touch using the contact form.

Updated price list coming soon – please enquire in the meantime