Mentor Program 2010
Update: The Mentor Program for 2010 is now closed to submissions. All applications received before May 31 have been passed onto our mentors. Stay tuned for more information soon...
Full details, including how to apply, are available on the Mentor Program page in the Members Only section of the website. An outline of the program is provided below.
The Australian Horror Writers Association Mentor Program aims to further develop the depth and quality of Australian horror and dark fantasy.
Here's what past mentorees have to say about the program:
Anthony Ferguson, mentoree to Benjamin Szumskyj in 2009: Under Ben's tutelage, I have managed to publish a non-fiction article with another one likely in the near future. Most significantly, with Ben's guidance, I have successfully negotiated a contract with McFarland & Company in the United States to publish my first non-fiction book (Sex Dolls).
In addition to this, Ben has given me some invaluable insights into how to sell my ideas more efficiently, and encouraged me to work hard to achieve my goals.
Amanda Spedding, mentoree to Kaaron Warren in 2009: Thanks to some hinky mojo, an altar and a goat, I was lucky enough to score the extraordinarily talented Kaaron Warren as my Mentor. With her insight, encouragement and twisted mind, two stories we worked on will find print with ASIM this year. The experience and knowledge I gained with Kaaron through the Mentor Program was invaluable and has lifted my writing to a new level ... or dropped it into a festering pit of nastiness. Either way, I can't recommend it enough!
Gary Kemble, mentoree to Stephen Dedman in 2009: ...the real success I had was with 'Bug Hunt', a story about giant cockroaches infesting Brisbane. I wrote it a few years back, entered it in the One Book Many Brisbanes competition. No joy. Rewrote it a few times, sent it off to a number of markets. No luck. But I really liked the story and I really wanted to get it published, which was why I chose it as one of the AHWA Mentorship stories.
Stephen looked at it, made some general comments, then said: "You know, you could basically lop off the first 1.5k." Out of a 6k story. And it really opened my eyes as to how much deadwood was in that first 1,500 words. I saw the story in a new light, got all excited about it, and decided to enter it in the 2009 One Book Many Brisbanes competition. This involved sending a sample of the story along with a synopsis and some info about my writing amibitions.
And it was one of the 20 winners! So I won a thousand bucks and got to workshop the story with Trent Jamieson! The point is, without Stephen's insight, I doubt I would have seen the problem with that story. It probably would have stayed in the 'bottom drawer'. So the AHWA Mentorship program was definitely worth my while.
Greg Chapman, mentoree to Brett McBean in 2009: My very first story [in this program] - a vampire story entitled "Precious Blood" - was accepted for publication in the US horror e-mag The Absent Willow Review in late 2009.
Brett not only showed me what I was doing wrong and what I was doing right, he also gave me the desire to write and succeed and use the talents and imagination I have to write the very best stories that I can, and as Brett said to me when we signed off.... the first story will be the first of many.
I highly recommend people take the plunge and nominate for the mentor program. There's nothing better than learning writing from writers!
Sonia Helbig, mentoree to Stephen Dedman in 2007: My dark science fiction short story 'Crown of Thorns' won 2nd place in the Writers of the Future 2007 4th Quarter competition! I couldn't have done it without Stephen Dedman's feedback and editorial advice and his awesome encouragement. I'd recommend the mentorship program to anyone, and especially Stephen. I've not only learned a lot but now have got something great to show for it. My story will be printed next year and I'll be off to the US for workshops! I'm over the moon.
Note: The Program is only open to AHWA Members.
The AHWA seeks to match emerging writers with experienced Mentors who will provide valuable advice, assistance and analysis of the Mentoree's work and writing goals over a three month period. Communication will be primarily done via email or other online forums as arranged between the Mentor and Mentoree. The basis of the Mentorship will be the initial body of writing submitted by the Mentoree at the commencement of the Program. (See "Submission Structure" below).
The AHWA would like to stress that the Mentor Program is not simply an assessment service. Mentors will not only provide a critical analysis of the submitted text, but will also seek to advise the Mentoree on their strengths and weaknesses as a writer, and to actively assist in the development of their work. By the same token, Mentorees are expected to actively participate in this process by carrying out suggested revisions, completing any writing exercises the Mentor might suggest, communicating in a timely fashion and, very importantly, not making excessive demands on their Mentor. In short, the more you put into this Program, the greater the benefit.
Cost:
Application is free. Successful applicants will be required to pay a fee to participate in the AHWA Mentor Program, the majority of which be passed onto the Mentors as compensation for their time and services.
Unfortunately, as places in the Mentor Program are limited, not all applicants will be chosen to participate. Acceptance into the Program will be determined not only by the quality of an applicant's writing, but by the ability to match them with an appropriate Mentor.
Important Dates for 2010:
1/5/10 : Application period opens
31/5/10 : Application period closes (strict)
20/6/10 (approximate) : Applicants advised of AHWA decisions
1/7/10 : Mentor Program commences
Submission Structure for 2010:
Novels, novellas, short stories, flash fiction, scripts, and non-fiction will be considered for the 2010 Program. Works submitted must not exceed a total upper limit of 15,000 words. Within this limit, the submission may comprise of:
Novel (eg, drafting the specific chapters, discussing the general direction of the novel - ideas, plot, characters, etc - refining the synopsis/outline, discussions about which publishers/agents may best suit the story); or
One novella; or
One script (45 minutes); or
Three short stories; or
Five pieces of fiction of any length (including flash fiction); or
Three non-fiction articles.
2010 MENTORS
Dr Stephen Dedman is the author of the novels THE ART OF ARROW CUTTING (shortlisted for the Bram Stoker Award), SHADOWS BITE, FOREIGN BODIES, and A FISTFUL OF DATA, and more than 120 short stories published in an eclectic range of magazines and anthologies. He has also been an associate editor of /Eidolon/, fiction editor of /Borderlands/ magazine, and a book reviewer for /The West Australian/. He now runs an sf/fantasy/horror bookshop in Perth and teaches creative writing at the University of Western Australia. His previous mentorees have since won the Writers of the Future and the One Book Many Brisbanes masterclass competitions.
Stephen would prefer to work with a novella or up to three short stories (total of up to 15,000 words), but would consider a novel or non-fiction piece (no poetry or scripts).
From "White Bed", her first published story, which appeared in a feminist horror anthology in 1993, Kaaron Warren has produced powerful, disturbing fiction.
With close to a hundred short story sales, many award nominations and a number of wins, Warren's fiction tackles the themes of obsession, murder, grief, despair, revenge, manipulation, death and sex.
Her short story collection The Grinding House, CSFG Publishing (published as The Glass Woman by Prime Books in the US) won the ACT Writers' and Publishers' Fiction Award and was nominated for three Ditmar Awards, winning two.
Kaaron has three novels with Angry Robot Books. The critically acclaimed Slights was nominated for an Aurealis Award and made the short list of the Australian Shadows Awards, the longlist for British Fantasy Awards and the preliminary ballot for the Stoker Awards.
Her second novel, Walking the Tree, broke new ground in publishing. Warren wrote it twice, once from the point of view of the adult character, once from the child character. The novella Morace, the children's version, is available as a free ebook download on purchase of the book.
Her third novel, Mistification, will be released mid 2010.
Her award winning short story "A Positive" had been made into a short film by Bearcage Productions.
Kaaron lives in Canberra, Australia, with her husband and two children. They are recently returned from Fiji where they spent three years in the diplomatic corp.
Kaaron would like to work with short stories only.
Jason Nahrung, a Melbourne resident, has 20 years' experience as a newspaper journalist. He has been a director and judge for Australia's premier speculative fiction awards, the Aurealis Awards. His writing has won the William Atheling Jnr award for Criticism or Review, been highly commended in the Aurealis Awards and been shortlisted in the Ditmars and the Australian Shadows. His debut novel, the paranormal thriller The Darkness Within, has also been published in Germany, and he has had several short stories appear in year's best anthologies. He has an MA in Creative Writing.
Jason is happy to work on any size fiction other than poetry.
Paul Haines was raised in the ‘70s, in the wrong part of Auckland, New Zealand. After completing a degree in the frozen, drunken depths of Otago he wound up working in computers and was eventually lured by sex and money to Australia in the‘90s. Vowing to never call it home, he now lives in Melbourne with his wife and daughter.
He is the author of the award-winning collections Slice of Life (The Mayne Press, 2009), Doorways For The Dispossessed (Prime Books, 2006) and the forthcoming The Last Days of Kali Yuga (Brimstone Press, 2010). Paul survived the inaugural Clarion South writers workshop in 2004, and has won the Aurealis, Ditmar, Chronos and Sir Julius Vogel Awards and made the James Tiptree Jr Honours List and the Locus Recommended Reading List for his writing. He is also a member of the Melbourne-based speculative fiction writers group SuperNOVA.
Paul would prefer to work on short stories and novellas.
Stephen is an Australian screenwriter, director, and author. His short films have won many Australian and international film awards including Best Comedy at St Kilda Film Festival and Best Short Film at Sci-Fi London. His short stories have won several national and international short story competitions, and his poems have been published in the prestigious Newcastle Poetry Prize winning anthologies.
Stephen's debut novel, supernatural thriller ‘The Dead Path', was published by Hachette Australia in 2009, with subsequent release in the UK, China, Germany, and the US. ‘The Dead Path' was the August '09 selection for The Big Book Club.
Stephen is currently a key member of the writing team for a new Australian television crime series, and is working on his second horror novel (due for release in 2011).
Says Stephen: "I am happy to work on short stories or novels - I have never written a novella (though your average novella is around the length of a feature screenplay, and I've written a few of those) so I'd be most comfortable sticking with the shorter - and longer forms."