Mentoring and manuscript appraisal

One to one advice

All of us at Fiction Tutors offer one to one mentoring, on an ongoing or one-off appointment basis. Mentoring is always tailored to the individual, so if you would like to know more please Contact Us.

To give you an idea what to expect, this is how a one-off writing advice appointment might normally go:

  1. You send us a section (up to about 1500 words) from the novel you’re working on, preferably from the opening and preferably accompanied by synopsis (a very rough synopsis is fine), and/or,
  2. You tell us if there’s anything you’re particularly struggling with.
  3. We read the excerpt and synopsis if you’ve sent them
  4. And then we have a Zoom appointment – usually around 45 minutes – to discuss your novel-in-progress. We’ll give you feedback on the excerpt you sent and help you to develop the story or give tips on particular elements of novel-writing.

Manuscript appraisal

This service provides a in-depth critique report on your novel manuscript, or on a shorter piece or partial manuscript. We will give detailed feedback on areas such as plot, structure, narrative voice and prose style, characterisation, setting and use of language. The aim of the service is to provide feedback that will help you develop your work to a publishable standard. This is not an editing or a proof-reading service. We can’t do whatever work is needed on your novel for you, but we can suggest areas for improvement and highlight what is already working well.

Rough fees for manuscript critiques are shown below. These are guideline prices – precise pricing will depend on the exact length of your manuscript:

Up to 3000 words (eg. synopses, opening chapters or short stories) – c.£60

From 3000 to 10,000 words (eg.short stories or partial manuscripts) – c.£125

From 10,000 to 50,000 words (novella or partial manuscripts) – c.£150-£300

From 50,000 to 100,000 words (usually a full manuscript) – c.£300-£500

If your manuscript is significantly longer than 100000 words, then we are very likely to advise you to consider whether the story can be shortened or the prose style tightened up. If you are absolutely sure that you can’t edit your 120,000 word epic, and would like a critique, please Contact Us to discuss a price. Please do not send manuscripts without contacting us first.

Contact Us

If you would like to work with us one-to-one or if you have a question about Fiction Tutors please get in touch.

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If you would like to work with us one-to-one, let us know if you want to work with someone in particular. It’s fine if you don’t have a preference, but let us know if you do!
If you want to work with us on a particular manuscript or novel idea, please let us know, if you can, what genre you’re writing in