How to Mentor Young Internet Writers

"Erik: What do you feel are the important things to consider when mentoring young writers? Mark: First and foremost, it’s really important with young writers to be positive with them in the way that you present feedback to them. It’s a really challenging job. Writing for the Internet is really hard and you’re forced to produce a lot of content in not a short amount of time. Writers who are young really value feedback, and particularly because they’re young they can always benefit from multiple drafts. And fortunately the way the sort of medium is, it’s produce something, get it posted and move on to the next thing. So, I feel like going back with them over the course of days and weeks and looking at things that they’ve done well and things that they can improve on, I think that’s really important. So, keeping that feedback loop open and honest and… I think that’s sort of the big thing with that. It’s staying positive with them and focusing on the good things that they’ve done rather than necessarily the things that they’re maybe not doing as well. Erik: What’s your approach when someone hits a rough patch? Mark: Well, a lot of the relationship between an editor and a writer is built upon trust. And as you continue to work with writers you understand where they need counseling and where they need help. Sometimes someone will hit a little bit of a rough patch and how they frame a story and how they angle a particular piece. So, a thing that I’ve tried to do sometimes when writers hit that sort of patch is work with them from the very beginning. Help them with story selection, help them to craft generally where a story should go before they write it rather than giving them feedback after the fact. You know, when you have a team of writers who are working on various things all at the same time, some people are a little bit better at developing ideas and maybe not necessarily finishing them off. Some people just need a little bit of push to get going, and so working with people individually, you know, everyone’s got their different skill sets and their different strengths and weaknesses. And so, people who’ve hit a rough patch, you sort of have to go back to the genesis of what your relationship is, what you feel like they’re good at, reinforce the positive things that they do really well, and sort of help them – you hold their hand a little bit more."