Group Details

Introductory Phrase:

Young Writer Seeks Guidance

About You:

I am a 26-year-old creative writer with about four years' writing experience. In that time, I've kind of worked as a jack of all trades, writing online copy, op/eds., news, comics, poetry reviews and some poetry. I only have a BA, but in just a few short years I've managed to work my way up in a young Web development firm so that now I am managing my own publication/Web site and hold a stake in it as its executive editor. (The Web site, by the way, is www.acehoyle.com). I've had several mentors or, at least, people I would consider mentors, including D.J. Coffman, Marvin Bell and Zach Schomburg. But these were more situations in which professional acquaintances gave me what help they could but were unable to stand in as full mentors. I would like to go to graduate school within the next several years, and when I do, I'd like to go to one of the very best schools in my field. I firmly believe I can accomplish this and have the money to do so when my company sells my current project - for which we already have a prospective buyer. I am not sure, however, that I am fully formed as a writer as all my formal training is in literary criticism. So I would like to find a mentor who can help me push myself beyond where I am.

Looking for:

I would like to find a mentor who can help me push myself beyond where I am, with whom I can develop a strong personal connection and who is willing to work with me over several years. I am loyal to a fault, so anyone who is willing to take the time to help me I promise I will do as much as I can for in turn. I specifically would like to find someone with notable experience in graphic novels and/or poetry as I am fascinated by both genres and would like to turn my experience with them thus far into something substantial. I am certainly willing to work hard, and have several ideas already fermenting. I feel having a mentor at this juncture is critical, though, to help me push what could otherwise be throwaway pulp into things that are truly artistic. My goal is to prove my mettle as an artist professionally before continuing my schooling. My reasoning is that I already know too well how the academic system can undermine a writer's self-esteem, and I feel the degree itself will be worthless unless I can move beyond this prior to pursuing an advanced degree. As I see it, nothing is more critical to a writer than faith in his own authorial worth. I have seen the work of several talented friends be misshapen and formed into cookie-cutter garbage by the academic system, so I feel whatever worth that system offers is useless - even destructive - unless the writer has a strong sense of self-worth and a proven track record of creating lasting art beforehand. My answer, then, is to find a mentor who can not only teach and help, but can also see my individual voice in personal terms and help bring out what is good in it. Simply put, I do not want to write patent New Yorker poetry or typical Spider Man plots. I want to give our species something truly good, and having a mentor seems the best way to ensure that happens. (Please note: I currently live in Pennsylvania, but my parents live in New Jersey and I felt I had the best chance of finding a mentor in the New York area. If someone there agrees to take me on, then, I can easily travel back and stay weekends in order to meet with my mentor. It is simply a matter of setting a place and a time).

Group objective (goal):