On this month's Special Page:
A member of the HWA’s Board of Trustees from 2011 to 2021, JG Faherty is now a mentor for that organization. On this page, he shares valuable writing advice for authors.
IN THE "SPECIAL PAGE" ARCHIVES:
James Longmore
Nancy Kilpatrick
Kathe Koja
Joe R. Lansdale
Nicholas Vince
A life-long resident of New York's haunted Hudson Valley, JG Faherty is the author of 9 novels, 11 novellas, and more than 80 short stories, and he’s been a finalist for both the Bram Stoker Award (The Cure, Ghosts of Coronado Bay) and ITW Thriller Award (The Burning Time). He writes adult and YA horror, science fiction, dark fantasy, and paranormal romance, and his works range from quiet, dark suspense to over-the-top comic gruesomeness. After directing the HWA’s YA program from 2010-2012, he launched the organization’s Library Program, which focuses on author-library relations, using horror as a tool to entice more people to read, and supporting library reading and writing programs for young adults. In 2021, he stepped down from running the Library Program to oversee the HWA’s Mentorship program, which in 2021 and 2022 exceeded all previous numbers for both mentors and mentees. He also served on the HWA’s Board of Trustees from 2011 to 2021, has been an HWA Mentor since 2011. As a child, his favorite playground was a 17th-century cemetery, which many people feel explains a lot. You can follow him at www.twitter.com/jgfaherty, www.facebook.com/jgfaherty, and www.jgfaherty.com.
JG’s latest novels are Hellrider (2019), Sins of the Father (2021), and The Wakening (2022). They, along with all his other books and collections, are available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and select bookstores.
The Deep, Dark Joys of Mentoring
by JG Faherty
If you’re reading this, you’re probably a fan of horror. And quite possibly you’re a horror writer, as well. I know I’m both, and I have been for quite a while.
In 2018, I received the Mentor of the Year award from the Horror Writers Association, and in 2021 I took over management of the HWA’s Mentorship program. These are two of my proudest achievements in my career, which is why I was more than happy to write this article when Jeanne asked me if I was interested.
Because if it wasn’t for the mentors I’ve had in this business, I might never have become a writer at all.
Back when I was a fledgling horror writer with only a few short stories and a poem or two published, I signed up for the HWA’s mentorship program. It’s one of the many benefits of membership (more on that later), and I felt I needed some major assistance getting my first novel in shape. At that time, I’d already completed two Borderlands Boot Camp sessions with Thomas Monteleone, David Morrell, F. Paul Wilson, Thomas Tessier, Ginjer Buchanan, Richard Chizmar, and the late Jack Ketchum as instructors. I gained invaluable insight into the craft of writing and editing from them, and in the years since Tom, David, Paul, and Jack have provided further aid, serving as unofficial mentors.
But the HWA program offered something different. A chance to work one-on-one with an experienced author for six months. That’s something no one in their right mind would turn down! So I signed up, and through the luck of the draw I got paired with Deborah LeBlanc, not only a great writer but at the time also the HWA president.
Over the next few months, Deb worked tirelessly with me to not only get my novel in shape but also on several short stories and a novella. I learned an incredible amount from her regarding not just the basics of writing but also the subtleties. One thing that I especially liked, which was also something my Boot Camp instructors were famous for, was that she didn’t pull any punches. If something sucked, she told me. If an idea didn’t work, she pointed it out, and detailed why. If I veered into over-used tropes or banal plots, she let me know. This was what I wanted, and what I wasn’t getting from the various writer groups and critique sites I’d previously belonged to, where people tended to limit their comments to, “I liked it!” “I didn’t like it.” “I didn’t understand it.”
None of those help a writer grow.
Not long after Deb and I finished reworking the novel and I did my final cuts and changes, it sold. So did the novella. That was when my writing career moved to the next level.
About a year later, during a conversation with Tom, Paul, and Stephen Jones at a convention, I mentioned how they and Deb had been so helpful to me. They all had the same response: It’s all about giving back. I learned how they’d been mentored and helped by older writers when they’d been up-and-comers, and how helping other writers wasn’t only a nice thing to do, but it benefited the industry and the genre as a whole, because writers aren’t in competition with each other. We’re more like a team; the more of us do well, the better the industry does, and that means more opportunities in the form of publishers looking for books and magazines/ezines opening up. Plus, horror writers are really like a big family, and family helps family.
I took all that to heart, and in 2011, with a novel published and a 3-book deal with another publisher signed, I immediately enrolled as an HWA a mentor.
Since then, I’ve mentored approximately 20 writers. I’ve seen most of them go on to become professionally published, and a few have done very well for themselves, with some major successes. Each time one of them sells a book, gets a story into a magazine or anthology, or gains Active status in the organization, I get that same feeling my mentors have described to me. A little bit of a warm glow that comes from helping someone achieve their dreams.
For members of the HWA who don’t know about the mentor program, or for writers on the fence about joining, let me say that this is one of the greatest benefits for members. Each year, dozens of writers get to work with established authors. The official time period is six months of individual help, but after that you can sign up again if you feel you need more time. And, while I can’t speak for other mentors, my own business model is that once you are my mentee, you are always my mentee. I’ve had people I mentored two, three, even four years past come back and ask me to look at something, or to get advice about some detail of publishing or editing. And I’m there for them. Why? Because this isn’t a job, it’s not a one-and-done punishment. It’s something I enjoy. My mentors, the ones I started with and the ones I’ve gained over the years, are always there for me, too.
It’s what friends do for each other. More than that, it’s what writers should do for each other, whenever they can.
And it’s not just the HWA or horror writers in general doing this, although I have to proudly say that I personally feel we’re the nicest, most giving genre. The Science Fiction Writers of America, Mystery Writers of America, Thriller Writers, and Romance Writers of America all have mentorship programs of some sort.
Of course, if you’re looking to be a mentor, you don’t need to be a member of an organization to do it, or do it through an organization’s formal program. I teach teen writing classes at my local library, which is great because it gets kids started on the write track for writing at a young age. I can only imagine where my career would be right now if I’d had that opportunity at 15 or 16. If you’re a writer, you can set something like this up at your library, or even with a local school. You’d be surprised at the talent these kids have, and I really hope that someday I see some of my students on bookshelves or in the news.
All in all, mentoring has played a major role in my life, and while standing on a stage accepting an award for it was amazing, the real reward is helping a new generation of writers succeed, and hopefully instilling the same ‘give back’ attitude in them, so that one day they’ll be mentoring a new batch of writers.
