Choosing a mentor for my writing adventure or how to find the right teachers for your creative journey
It turns out, limiting your learning sources is not such a bad idea
Hello there!
Here’s a little confession for you: I’m an information hoarder. I collect, label and store information like a squirrel collects nuts. And just like the little critter, I often forget where I put what and why.
Because information without context is just noise.
The good thing about this habit of mine is that it has the potential to make my stories unbelievably colourful. The bad thing is that I sometimes don’t know when to stop collecting information and start creating.
How much knowledge is enough for you to get started?
Being aware of my affliction makes it easier for me to control it. So, this time around, I decided to start practicing my craft before I had all the information in the world (Radical, I know.)
This is why I’m limiting my mentors to just one and I’m only adding other sources, whenever I have questions my mentor hasn’t answered yet.
The jedi master I chose for this padawan journey is hardly a surprising one. I asked myself just one question:
Who is the geekiest person in the world who does what I want to do and is living a good life?
The answer is Brandon Sanderson. He’s a total geek—he plays D&D and video games—he is a science fiction and fantasy author, and he seems to have a lot of fun in life. So yes, this is my writing mentor and I’m currently devouring all his teachings online.
Lucky for me, he is extremely generous with his knowledge—he publishes his lectures on science fiction and fantasy writing for free on YouTube and he has tons of good advice for new writers on his website.
As for my other teachers, I am deciding who’s advice to trust on a case by case basis. There are a lot of people out there who teach writing and publishing, but I always want to know three things first:
Are they doing what I want to be doing five years from now?
Do they have a kind community around them?
Are they having fun?
If yes, then I might supplement Mr Brandon Sanderson’s lessons with theirs, if and when needed.
If not, then I still might take a look, if Curiosity overwhelms me, but I’ll take in their advice with a grain of salt.
And that’s all. Limiting my learning sources silenced all the noise out there and got me to the point where I’m already writing, not just collecting random information because “I might need it later”. No. It’ll come to me when I have the need for it.
And you just know you are on the right path when the universe gives you a little synchronicity wink. Because the moment I decided to make Brandon Sanderson my mentor, he released his brand new 2025 lectures on sci-fi and fantasy writing. I took this as a sign confirming I’m on the right path.
Thank you for reading!
With magic and hope,
Lina
