E-Mentoring the Individual Writer within a Global Creative Community

Abstract

This chapter presents a case study of how the UCLA Extension Writers’ Program, which is America’s largest continuing education provider of online creative writing and screenwriting courses and services, offers individualized feedback and mentoring to 1,000’s of aspiring and practicing writers worldwide. Writing creatively is singularly private and can be isolating; the Writers’ Program’s 220 annually-offered online courses in fiction writing, memoir, personal essay, children’s literature, playwriting, poetry, publishing, feature film writing, and television writing provide access to in-depth instructor/student, student/student, and student/advisor relationships designed to help meet individual writing goals. Writing education is particularly well-suited for online delivery because writers write: students submit their work in writing; the teacher and fellow students give their feedback in writing. For students, the act of learning to write online reinforces their accountability to create in a disciplined way and allows time to absorb and respond to critiques with reflection. For teachers, e-mentoring requires unusual rigor and preciseness in order to give thoughtful feedback on each piece of creative work, and the 80 professional writers who teach the Writers’ Program online courses employ a range of pedagogical strategies to do so. In addition, the Writers’ Program provides personalized guidance and advice on writing online through its student advisors as well as an array of services, including one-on-one manuscript and script consultations; feature film mentorships for which students sign up monthly and receive “on demand” guidance on their projects; and a first-of-its-kind course limited to six advanced students in which they hold virtual internships at production companies and studios as script readers. The chapter begins with an overview of UCLA Extension and the Writers’ Program’s history, mission, products, services, and managerial structure, and then describes the origins and current status of the Writers’ Program’s online curriculum and educational services. The ways in which writing education comprises a near-perfect match for a virtual delivery system are explored, followed by a discussion of what makes Writers’ Program’s products and services uniquely suited to deliver e-mentoring for a global, mostly post-baccalaureate student body who puts a high premium on results and quality of interaction. The chapter next outlines how clear expectations, course design, lectures and critiquing guidelines ensure successful response to creative work (instructor/student and student/peers), and then focuses on “best practices” techniques and strategies that online Writers’ Program instructors use to shape and deliver critiques, including a common critiquing vocabulary and methodology, use of technological tools to provide sustained, personalized feedback, and ways to cultivate the individual writer’s sense of place in the global literary and entertainment communities. The chapter concludes by addressing technological, pedagogical, and economic challenges and future directions of e-mentoring aspiring creative writers and screenwriters.