Mentoring: Going Deep
Phone call, 90-120 minutes
‘Going Deep’ is a one-on-one mentoring session – a phone call (90-120 minutes) in which we talk the hell out of a short story of yours, using the work as a springboard for a frank, exploratory conversation about what you’re seeking to do, what you’re actually doing, what you’re afraid of doing, what’s holding you back, and where you might go next. At present, these sessions are for short stories only.
In my experience, the writers who benefit most from these kinds of sessions are:
i) those who have already shared their work with others in the past and are familiar with receiving feedback and critique
ii) those who haven’t done the above, but who have worked independently for a couple of years at least, have a small pile of stories, and maybe feel they’ve gone as far as they can go on their own
If you sense there’s too big a gap between what you know you're capable of achieving and what you're actually achieving on the page; or if it feels like you’re writing with one hand tied behind your back – that there are places in your writing you’re not getting to – I believe these sessions will help.
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Each mentoring session I do is completely different to the last one.
I don’t believe there’s any right way to write a short story, and I don’t seek to make authors write a certain way.
My intention is to help you work out what you’re doing, what you want to do, and – crucially – help you hear where your writing is asking you to go.
My approach is integrative: I ask questions about the text as it’s presented on the page, and I ask questions about authorial decisions, omissions, and intentions – both conscious and buried!
Drawing on my experiences as an author, editor, reader, teacher, and a permanent student of literature, I work intuitively and sometimes counter-intuitively.
Ultimately, I aim to bring rigour, lightness, and humility to our sessions, leaving you energised and excited to get back to the page.
This short piece (2000 words) explores some of my thinking around writing and editing short stories: Whittling Up.
If you’re looking for a further sense of how I think about writing, the following links might also be useful:
One Night Stands – I commissioned four writers (Marie-Helene Bertino, Rebecca Ivory, Stephen Sexton, Jon McGregor) to each write a story in a single night. Afterwards, I recorded a two-part podcast where I spoke to the authors about the process: Part 1 | Part 2.
Notes on Rejection – I commissioned and edited a series of short essays reflecting on the experience of rejection, and wrote an introductory essay.
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—You send me a short story and I will and re-read it multiple times, making copious notes and detailed annotations.
—We then have a phone call (90-120 minutes) and talk the hell out of it. As we talk, I give my account of the story, and provide, where appropriate, editorial feedback on the technical facets, such as point of view, handling of time, story structure, sentence editing, character motivation, dialogue, creating action, conveying interiority etc.
—After the session, I send you my notes and annotations in a marked-up Word doc, along with relevant reading recommendations. Afterwards, I’ll be on hand for any follow-up questions or queries. If the process works for us both, we can go again, when you’re ready, with another story.
—Before all this, we’ll likely have had an intro session where we discussed what you're working on, what you might like to work on, and what our sessions might involve. Sometimes the author is still feeling these things out, and that's all good and natural and all part of the conversation.
That’s the general gist, but in my experience the path can sometimes change course and move us in unanticipated directions. I work intuitively and in response to what I think or feel each author, each story, needs. So I might ask you to redraft the story before a session; or we might end up rattling through quick successive drafts. Or I might just suggest you take a break from your current project and write something new entirely. At every point, you are fully welcome to tell me to piss off.
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If I don’t think your work is quite yet ready to benefit from the process, I might suggest instead a one-hour Ask An Editor session; and if I don’t think I’m the right reader for your work, I will be honest (and hopefully tactful) with you from the start.
Whether you have published or not is mostly irrelevant to me, but if you feel you’re at an earlier stage in your writing (published or otherwise), I wouldn’t necessarily advise seeking a ‘Going Deep’ session. I really believe in the value of those early years of discovering one’s own way, and I’m conscious of getting in the way. At the same time, I also know that encouragement or a little guidance at the right moment can be utterly crucial. So, by all means, get in touch if it feels right – and we can work out the best next steps together.
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If you’re paying your own way:
The one-off introductory session begins at €80 for a one-hour call.
A typical 2-hour session begins at €350 for a story of 5000 words (ish) in length.
Please note:
I work with authors independently (i.e. the writers pay me directly) and through state-funded initiatives, such as the National Mentoring Programme in Ireland. In some countries, writers can apply for bursaries to cover mentoring costs (e.g. Arts Council Ireland’s Agility Award; Arts Council England’s DYCP programme). My rates are roughly aligned with the fees paid by Irish organisations such as The Stinging Fly and the Irish Writers Centre. I aim to be flexible for authors paying for the sessions themselves, and I’ll be upfront about costs from the very start.
If you’re interested in working with me, hit the ‘ENQUIRE ABOUT GOING DEEP’ button, where you will be asked to fill an enquiry form, and I will reply within a working week. Please note I only work with 2-3 authors at a time, so we may not be able to begin immediately.
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I am the author of two books of stories: We Don’t Know What We’re Doing (2015) and Open Up (2023), both published by Faber & Faber.
My awards include the Wales Book of the Year, The Rhys Davies Trust Fiction Award, and a Somerset Maugham Award. In 2023, I was named as one of the 20 Best Young British Novelists by Granta magazine. My work has been shortlisted for the Edge Hill Short Story Prize; and longlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize, and the Sunday Times Short Story Award. My books have been chosen as a Book of the Year by The Guardian, The Observer, The Spectator, The Irish Times, and The Irish Independent.
Stories of mine have been published, anthologised, and broadcast in venues including: The Penguin Book of the Contemporary British Short Story; Best European Fiction; Zoetrope; Granta; and BBC Radio 4.
An Italian-language edition of Open Up will be published by Edizione Sur in February 2026. A French edition is forthcoming in 2027.
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I have worked professionally in publishing since 2009, beginning my career at the Lilliput Press.
As an editor and mentor, I have worked on stories and books by authors including Nicole Flattery, Rebecca Ivory, Michael Magee, and Chetna Maroo.
For twelve years, I worked at The Stinging Fly, in many capacities, including two years as Editor of the magazine. The Stinging Fly has an open submissions policy – anyone can submit work to the magazine, and it’s from these submissions that the magazine puts together each issue. During my editorship, I read thousands of short stories and worked with hundreds of writers. It was a privilege to read all this fiction and poetry, and to edit and nurture so many superb writers – a number of whom have since gone on to publish books of their own.
In later years, I became Editor at Large and ran the Stinging Fly Writer Development Programme, where I mentored a number of writers working towards their first books. During this time, I was also commissioning and editing fiction, essays, and literary criticism.
Nowadays I work with writers on a freelance basis and through state-funded initiatives such as the National Mentoring Programme.
A fuller account of my editing and publishing experience is available here.
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I have delivered workshops, talks and seminars at universities across Ireland and the UK, including University College Cork, where I taught on the MA in Creative Writing. I have also taught and given talks for institutions and organisations such as The Irish Writers Centre, The Faber Academy, The Stinging Fly, and The Arvon Foundation.
