Mentoring Service.

$2057 US for ONE-ON-ONE MENTORING SESSIONS

Wendy will read and assess the novel in its entirety, then meet with the mentee via Zoom, initially for 1-2 hours, to discuss the winner’s inspiration and goals, and to identify ‘roadblocks’ requiring Wendy’s assistance. She will provide in-depth feedback on plot, characterisation, pacing, dialogue, world building and effective use of research. Recordings of the Zoom sessions will provided together with Wendy’s comments and notes.

Three further 1-hour sessions, followed by a final 1-2 hour session, will then be arranged to track progress and provide encouragement and support. Wendy will also proofread the first three chapters or up to 20000 words of the manuscript and provide a light edit and comments on the way forward.

**********************

Dr Wendy J Dunn is an award-winning Australian author, playwright and poet. She is the author of two Anne Boleyn novels: Dear Heart, How Like You This?, The Light in the Labyrinth (2023 HFC Silver Award winner), her first young adult novel, and two Katherine of Aragon novels, Falling Pomegranate Seeds: The Duty of Daughters and Falling Pomegranate Seeds: All Manner of Things (2022 HFC Gold winner). Her first major nonfiction work, Henry VIII’s True Daughter: Catherine Carey, a Tudor Life, was published by Pen & Sword books in 2023. They have now commissioned Wendy to write a second nonfiction work.

A respected and longtime member of the Tudor writing community, Wendy was the Founding Editor of Backstory and Other Terrain, two academic writing journals belonging to Swinburne University. She is a sessional tutor for the university’s Writing Department. Wendy still manages Other Terrain (https://www.otherterrainjournal.com.au/).

Wendy is fascinated by Tudor history – so much so she was not surprised to discover a family connection to the Tudors, not long after the publication of her first Anne Boleyn novel, which narrated the Anne Boleyn story through the eyes of Sir Thomas Wyatt, the elder. Her family tree reveals the intriguing fact that one of her ancestral families – possibly over three generations – may had known the Wyatts and Boleyns personally.

EndorsementsPause

I was lucky enough to win the Historical Novel Society – Australasia’s first Elisabeth Corbett Mentorship Program (December 2020). The prize was access to the wonderful mind and talent of Dr Wendy Dunn. Wendy was a wonderful mentor, and the experience was so positive for me.

Wendy is enthusiastic, respectful, and extremely knowledgeable. She has a special knack of making a mentee feel important and capable. Although she has enormous wisdom and vast experience writing historical fiction, her talent for gently guiding the writing process is extremely helpful and proved to be exactly what I needed.

As I am wont to do, I got stuck and frustrated at the end of Act 2 of my YA historical novel manuscript. Wendy patiently and sagely pinpointed the things I was doing that were contributing to my stuckness, namely a career-long habit of pushing myself and my art too hard for too long. Using her considerable experience and incredible empathy, she was able to help me not only get unstuck but also find better balance in my creative life. She gave me permission to pause, step back, and recharge—a valuable lesson that I will take forward in my writing life. Upon finishing the mentorship, her feedback on my manuscript was encouraging, thought-provoking, and useful.

I highly recommend Wendy as a writing mentor. I consider myself incredibly blessed to have tapped into such a kind and learned soul. She is the epitome of knowledgeable, empathic guidance.

Ali Stegert, author of Her Majesty’s League of Remarkable Young Ladies.

Wendy Dunn is fantastic, let’s just start there. What separates a brilliant mentor apart from the pack is empathy for the work. And Wendy has this in spades. She polishes with the skill of jewel cutting a diamond, never letting her own interests or bias impede making the work gleam. In this modern age, this skill alone is one to treasure. Then there are her literary and market insights. Wendy knows the industry; she knows what’s being published and how to classify a work and tweak it to sell to publishers and people alike. For an author starting out in historical fiction, this has been invaluable for me after having written in different genres with different goal posts in the past.

For my work, Wendy knew when to split the literary flare off and to recast into a more youthful area, and just how to adjust tone, which rabbit holes needed addressing and which could be ignored. Her thoughts have deeply enriched my manuscript, making even the smallest corners into a vibrant part of the tapestry of the story. Someone looking at being mentored can expect attention to detail without losing track of the overall themes and feels of the work. Wendy always seems to know just the right balance for pacing and has a good eye for cuts that really help a manuscript along.

I would recommend her wholeheartedly to anyone in need of a mentor or a structural editor, particularly in the historical fiction sphere.”

David Shield