Writing Coaches are typically objective professionals who read your work at a micro level, form an opinion, give you honest feedback and make suggestions that will benefit your writing .
Let’s break-down the key words that define writing consultants:
Writing mentors are ‘Objective’
According to The Oxford dictionary, the word ‘objective’ means: not influenced by personal feelings or opinions in considering and representing facts.
That is exactly the kind of opinion you need for your work. Face it, when you take your work to a family member or friend, especially somebody who cares about you, their feelings are going to get in the way. They might not want to hurt you and might sugar coat their criticism. (Or, they might shed tears of joy and break into a dance while singing, “Mera beta author banega!”) Or a particular nasty aunt might tell you that you have inherited your mother’s genetic composition and therefore have no talent whatsoever. Ah, now you know what I mean? Bottom-line: Not objective.
Writing coaches provide a ‘Third-party’ view
You need to, therefore, get your work read by somebody who preferably does not know you. I say preferably because I don’t want to discount the fact that there might be the odd family member or friend who could give you objective feedback. But there’s one more question left: is he qualified enough to do that?
Writing consultants are ‘Professional’
Somebody who is a voracious reader with an eye for detail might be able to give you the feedback that you are looking for. But, the same feedback could be incomplete because feedback without corrective action and suggestions to improve its quality is of no use to anybody.
For instance, a close friend (a finance professional who meant well) read my work and told me, “You need to flesh out this character.” Great. But, neither he nor I (at that point in time) knew what “flesh out” actually meant. It was just a fancy (clichéd) terminology that is often used. So, how does one “flesh out” a character?
These are aspects of writing craft – a body of study in itself and it requires more than achacha, a mama or a well-meaning friend to help you.