EDIT: Upon rereading this I noticed that you...kind of need a background in my story to understand this at all. But anyone is welcome to post if they get it

It appears that Character Intros overshadows everything in here. Anyways, I have a question. It's kept me writers-blocked for two weeks so I'm just going to go ahead and post in here. Maybe what people have to say will get the juices flowing again.

Anyways. So I'm rewriting my story, fixing plot holes, and I change the beginning. Before, my MCs were living at the Enclave, normal lives, and then the next day they leave on the quest, mainly because it's urgent and time-specific. Well, I realized this leaves little time for the two MCs to develop their friendship, for the secondary one has only just come to the Enclave a week before the book opens.

So, I changed it. Now, they are at the Enclave for a month after the Dagger is stolen. This is time in which my mentor character, Forsvar, mentors my MC, Zaciré. Only...I sort of have a problem.

OK, so the world is ending, and Forsvar realizes Zacire needs some serious training before he can take on the duties of his dead father. So, he begins to train him. The only reason the training is cut short at a month is because Forsvar is then killed. The Council (who rules the Enclave), decides that Zacire has had enough training and sends him away. So.

First off, what does 'mentoring' involve? Zaciré has been trained in fighting already, and has book knowledge. He knows more about the Dagger than the average Enclave-inhabitant. What is there to be taught?

Second, how can I stretch that month of training out enough to develop the friendship between Zac/Arya, without making it boring/draggy? After all, the Dagger's been stolen and time is ticking; there's a sense of urgency here.

So those are my two questions. *grimace* That's sort of long, but it was the best I could do

Regards,
eru

I'm going to address the closeness of the relationship first. Trust me, I've spent two whole weeks in Guatemala eating, sleeping and breathing with the same group of people and it's not hard to bond inseparably (this is from an introvert so trust me). If Zacire is willing to be taught then he'll ask a lot of questions that will bring them closer intellectually. After that there's the great old almost getting killed together that brings everyone together.

As far as what sort of mentoring it would be nice to see a sort of code of battle conduct taught beyond the typical "don't sink to the opponent's level" stuff. Depending on how much time will be spent among other people and how much he's been among people before he could be taught to move in society as well... Writers tend to make that come too naturally.

Well, just because Zaciré has the knowledge of these things does not necessarily mean he has the wisdom to put his knowledge towards his goals correctly...erm...that wasn't coherent.
Example: a person can know how to...say...feed a dog, but if they do not know that you must feed the dog once a day...then...yeah, you get the point.
Therefore, I always think - personally, at least - that, when a person is mentoring somebody else, they are not teaching them knowledge, but wisdom on how to put said knowledge to proper use. If that makes sense at all/even was what you were asking.


Haha, I'm not sure... Perhaps, add some fights in there, the two of them knock heads sometimes because they disagree, one of them is stubborn,
somebody gets hurt, really anything would work...so much as a few scenes that tell a small amount about the characters can develop their friendship more. It's really up to the author - hence you - to be creative. You know your characters best, after all.

Bethany Faith

Riniel, I'm glad you posted that Makes me sit a little easier about the relationship. What you said about moving in society meshes with what Bethany wrote below:

Bethany, what you said about knowledge/wisdom hits the nail on the head. Zaciré has a great, great, deal of knowledge - he's been educated among Enclave elite since a small boy. He knows a lot. But he has little, if any, practical use of the knowledge - which is where wisdom comes in.

Thank you both! This did help me sort some things out, although I'm still in doubt about the relationship between Zacire and Numarya. I think the mentor relationship with Zacire should work now, though. Thank you!

eru

Glad to be of assistance.

While I may not grasp the complete plot, I do have some ideas.

To really study what the mentor does, the boy must spend a day with him. The mentor will instruct the boy to do things or tell things back to him by course of narration.

The importance is the closeness of the relationship. The mentor will become a father figure and the mentor must be someone who the boy looks up to.