In place of our June meeting, we’ll have a full-day seminar titled How to Edit Your Novel Systematically: A Method for Revising Your Book Like a Pro by Kristen Stieffel. She is a fantasy novelist and freelance editor who is also our chapter’s past president and current treasurer.
Writers know that great writing requires rewriting, editing, and polishing a manuscript to perfection. But writing and editing are two different skills, and writers are seldom taught how to edit. So writers approach editing haphazardly. We think editing means reading our books over and over, fixing mistakes as we see them until there are no more mistakes to find. But it is possible—and very common—to get stuck in an infinite loop of revision, because one never knows when one is finished.
Kristen struggled with this as a writer, but when she trained to be an editor, she learned a systematic method of editing that allows editors to work through a manuscript efficiently and with sure knowledge about when the job is done.
In this full-day class, Kristen will teach the rigorous process professional editors use to evaluate and edit novels. You’ll learn how to build a book map to analyze (and if necessary fix) your novel’s structure. Then you’ll get tools for planning your editing in a methodical way so you can tackle issues in the correct order, avoid analysis paralysis, and—most importantly—know when you have finished. This seminar covers 10 elements of fiction:
- Character
- Point of View
- Plot
- Structure
- Pacing
- Setting
- Description
- Dialog
- Voice
- Mechanics
Every attendee will receive an advance copy of Kristen’s upcoming editing book, which is based on the Edit Like a Pro: Elements of Fiction series at her website. (If supplies run out, copies may have to be delivered after the event.)
The doors will open at 8:30 a.m. for registration, coffee, and Second Breakfast. Teaching starts at 9 a.m. We’ll break at noon for lunch, which is included. Kristen will wrap up the teaching by 4 p.m., after which we can have Q&A time and socialize. Members receive $20 off the cost of this workshop. If you don’t already have the member discount coupon code, use the form on the Contact page to request it.
Online registration is closed. If you still wish to attend, you may register on site.
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