Class

Blueprint for a Revision

You did it! You finished a draft of your novel! Congrats! That’s HUGE! All you need is a quick revision pass to polish it up and then – publication! Right!? Wrong. There’s another step, one that many writers skip. It’s called a manuscript audit, and it’s a high-level assessment of the story that actually landed on the page. From character and setting to plot and theme, an audit is a deep dive into the structure of your story, the architecture of it. It asks the question, does my story work? In this workshop, you’ll learn how to do an audit of your manuscript, identifying developmental and structural problems that need to be fixed before you begin copyediting and polishing your story. We’ll work through a workbook of writing exercises designed to help you get your arms around what you’ve written, story element by story element. Then you’ll craft a Revision Plan that will guide you through your next revision with clarity and confidence. Copyediting and polishing a manuscript that isn’t working at the structural level just ends in wasted time and heartbreak. Learning how to audit your manuscript will help you write stories that work, now and in the future.

This class is best for writers who have a completed, or nearly completed, draft of their manuscript. It can also be helpful to writers stuck in the messy middle who are struggling to more forward.

This class takes place in-person, at the Loft at Open Book; we encourage participants to be fully vaccinated and masked in the interest of everyone’s safety. Please see the Loft’s website for the most up to date information about the Loft’s COVID policies.