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Last updated on
8 September, 2007

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Editing for Writers
From rough draft to polished product
with Cindy Davis

REGISTRATION:

COST, LENGTH, PREREQUISITES:

No prerequisites.

Standard course: $150 / 6 weeks. Click here to register

Extended schedule: $188 / 12 weeks. Click here to register
Extended course gives you two weeks to do each lesson but contains NO additional material.

For questions about this COURSE, e-mail

Self-editing is probably the most difficult part of writing. Fine tuning the manuscript, seeing the flaws, imagining how the words sound to the reader, and then garnering the courage to rework them is daunting. You’ve just spent months or maybe years on this manuscript. To you it looks perfect. But the publishers and agents keep rejecting it. After a while you can’t blame them any longer. You have to face that just possibly your ‘baby’ has imperfections. That you have to tear this thing apart and maybe—gulp—start over.

If an editor or critique group member suggests you delete something, do you try and think of ways to leave it in? Do you argue your case till you turn blue?

Are you so much in love with your words that when forced to delete something, you save it in another file in case you want to use it in another book? Get over it! There will always be more words. Theoretically, as you grow as a writer, the ‘wonderful’ words you saved will look like kids’ work.

How do you get honest with yourself? How can you ferret out the problems, learn what works and what doesn’t? The first answer is time and distance. Step back from the project. Work on something else. Wait till the emotion generated by your wonderful characters and scintillating plots fade. Put the manuscript away for weeks, preferrably months.

During this class, we’ll work on toning things down, tightening things up—a diet for your manuscript.

Week 1: Have you ever been told to tighten up your manuscript? In week one we’ll discuss overwriting and underwriting, author intrusion, backstory, and static moments.

Week 2: Does your dialogue sound like you or the character? Week two develops strong, determined characters that come to life on your pages.

Week 3: Further develops the characters via motivations, conflicts and their changing scope throughout the story.

Week 4: The Antagonist must be equally as memorable as the Protagonist. What makes him different from the other characters? What compels him to be an antagonist?

Week 5: gets down to the nitty gritty: showing vs. telling, consistent point of view, adverbs and adjectives, passive voice, time sensitive topics.

Week 6: Keep the story moving. Keep it interesting. How can you make it so the reader can’t put the book down?

Cindy Davis is a published author of both fiction and non-fiction. She's edited for several publishing houses for five years and been a free-lance editor for four. Of the fifty-two novels edited, forty-four have gone on to publication.