The Messy Middle:
a Revision Workshop
Winter Session
Taught by Lita Kurth
For adults and mature teens (15+)
Monday nights 6-8 on Zoom
January 4 - February 8 (6 weeks)
(Memoir writers are also welcome though most examples will come from fiction.)
You should have completed enough of a first draft to benefit from revision exercises.
I devised this course partly to keep myself on track with my current novel! I know how much structure and group support help!
We will keep this course small (12 at the utmost) and hands-on so we can get to know one another (in fact, there will be several students from my previous courses, so I can guarantee they will be wonderful colleagues.) I’ll customize the last weeks around issues current students are struggling with the most or most interested in.
Each week will include the following:
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A technical aspect of revision: creating tension, transitioning between chapters, etc.
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A psychological aspect of revision with insights from established authors about how they addressed an obstacle
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Examples of techniques from books by established authors
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Two revision exercises done or begun in class
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Optional but encouraged sharing of/about work done in class.
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A recommended book/article/website related to revision
If of interest, we can look the hideous work of preparing for submitting to agents and publishers, e.g., pitches, a one-page synopsis, a three-page synopsis, comparisons to other published works, etc.