You’ve written complete stories, had them workshopped, and even made big plans for taking your stories into their next incarnation. But now you feel overwhelmed by the revision process: How do you sift through mountains of feedback and put that feedback to work to improve the story? How do you become a strong editor for your own work? How do you do all this without questioning yourself every step of the way? Where the hell do you even begin?
Through careful and rigorous self-assessment and planning, we will work on these questions together so that you can develop the necessary practice in revision that will take you to the next level as a writer. While this course focuses primarily on the practical work of revising a short story—the distinction between editing and revising, strategies for what to salvage and what to toss—we will also discuss how you know when a story is “done,” the difficulty and reward of developing your instincts, and how to articulate the thematic arcs of your work.
Though you will be working with other students and the instructor for accountability and guidance, this is not a workshop but an active craft class focused on seeing a single story through a revision. Most of our work will be developing an individualized revision plan and then putting that plan into action, as well as learning tools and tactics that can be applied toward future work.