The Fine Art of Deep Revision
Cost: $235 $199 Sign up by December 31 and get 15% off when you use the promo code EARLY at checkout.
Class Size Limit: 15
Writing a first draft can be challenging enough, but then comes the really hard part: revising your own work. This intensive three-session class is designed to empower writers with concrete, actionable revision techniques you can apply to memoir, essays, short stories or novels. Led by acclaimed author Katey Schultz, the former artistic director at Interlochen College of Creative Arts, this in-depth, hands-on class has been described by writers as a “game-changer” that has helped shift their approach to revision and inspired them to finish their next best draft.
This course is suitable for intermediate or advanced writers who have completed a full draft of a book manuscript, or have several complete drafts of short stories and/or personal essays that they are ready to revise and improve. Over the course of three sessions, we'll cover thematic and developmental revision, sentence-level revision, and structural revision. Whether you’re revising a stand-alone chapter or considering the broader arc of your full manuscript, you’ll learn techniques that are graspable, effective and empowering. You’ll practice each technique using excerpts from your own work in progress, which you should bring with you to class.
The first week, we'll cover thematic and developmental revision using a “bedrock, surface, sky” model that helps writers identify which aspect of their writing needs the most attention initially (and why). This model also helps writers articulate the so what factor of their work, ultimately revealing what is at stake in a piece of writing both in terms of plot and universal takeaways.
The second week we'll home in on sentence-level revision, using two exciting techniques that enliven prose and help writers learn how to find the sentences hidden inside the ones they've already drafted. Learn how to find the clues you are leaving for yourself within your own work, and practice taking the next steps with real-time support from the teacher.
The third week, we will look at structural revision techniques by studying the structural components of prose in our own work, in order to reverse outline or interrogate our own drafts in ways that help us move forward. A portion of time at the end of class will be reserved for additional revision topics that emerge from our previous classes, giving us the flexibility to take a deeper dive and meet the specific needs of the writers who enroll in this class.
For each class, you’ll practice techniques using excerpts from your own work in progress—in real time. From first draft completed to fifth draft, these techniques will speak to you and can be customized with specific instructions from Katey in real time.
This is the right class for you if…
You’ve completed a draft of a book manuscript and want to develop concrete tools for effectively revising your own work.
You’ve written personal essays, short stories, or flash pieces and want to discover the meaning hidden inside the clues you’ve left yourself on the page, so you can confidently revise going forward.
You’ve already published books and want to learn how to be your own best editor on a new or existing project.
After this class you’ll have…
Systematic tools to revise and improve all of your writing—and a re-invigorated understanding of the joys of revision.
This is a three-week class on Thursdays from 6pm to 8pm ET, starting January 16 and ending January 30. All Narratively Academy classes are conducted online and are accessible to students anywhere in the world.
Instructor Bio: Katey Schultz is the author of Flashes of War, which the Daily Beast praised as an “ambitious and fearless” collection, and Still Come Home, a novel, both published by Loyola University Maryland. Honors for her work include North Carolina’s Sir Walter Raleigh Award for Fiction, the Linda Flowers Literary Award, Doris Betts Fiction Prize, Foreword INDIES Book of the Year award, gold and silver medals from the Military Writers Society of America, the Chicago Writers Association Book of the Year award, five Pushcart nominations, a nomination to Best American Short Stories, National Indies Excellence recognition, and writing fellowships in eight states. She has taught all over the country—at Interlochen College of Creative Arts, Fishtrap, 49 Alaska Writing Center, StoryStudio Chicago, and her own organization Maximum Impact, among many others. She lives in Celo, North Carolina, and is the founder of Maximum Impact, a transformative mentoring service for creative writers that has been recognized by both CNBC and the What Works Network.
“The Deep Revision class provided a greatly needed new set of tools. Over the years, I have engaged in so many writing workshops and classes, and taught them as well, but Katey offered something completely new. Her ideas created a rush similar to that of moving to a new town. Fresh eyes on my own writing—invaluable!”—Helena Fagan
“I first participated in Katey’s Deep Revision workshop because, despite a master’s degree in creative writing, I wasn’t entirely confident in my ability to craft a polished essay ahead of submission ... Thanks to Katey’s step-by-step instructions, my writing and confidence have improved significantly.” —Jessica Shepherd
Registration Details: Seats in this class are limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis. All purchases are final and nonrefundable. After signing up, you’ll receive an email receipt confirming your purchase. Prior to the start of your class, you’ll receive an invitation to access the virtual classroom and view all class materials.
Questions? Email us at academy@narratively.com.
More: Check out all of our Narratively Academy online writing classes here.