Can we have a hands up as to who might be interested in doing a retreat in 2023 that focuses on the next draft of your manuscript?
What if we make June 24th, 2023 your deadline to complete your manuscript. Let’s say you’ve finished your novel, memoir or story. Now what? Where do you go from here? How do you structure, edit, and move on?
The Art of Writing wonderful Backstory tutor, Laurel Cohn, has put together a fantastic course called The Next Draft.
Here is a message from Laurel:
It is an enormous achievement to have a completed draft of a manuscript. It can take many months or years to get there. Then it’s done, right? Well, that draft is done, but it takes multiple drafts to get a manuscript up to publication standards. How do you approach the next draft? What does redrafting involve? The short answer is ‘structural editing’. But what exactly is that? How do you go about it? And how do you survive it?
As a developmental editor, I work with writers preparing their manuscripts for publication, helping them to strengthen their work and deepen their understanding of not just the story they are wanting to tell, but also of what it means to be a writer. Over the years I have found that many writers aren’t well prepared for the journey involved in developing their manuscripts and I have created this course to demystify the structural editing process and help support writers with a completed manuscript take their work to the next level.
Structural editing involves looking at the story as a whole and considering aspects such as story arc, expression of themes, character development, point of view, backstory, voice and pacing. These are elements that most writers have given considerable thought to as they are writing. However, it is an understanding of how all these aspects are working together to deliver the writer’s intent – or not – that lies at the heart of the process. In other words, the structural edit concerns recognising what is working well in the manuscript and what isn’t.
In The Next Draft course I introduce writers to my five-step approach to structural editing: shifting from writer to reader, looking at the big picture, reading the latest draft, mapping your story, and approaching the next draft. With practical strategies and tools, exercises and examples, the course is designed to guide you through the redrafting process. The sessions are spaced to allow you to undertake the steps introduced in a supported way.
It can be tricky to traverse the sometimes challenging inner terrain that underlies critical engagement with your own work. In acknowledgement of this, the course also covers seeking and managing feedback, recharging your batteries, surviving rejection and that perennial question, When am I done?
I adore this whole idea! Do you? Write to me at lisacliffordwriter@gmail.com if The Next Draft retreat would be something you’d be interested in next year. Put that deadline in your diary and let’s get your next draft sorted!
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If you’d like to share any comments or thoughts, I’d be happy to hear from you. Email me directly at lisacliffordwriter@gmail.com.