Self-Edit Your Memoir with Beth Jusino

How clearly can you see your own work in progress? This is an especially hard question when the story you're writing is personal. Over the span of six months, you'll learn and practice useful self-editing tools and immediately applicable tips from a professional developmental editor who specializes in memoir and personal narratives. Take your working draft to final draft!

We'll start with evaluating the "big picture" premise and purpose of your story, then, month-by-month, work toward specific ways to approach line and copy edits to tighten your prose and correct distracting errors.

Each class will dig deep into a specific area:

1. What's your story? (Stepping back and charting the premise and reader-friendly hook of your memoir)
2. Who are these people? (Evaluating how friends, family, and foes are treated both fairly and realistically)
3. Who's telling your story? (Analyzing your narrative voice and perspective as a storyteller)
4. What structure holds this together? (Looking at how individual scenes and structure work together to keep the reader turning pages)
5. Does it flow? (Practicing line editing to affect pacing, atmosphere, and tone)
6. Are there distractions? (Copy editing for readability and accuracy)

Between classes, you'll be assigned in-depth, self-guided exercises to help you consider your work from a fresh perspective. At the beginning of each session, we'll discuss what you learned, and workshop specific scenes from each person's work to provide accountability and feedback.

Details

• After Class 5, the instructor will provide an option for students to sign up for a reduced-fee editorial review of their synopsis and first 10,000 words, with one or two pages of editorial notes.
• If you prefer, you can register to take this class online via Zoom.

Prerequisites

Class Policies

Instructors or Guides