Roll Your Sleeves Up: The Art of Revision

Dates/Times:

Saturday and Sunday, October 2-3 10am-2PM each day

Description:

Revision is typically considered the geekiest of creative writing undertakings--the last to be picked for the team or asked for a dance. Wasn’t it enough, many writers wonder, to make the Herculean leap from blank page to first draft? The truth is, revision is its own art and can be a wildly beneficial part of the creative process…if you allow it to be. In this workshop, we’ll focus on crappy or not-quite-there drafts of a personal essay, and through targeted exercises, assignments, readings, and workshops, move it closer to completion and publication-ready.

Outline/Syllabus:

Class One breaks into two parts. The first two hours will be a workshop, in which students readtheir work and get feedback from classmates. The second half will be a series of revision exercises – individual, small groups, and as a class – targeting specific problems that come up in revision, including syntax, character development, and beginnings and endings. Students will have the homework assignment of revising their drafts for the next class (and bringing in copies for everyone). Class Two will start off with workshopping the revisions, and working through a combination of exercises designed to address the issues of the specific essays at hand.

Materials:

Students must submit an essay manuscript of not more than 1000 words three weeks prior to the class (so that it can be read by instructor and classmates before first meeting.)

About the Instructor:

Lise Funderburg is a Philadelphia-based writer whose memoir, Pig Candy: Taking My Father South, Take My Father Home, deals with the topics of life, death and barbeque.

Photo by Tigist Tsegie