Revise a Novel with Me

About the Class

Revise your middle grade or YA novel in a supportive and craft-focused environment.

Revise a Novel with Me is a course designed for those who have a complete draft* of a middle grade or young adult novel. It’s an opportunity to revise a novel with guidance in both process and craft.

Each session will include check-ins and a time for Q&A, and you can sign up for slots to talk through your novel problems and progress so you can get feedback from me and from the group. We’ll also have a dedicated Slack workspace for mid-week discussion, accountability, and Q&A.

Who Is the Course For?

This course is for you if:

• you have completed a draft* of a middle grade or YA novel (this may include incomplete or placeholder scenes)

• you don’t know where to start with your revision

• you’ve done some revision on your own, but you’re not sure you’re making your draft better

• you’ve been winging it during revision, and you’d like to develop a strategy you can repeat

• you want to cheer others on and have others cheer you on

• you want to revise in a community of authors and want guidance through the process

*a completed draft means you have reached the end in some form or another. You may have skeletoned some scenes (or many scenes), you may have skipped over some scenes, or you may have scenes that say “I need to make X and Y fight about Z here.” But you have gone through the entire span of the novel. If you’re not sure if you have a completed draft, I’m happy to chat to see if this class is a good fit for you.

Not sure if this course is right for you? Schedule a call with me.

Revising Alongside People

I know how you feel.

I completed a draft of a YA novel in the Fall of 2019, in my third semester of my MFA program. I revised it two times, and while it improved each time, I could tell there were still some major holes, but I didn’t quite know where to go next. My approach felt haphazard and inconsistent, and I didn’t have a lot of confidence in the work I was doing.

I spent time researching revision, talking to people about their strategies, and finally took a revision course. Revising alongside people, with the guidance of someone who’d been through the process successfully, made a huge difference in both the quality of my revision and my confidence in my work.

Writing THE END on a draft is a powerful feeling, and writing THE END on a revision, knowing you’ve substantially improved the novel, is an even better feeling.

You can do it! 

We’ll break down the revision process into bite-sized chunks and approach it together. We’ll spend a few weeks focused on assessing where you are and planning for where you want to be, and then we’ll dive into the revision. You’ll set your own goals for the class and for each week. We’ll have check-ins, time for Q&As, and problem-solving sessions. The class is designed to be responsive to where you are in your process and provide the support you need.

Time Commitment

We’ll meet for a 75-minute class on Zoom each week. You’ll also need to set aside time for revising on your own, and we’ll strategize about fitting writing into a busy life. We’ll work to figure out your writing pace and work out how to set goals accordingly.

How Each Class Session Is Structured

Welcome. We’ll start each week with a brief welcome and check-in.

Topic of the Week. I’ll provide a mini-lesson on an element of craft or process. Topics range from how to plan for revision to digging deep into character, from structural elements like the Midpoint and Dark Night of the Soul to process strategies like estimating your needed writing time and mapping out your scenes. 

Spotlight. Each week, we’ll have one or two people signed up for a Spotlight. In a Spotlight Session, the person can turn the spotlight on whatever they want–their writing process, their story structure, an element of story, or a place that they’re stuck in their writing. 

Writing. If we have time, we’ll spend 10-20 minutes writing to provided prompts. 

Lightning Round. Each class ends with a Lightning Round, where each person has 2 minutes to answer a prompt, like “what’s a win from the week?” or “why is the story you’re telling important to you?”

What You’ll Get in This Masterclass:

• Small, personalized classes, up to 10 students, to ensure that you’re getting the most out of the material and can ask any question you want in a friendly environment.

• Guidance through the revision process

• Craft input when it’s relevant to your work

• Weekly accountability check-ins

• The opportunity to trouble-shoot your novel multiple times during the class

• The option of having me read up to five pages of your novel twice during the class

• Access to recordings and slides/handouts of craft materials immediately after each class session.

• Access to a class Slack channel for mid-week discussions

Outcomes – What This Course Will Do for You:

• You’ll revise your novel! (The goal is to finish a full revision, but you’ll get to move at your own pace.) 

• You’ll meet other writers developing their craft and can forge connections that could lead to critique groups, reading groups, and more. 

• You’ll have access to me and each other through weekly Zoom meetings and a dedicated conversation space for mid-week questions and discussions. 

• All sessions will be recorded and available, along with slides and handouts, for lifetime access.