8-week editing course with author Lindsay Galvin
So, you’ve written a book? You are an absolute hero! But now you need to do some editing to get it to the standard where someone else can read it…and possibly even love it…
In this brand new, online 8-week FirstEdit course, author Lindsay Galvin will take you on a comprehensive journey through tried and tested methods that will help you get the story on the page to sound like the one in your head.
Tools and techniques learned in this course would be suitable for ALL writers (both children’s and adult fiction).
Navigating the process of editing
Good writing is all in the editing. Writing is rewriting. But where to start? Don’t just dive in correcting those commas – approaching your edit with a plan will give you control and motivation, and save time. This course will empower you to find what helps you, through trying a range of methods to work out the kind of editor you are.
Feedback from author and peers
The FirstEdit course includes 8 weekly interactive sessions on Slack with original and clear notes written by Lindsay. Plus, a feedback channel will be set up for posting your weekly homework task and reviewing each other’s work to develop critical skills.
Each week Lindsay will review 2 or 3 of these tasks in detail to post on the channel, so that everyone gets one piece of detailed feedback from the tutor during the course.
Course summary
Time: 8pm to 9pm (GMT)
Date: See courses page
Frequency: Once a week
Platform: Slack
Course outline
WEEK ONE: Planning your edit part I
How to get to know your work as a reader: This session explores many methods to help you start working that editorial side of your brain. Formatting, different font sizes, watching the white space, ways to approach the big read-through, how long should you wait and why. What to look for – concentrate on the big stuff – boredom, chapters that don’t go anywhere etc. Gut feeling on the read through. Reading a book in the same genre then reading yours. How to stay positive and in control.
WEEK TWO: Planning your edit part II
Planning a structural edit for plot. How to organise your big first edit. Post-its. notebooks, on screen, scrivener. Methods of summarising – still getting to know the book. How to write a chapter plan, beat sheets, synopsis, 3 act structure. Cast lists. How to organise your edit.
WEEK THREE: Time and space
How to ensure your book has internal logic. Exploring timelining, mapping, weather, settings. How to track and remain consistent.
WEEK FOUR: Character arcs and character agency
The big one! Character sheets, character tracking, character consistency. How many characters is too many? When and why to cut and combine.
WEEK FIVE: Narrative voice
What is it and what effect does it have? Is the right person telling your story…in the right way. Point of view and tense.
WEEK SIX: Cut or build?
Word counts. What is acceptable and why? How to know which parts to edit, which to grow and how to go about it.
WEEK SEVEN: Endings and beginnings
Of the story, the chapters, the scenes, the paragraphs. Are you starting in the right place? What is circularity and why do we need it? Chapter openings and closing.
WEEK EIGHT: What next?
How many edits? How to know when it’s finished or tell. Check list for the next stage of editing. Working with beta readers/critique partners.
About the course tutor
Lindsay Galvin is an author writing for middle grade, teen and adults. A qualified teacher with 20 years experience, she is also a WriteMentor tutor, mentor and staff writer, and provides manuscript services. She lives on the south coast with three boys, two cats and one puppy.
Lindsay’s first book The Secret Deep came out in the UK in 2018, with her second book Darwin’s Dragons to be released January 2021. She writes Young Adult, Middle Grade and has adult and younger fiction works in progress.
Lindsay came late to writing, self-taught, after a career teaching which is now part time. She is a slush-pile (talent pool!) conqueror who came from nowhere and had no contacts and – although it took a while – had the first ever book she wrote published by Chicken House.
An experienced teacher, Lindsay’s workshop style is upbeat, constructive and focuses on the practical. She is sensitive to those at different stages of their writing journeys and the courage it takes to share work. Her workshops have a positive supportive atmosphere, intended to empower writers.
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