Instructor Katey Schultz is the author of Flashes of War, which the Daily Beast praised as an “ambitious and fearless” collection, and Still Come Home, a novel, both published by Loyola University Maryland. Honors for her work include North Carolina’s Sir Walter Raleigh Award for Fiction, the Linda Flowers Literary Award, Doris Betts Fiction Prize, Foreword INDIES Book of the Year award, gold and silver medals from the Military Writers Society of America, the Chicago Writers Association Book of the Year award, five Pushcart nominations, a nomination to Best American Short Stories, National Indies Excellence recognition, and writing fellowships in eight states. She earned an MFA in Creative Nonfiction from Pacific University.

Who is this class for? 

This course is suitable for intermediate or advanced writers who have, at minimum, worked through a partial or complete first draft of a full manuscript, or who have published books and are ready to improve their next manuscript by learning three game-changing deep revision techniques that will provide clear, immediate, effective results.

What to expect:

This three-session workshop is designed to empower writers with revision techniques to apply to memoir, essays, flash, short stories, or novels. Whether trying to revise a stand-alone chapter or considering the broader arc of your full manuscript, these techniques are graspable, effective, and empowering.

We'll cover thematic and developmental revision, sentence-level revision, and structural revision. You’ll practice each technique using excerpts from your own work in progress, which you should bring with you to class. You’ll come away with systematic tools to address areas for improvement, as well as a re-invigorated understanding of the joys of revision.

This course is suitable for intermediate or advanced writers who have, at minimum, worked through a partial or complete first draft of a full manuscript, or who have published books and are ready to improve their next manuscript by learning how to become their own best editors.

What are the writing goals for this course?

This class is designed to empower writers with revision techniques to apply to memoir, essays, flash, short stories, or novels.

Whether trying to revise a stand-alone chapter or considering the broader arc of your full manuscript, these techniques are graspable, effective, and empowering.

You’ll practice each technique using excerpts from your own work in progress, which you should bring with you to class.

You’ll come away with systematic tools to address areas for improvement, as well as a reinvigorated understanding of the joys of revision. This class has been described by writers as a “game-changer,” shifting their approach to revision and inspiring them to finish their next best draft.

COURSE OUTLINE

In Week 1, we'll cover thematic and developmental revision using a “bedrock, surface, sky” model that helps writers home in on which aspect of their writing needs the most attention initially (and why). This model also helps writers articulate the so what factor of their work, ultimately revealing what is at stake in a piece of writing both in terms of plot and universal takeaways.

In Week 2, we'll home in on sentence-level revision, using two exciting, concrete, graspable techniques that enliven prose and help writers learn how to find the sentences hidden inside the ones they've already drafted. Learn how to find the clues you are leaving for yourself within your own work, and practice taking the next steps with real-time support from the teacher. 

In Week 3, we will look at structural revision techniques by studying the structural components of prose in our own work, in order to reverse outline or interrogate our own drafts in ways that help us move forward. A portion of time at the end of class will be reserved for additional revision topics that emerge from our previous classes, giving us the flexibility to take a deeper dive and meet the specific needs of the writers who enroll in this class.

Handouts will be provided during class and will include excerpts. No reading ahead of time is required.

COURSE TAKEAWAYS:

• Students will be taught a “bedrock/surface/sky terrarium” technique to help them approach thematic revision with confidence.
• They will learn line-level revision techniques called “killer be’s” and “killer fillers” to improve word choice, metaphor, and impact.
• And they will study the building blocks of prose (scene, flashback, summary, backstory, reflection, exposition) so they can effectively decide what to leave in and what to leave out, when revising their work.
• Finally, they will be taught how all three of these techniques can work in tandem, delivering a wham-pow insight into the deep revision process that will empower them not only with their current project, but with all their writings to come.
• Ultimately, the hope is to help students shift from a mindset of editing or fixing into one of discovering and excavating their work, helping them fall in love with revision and feel empowered to take their work to the next level.

Optional homework will be sent by email each week, and if students choose to respond to the homework, I will respond in turn. The homework does not include turning in pages of prose for review, but rather, it focuses on demonstrating a particular revision technique or concept and sharing what they need help with or what they have learned.

PRAISE FOR KATEY SCHULTZ:

“I first participated in Katey’s Deep Revision workshop because, despite a master’s degree in creative writing, I wasn’t entirely confident in my ability to craft a polished essay ahead of submission. Katey uses several unique methods, such as ‘Bedrock, Surface, Sky,’ to help us see the layout of our stories or suggest what we might add by way of backstory, reflection, or flashback to lend meaning and depth to our characters. Thanks to Katey’s step-by-step instructions, my writing and confidence have improved significantly.” —Jessica Shepherd

“I can't say enough how struck I was by your teaching method, patience, wisdom, and practical advice. I look forward to learning more from you in the future!" —Heather Hahn

“The Deep Revision class provided a greatly needed new set of tools. Over the years, I have engaged in so many writing workshops and classes, and taught them, as well, but Katey offered something completely new. Her ideas created a rush similar to that of moving to a new town. Fresh eyes on my own writing—invaluable!" —Helena Fagan

“You are a gifted teacher, and I absolutely loved your class. I feel like I learned SO many useful tools and ideas. Thanks again for your incredible insight and class, truly one of the most profound and practical I have ever taken.” —Emily Carter

“I learned a tremendous amount from the revision class. I was floored by the progression of the ideas and the way in which you built to transformative elements of writing craft. Your tools represented a completely different way of looking at my writing from the much more analytical, left-brain, systems that I had been working with.” —Christian Stolz

ONLINE COURSE STRUCTURE: