Starting in March 2008, I will be running a free 10-week workshop in self-editing of fiction, based on Noah Lukeman's bestseller, The First Five Pages. Noah Lukeman, started as an editor for a major publishing company before becoming a literary agent. He is often a guest speaker on topics writing and publishing.

This workshop is open to everyone, but you will need a copy of The First Five Pages to work from and at least a partial manuscript that you are ready to edit.

The workshop will run in the Fiction Writing Forum every Monday and Thursday (USA time) for 10 weeks. If you wish to participate actively, you will need to set up a forum user name ahead of time in order to post in the workshop thread.

It is not necessary to register for the workshop, but if you let me know that you intend to participate I can check in with you more easily and send you a reminder if you miss a class.

Schedule:

Week 1: Presentation; Adjectives and Adverbs

Week 2: Sound and Comparison

Week 3: Style and Dialogue Part 1

Week 4: Commonplace and Informative Dialogue

Week 5: Melodramatic and Hard to Follow Dialogue

Week 6: Showing versus Telling; Viewpoint and Narration

Week 7: Characterisation and Hooks

Week 8: Subtlety and Tone

Week 9: Focus and Setting

Week 10: Pacing and Progression

Pre-Workshop Preparation

Have at least the first five pages of your manuscript reading for the editing process. Ideally, you want to have completed the first or second draft of your manuscript so that you can use this course to continue editing your entire manuscript. If you don't have a full length manuscript, you can still benefit from this workshop by working on a short story.

It is not recommended that you post large excerpts of your work in the forum because it is a public forum. If there are sufficient participants to warrant it, I will create a private feedback forum open only to active participants.

I regret that I won't be able to provide one-on-one feedback and advice, but you are welcome to post questions and examples to either the open or private forum, where you can receive open feedback from myself and the other participants.

First Five Pages Editing Workshop thread

The workshop is now in progress but you are still welcome to join in at any time. It is your choice whether you want to catch up any classes you've missed, or dive straight in to the current class. If you prefer to select just the topics that you're most interested in, that's fine too.

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The First Five Pages by Noah Lukeman is available through Amazon.com. You may also be able to find a copy at your local library, but note that you will need the copy for at least 10 weeks.