Writers read—it’s advice authors are given only slightly less often than “writers write.” Many authors have the second one down cold, or at least know how to work on a routine for showing up regularly so the Muse knows where to find them.
But while we may think we know how to do the first one too—as we devour story after story, unrepentant bookworms that most writers are—reading for enjoyment isn’t the same as reading (or watching) analytically as a writer to understand and learn our craft.
In more than 25 years as a book editor, I’ve seen over and over that the best way an author can improve her editing skills--and her own writing--is by learning to analyze and evaluate other people’s stories, and this course offers specific techniques for developing and deepening your knowledge of story craft that you can practice every day, by doing things you’re already doing—reading books and watching movies and television—but shifting your focus from simple enjoyment to objective analysis.
Just as athletes learn from analyzing video of other games, or musicians learn by studying past performances, or artists by studying the masters, writers develop their craft by studying other storytellers and analyzing how they elicit reaction and engage their audience.
That mental and emotional distance you may struggle to achieve with your own work is far easier to achieve with someone else’s because you aren’t filling in the blanks as you go—presuming things a reader doesn’t actually see on the page because you know your story so well.
With someone else’s story you’re seeing—and evaluating—only what’s there, a crucial skill to develop in editing your own work, as well as in your own writing, spotting things you may have been blind to.
Analyzing other stories teaches you how to gain perspective on yours to figure where it may need strengthening or further developing, and how to make sure those intentions are coming across to the reader.
Let me show you how to deepen your mastery of story craft and become a stronger, more skilled editor and writer—without ever touching the keyboard (or even getting off the couch!).
Here's What You'll Learn:
Using specific examples from books, TV shows, and movies, I’ll show you how to take in stories in a whole new way, with an objective assessing eye, to clearly identify a story’s strengths and weaknesses so you can translate that skill to creating and honing your own manuscripts.
You’ll also learn to identify the concrete techniques storytellers use to create specific reactions in readers and viewers, like building emotional investment, hooking readers and keeping them hooked, and creating rock-solid plots that keep readers guessing—so you can assess the strength of these areas in your own stories, and learn how to use them in your writing to create a tight, effective, compelling story.
This course helps with one of the biggest challenges for writers—editing their own work—by showing you how to gain the objectivity you need to see what’s actually on the page, versus the version in your head.
Hi, I’m Tiffany Yates Martin, founder of FoxPrint Editorial.
In my publishing career working as a book editor on hundreds of manuscripts—for major publishers and New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and USA Today bestselling and award-winning authors as well as newer writers—I have more than 25 years of experience in pinpointing what can keep an author's story from being as effective as it can be, and how to help authors make it marketable and competitive.
As an editor as well as a teacher leading workshops and seminars in writing and editing, I've developed clear, useful, hands-on tools for helping authors learn to spot these areas, along with practical techniques for addressing them, and I'm the author of a book based on those techniques, Intuitive Editing: A Creative & Practical Guide to Revising Your Writing.
What participants say:
"Your webinar was one of the best I’ve ever attended. I’d thought that you would mention how we writers are going through a rough patch, writing 10 words a day would be adequate while we find our voices during this uncertain time, etc. Wrong! You started off with a major plot twist inviting us to get our glass of wine and sit down to binge-watch Netflix! But with a writer’s eye, an editor’s eye, that would stand us in good stead. I learned tons and am invigorated in my writing in an unexpected way. Thank you so much."--Elizabeth Wilkerson
"Your webinar was wonderful. It was packed with helpful information, and you’re such a great speaker! Thank you!"--Mary Adams Belk
Course Curriculum
FAQs
When does the course start and finish?
The course starts now and never ends! It is a completely self-paced online course--you decide when you start and when you finish.
How long do I have access to the course?
How does lifetime access sound? After enrolling, you have unlimited access to this course for as long as you like--across any and all devices you own.
What if I am unhappy with the course?
We would never want you to be unhappy! If you are unsatisfied with your purchase, contact us in the first 30 days and we will give you a full refund.