Writing for a Living: Editing Your Own Work

99% of writing is rewriting. So, if you’re a writer, unless you’re somehow magically able to set down one brilliant pristine passage after another, you will spend a lot of time rewriting. Some rewriting uses the same creative process that got you there in the first place; adding and/or substantially changing ideas, characters, locations and plot points, which I’ll refer to here as revising the content.

This course isn’t about that, it’s about the other, let’s say 48.5%; editing, taking a hard, unflinching look at what you’ve already got. And that’s not just about correcting typos or other mistakes, otherwise known as proofreading. Editing involves cutting, restructuring, streamlining, and otherwise honing that beautiful muse-inspired mess, so it becomes the best possible version of itself, ready for readers to enjoy, or for a professional editor to rip into all over again while you stand by, whimpering. This course shows you how to do that in eight handy-dandy lectures:

1. Introduction.

2. Magic Typos and Getting Tense. If you’re an expert proofreader and/or grammarian, feel free to skip this one. If not, don’t, especially if you’ve always wondered what future perfect continuous means.

3. The Vile Beast Redundancy and its Sidekick Overuse – Redundancy in all its forms being the biggest impediment to good writing, second only to an unhealthy attachment to our work.

4. Story describes how the same dynamic of tension and release that governs narrative, governs the best way to structure the subjects of the next three lectures, sentences, paragraphs and scenes.

5. Editing Sentences

6. Editing Paragraphs

7. Editing Scenes

From there, but way of review, I dare to take a look at some passages from the works of famous authors and yes, for better or worse, edit them, in:

8. Editing the Rich and Famous

No additional software or equipment required.

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Frequently Asked Questions

How long do I have access to the course materials?

You can view and review the lecture materials indefinitely, like an on-demand channel.

Can I take my courses with me wherever I go?

Definitely! If you have an internet connection, courses on Udemy are available on any device at any time. If you don’t have an internet connection, some instructors also let their students download course lectures. That’s up to the instructor though, so make sure you get on their good side!