How To Revise Your Novel: Frequently Asked Questions

• Is this a beginner course?
  
  Yes. This course is designed so that if you have never revised anything you've written, you will, by the end of the course, know exactly how to revise EVERY piece of fiction you've ever written and will ever write. It will take you step-by-step from the largest and most critical problems in your writing, and how to fix them, to the smallest and most refined, using a systematic approach that adapts to everything from novels to short fiction to plays and screenplays.
  
  
• Is this an advanced course?
  
  Yes, with some caveats. If you are selling your work regularly after doing one first draft and one revision, and if you're getting that one revision done in under three months, you do not need this course.
  
  If you're selling regularly, but it's taking you more than one revision to get your novel into editor/agent-ready shape, or you're routinely spending months or even years revising a single manuscript---or if you're only selling occasionally, and don't know why some projects sell while others never find a home---this course will help you.
  
  
• Can I take the course faster (or slower) than one lesson per week?
  You cannot take it more quickly than one lesson per week. The course delivery software is set to one lesson per week.
  
  You CAN take the course more slowly. Your lessons will wait in your personal classroom as long as you need them. Simply download the next lesson when you've finished the previous one, at whatever pace you like.
  
  
• It only took me a month to write my book. Why should I spend more than four months revising it?
  
  
  • Because the skill of revising is much more complicated than the skill of writing first draft, and learning to do it well while not expending unnecessary effort revising the wrong things in the wrong order takes time. If you do it by trial and error, it'll probably take you about seven to ten years, which is what it took me. Four to five months is a major shortcut.
    
    
  • Because when you learn the process of revision, your next first draft will also be better (because you'll understand mistakes you made in your earlier work and stop making those mistakes).
    
    
  • Because you'll only need to spend more than four months doing a revision once. This time. Once you understand the system and how to apply it to your work, you'll be able to revise your subsequent novels much more quickly, and with much less stress.
    
    
• Can I get all the lessons at once so I can skip around and just do the parts I need?
  
  No. This course employs a carefully-designed system that teaches you to work from largest problems to smallest problems so you don't end up revising what you've already revised.
  
  There are no parts that can be skipped.
  
  And, bluntly, if you already knew what your manuscript needed, you'd already be revising your work in one pass and selling just about everything you write.
  
  
• When will the next class start?
  
  I start classes irregularly. And while I post notices on my weblog and on the course sign-up page when a new class is opening up, the courses I offer fill quickly, and registration is open for one week at most. If you'd like to know beforehand when the next class starts, add your name and email address to the list below.
  
  

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