Description
Our courses are asynchronous, meaning you never need to be at your computer at any specific hour. More information about how these classes are conducted is available here.
After placing your order, your course will be added to your personal course library on our education site. That site has different login information from the main EFA site. Please check your email for information on how to access the course.
If this session is full or the dates don’t work for you, join the waitlist to be informed of last-minute openings and future sessions.
If you have experience in fiction developmental editing (or if you’ve completed “Developmental Editing of Fiction: Beginning”), this four-week class will take your skills to the next level.
Week 1: In our first week, we’ll expand on the fundamentals of developmental editing, including structure, beats, pacing, and character development. In this week’s assignment, we’ll evaluate opening chapters to a manuscript with a focus on hooking the reader or literary agent.
Week 2: We’ll discuss authors’ expectations and expand on character development. In this week’s assignment, we’ll reevaluate the opening chapters from Week 1 and create queries that offer authors options and explain the reasoning for the suggested change. Our queries will focus on the character’s goals, motivations, and conflict.
Week 3: We’ll discuss how to address legal and ethical issues in character development. In this week’s assignment, we’ll read sample chapters and make edits that help the author develop strong scenes and deepen a character’s point of view, all while respecting the author’s voice.
Week 4: We’ll talk about how to manage developmental edits for authors at various levels of ability. In the final assignment, students will bring together everything they have learned from beginning and intermediate developmental editing and prepare a developmental editing package (editorial letter, edits, and queries) for sample chapters.
Students need to have experience with developmental editing or complete “Developmental Editing of Fiction: Beginning” before taking this course.
Val M. Mathews teaches courses in editing for the University of California Berkeley Extension, Queen’s University in Ontario, Canada, and the Editorial Freelancers Association in New York City. She also works as an editorial consultant for CRAFT Literary and Masters Review, two well-established online literary magazines, and has worked as an editor for traditional publishers. Val earned an MA in Professional Writing from Kennesaw State University and a BFA from the University of Georgia. Fun fact about Val: She’s been an FAA-certified flight instructor for over 25 years, and in the past, she flew Lear jets for a living.
