Nonfiction Re-Vision Intensive
March 10-13
7-9 p.m. EST
Led by MARGO STEINES
$600
When we revise our work, we attempt to see two things at once: the original frame of what we were doing when we started, and a new vision, informed by the way we have changed through the process of making the work.
This advanced intensive course is your chance to get a drafted piece revised for publication. Some of the questions we’ll consider:
What does a thorough revision process entail?
How do you choose what stays or leaves in a piece before submitting it?
What revision skills or processes would you like to articulate, acquire, or develop as a writer?
In this week-long intensive, we will meet as a group (limited to 14 students) on March 10th, 12th, and 13th, during which we will learn and discuss a specific revision process. On March 11, you’ll meet 1:1 with Margo to co-create an editing plan for your project. We’ll start with the macro (form, structure, organization), move through developmental edits, and finish with the micro (line-level work). After each session, you’ll receive a concrete task: a revision process to apply to your draft before our next meeting.
We often think of revision as correcting, or perhaps perfecting, but I prefer to think of it as iterating: taking the original work and extruding it through a new form. Like memory, each draft will seek to replicate what we already did, but it will always deviate in some way, and while you can (and should) certainly save a draft before attempting revisions (in case you wish to go back to a previous version) you should also understand that the writer who made the previous version is gone, and will not return. Usually, this is to the benefit of the work, but in the process it can come with a tinge of bewilderment. Fundamental to this way of thinking is the idea that we (our thinking and our selves) are changed in specific ways by the act of making work. For me, this is a fundamental truth of creative practice. I rely on it.
As part of the course, I will share with you one of my own essays, along with my revision notes and the two versions that were published. We’ll look at multiple drafts, home in on the exact changes I made at each revision stage, and close read the differences between the various versions, using this study as a model for your own work.
About the Instructor
MARGO STEINES holds an MFA in nonfiction writing from the University of Arizona, where she is faculty in the Writing Program. Her work was named Notable in Best American Essays and has appeared in The Sun, Off Assignment, The New York Times (Modern Love), Brevity, the anthology Letter to a Stranger, and elsewhere. She is the author of Brutalities (2023), which was named one of the best books of October 2023 by Shondaland.
Details
This course will take place on Zoom on Monday, March 10, Wednesday, March 12, and Thursday, March 13, from 7 - 9 p.m. EST. Each student will submit a draft for development 1-2 weeks prior the start of class, and sign up for a one-on-one conference on Tuesday, March 11. Participants will receive a Zoom link prior to the course and a recording of the course afterward. We cannot offer refunds once the course has begun. Please email courses@offassignment.com with any questions.