As writers revise, it’s useful to create a roadmap for what is needed to revise a current book-length draft into an engaging manuscript.

In this class, participants will assess what they have and what is needed and create plans for closing the gap, while honoring the initial spark that started the work. Participants are asked to bring the first 5 and last 5 pages of their current draft, as well as 5 middle pages. The instructor will guide them as they look for themes, primary symbols, and subplots to deepen or eliminate. Focus will also be given exploring participants’ willingness (or lack thereof) to let go of current pages in order to create better ones.

This session is for any writer with a book-length manuscript in progress, regardless of genre.

• You have a book-length manuscript in progress, in any genre.
• You have started and abandoned a novel because the middle act fell apart.
• You’re starting a new novel and can sense that there isn’t enough force to propel it through several hundred pages.

ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR

Charlotte Gullick is Chair of the Creative Writing Department at Austin Community College. She holds BA in Literature/Creative Writing from UC Santa Cruz  and a MA in English/Creative Writing from UCDavis as well as a MFA in Creative Nonfiction from the Institute of American Indian Arts. Her awards include a Christopher Isherwood Fellowship for Fiction, a Colorado Council on the Arts Fellowship for Poetry, and residencies at  MacDowell and Ragdale.