SF Peninsula (In-Person): Editing & Self-Editing

Join us in person at the

Redwood City Yacht Club, 441 Seaport Ct.,
Redwood City, CA 94063

Please bring a mask.

Editing & Self-Editing

Writers are usually tasked with editing other people’s work at some point, either as a beta reader, as part of a critique group or through a sideline as a developmental editor. We may not always have the editing skills we need when called upon in this capacity, however. This session will help you develop fifteen skillsets which you can then apply to your work as well.

A general introduction will cover adopting a mindset of neutrality, how editing is a conversation, and knowing how to respond based on what draft a writer is in, followed by a set of specific tools such as working with genre conventions, narrative arcs and plot holes, scenic writing, links and transitions, tone of voice, characters and relationships, point-of-view, and theme.

Stuart Horwitz is a ghostwriter, independent editor, and founder of Book Architecture (www.bookarchitecture.com). His clients have reached the best-seller list in both fiction and non-fiction, and have appeared on Oprah!, The Today Show, and in the most prestigious journals in their fields. He is the author of three acclaimed books on writing: Blueprint Your Bestseller: Organize and Revise Any Manuscript with the Book Architecture Method (Penguin/Perigee), which was named one of the year’s best books about writing by The Writer magazine; Book Architecture: How to Plot and Outline Without Using a Formula, which became an Amazon bestseller; and Finish Your Book in Three Drafts: How to Write a Book, Revise a Book, and Complete a Book While You Still Love It.

Horwitz holds degrees in literary aesthetics from New York University and East Asian studies from Harvard University. He is also an award-winning poet and essayist. He recently relocated to California with his family from New England, something he should have done years ago.