Instructor: Rhonda Wiley-Jones
Maximum Enrollment: 12
Class Term: 10/03/2024 - 11/07/2024
Tuition/Fees
SCN Member: $205
Non-Member: $245
Class synopsis
Participants will have selected a previously written piece of fiction or nonfiction, suggested 3-5 pages, to apply editorial elements to their work using step-by-step guidance. Several elements during class time will be introduced and participants will revise their work between classes for a publishable piece, using what they learned in class.Class description
We will uncover the distinctions of revision, editing, and proofreading. We will cover how to select robust verbs and specific nouns, to turn passive to active voice, to limit use of adverbs and adjectives, how to tag dialogue and provide attribution, and more. Instructor will introduce elements to improve writing, then we will discuss them in class. Between classes participants will utilize the elements to edit their piece of writing, then each one will bring one example of changes to their work to share. We will discuss how it went and what it produced for them before continuing to the next elements instruction and discussion.
Class goals
1. Distinguish between revision and editing, editing and proofreading, 2. Select powerful, precise nouns and verbs to enhance their writing skills, 3. Shift passive sentences to active voice, when needed., 4. Search for adverbs to delete and decide when to keep; find adjectives that work and those that don’t., 5. Use all five senses to enrich the story, create setting to elicit emotion, develop juxtaposition to add emotional nuance, decide when to use metaphors and similes., 6. Choose when to use attribution and dialogue tags to make reading easier for the reader.
Class communication method
1. Complete step-by-step instructional handout, provided by instructor, and her Zoom screen will be shared. Each participant will have their handout. Instructor will share her screen if there are examples of work online that would benefit the class. 2. Participants will be ready to share their screens with an example of a change to their story each class time. (Copy and paste the before-and-after example in a single-stand-alone Word document to be shared with the group on Zoom. This example shows what was learned in previous class and illustrates how everyone is using the learning elements differently.) 3. Participants to give feedback in positive and supportive ways to each other’s work. 4. Discuss what worked and didn't work when using what was learned in last class. 5. Discuss how to potentially use new elements in their work during the coming week. 6. Instructor will offer tips that have worked for participants. 7. Complete the process of having a ready-to-publish submission.Class outline
Week #1: October 3; 3:00-4:00 CST
- Introduce instructor and class mates
- Discuss structure of class, handout use, and participants’ expectations
- Introduce the distinctions of revision, editing, and proofreading
- Discuss assignment for the coming week. ASSIGNMENT: To find a previously written story or essay that has structure, premise, plot, conflict, characters, and 3-8 double-spaced pages of content
Week #2: October 10; 3:00-4:00 CST
- Share and discuss homework; check expectations
- Topic #1: Precise nouns (including classification) and robust verbs to enhance writing
- Topic #2: Shift passive sentences to active voice, when needed.
- Discuss assignment for coming week. ASSIGNMENT: Using topics 1 & 2, make edits, prepare an example of your changes in a Word doc. to share through a screen share.
Week #3: October 17; 3:00-4:00 CST
- Share and discuss homework; check expectations
- Topic #3: Writing with the 5 senses
- Topic #4: Using setting as emotional nuance
- Discuss assignment for coming week. ASSIGNMENT: Using topics 3 & 4, make edits, prepare an example of your changes in a Word doc. to share through a screen share.
Week #4: October 24; 3:00-4:00 CST
- Share and discuss homework; check expectations
- Topic #5: Dialogue: how to tag dialogue
- Topic #6: Dialogue: how to attribute who is speaking without dialogue tags
- Discuss assignment for coming week. ASSIGNMENT: Using topics 5 & 6, make edits
October 31; 3:00-4:00 CST
- Share and discuss homework; check expectations
- Topic #7: Proofreading: art and science
- Topic #8: Proofreading: building your own fool-proof process
- Discuss assignment for coming week. ASSIGNMENT: Using topics 7 & 8, make edits, prepare an example of your changes in a Word doc. to share through a screen share.
Week #6: November 7; 3:00-4:00 CST
- Share and discuss homework; check expectations
- Discuss what you’ve learned and how far your writing has progressed in 6 weeks, which topics were most useful, which ones less useful, what do you want to learn next
Class time commitment
One hour class time + 2-4 hours work between classes = 3-5 hours/weekInstructor bio
Rhonda Wiley-Jones published her debut novel, Song of Herself in 2022 and her coming-of-age travel memoir, At Home in the World: Travel Stories of Growing Up & Growing Away in 2014. Each book asserts the chance of building psychological agency during the transformative nature of travel, especially women. Visit Wiley-Jones’ website.
Wiley-Jones is an award-winning travel writer; 2024 silver in “kindness of strangers” category, and 2023 bronze in “elder” category. She received the Director’s Weekend Writers Fellowship to the Martha’s Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing, Spring 2024.
Since the early 1990s, she has taught workshops on travel journal writing, travel writing, and the craft of writing for college faculty and students, community members, and for national writing and creativity conference audiences. Wiley-Jones has served on the faculty for the Story Circle Network online writing classes and the 2024 Okoboji Writers’ Retreat faculty.
