Editing Experimental Fiction

Description

$80 (Member price: $72) | How to edit experimental fiction | 4 Lessons| Self-Paced | Intermediate

In this class, you’ll read four published novels that take experimental approaches to storytelling. Written lessons describe what to consider when editing experimental fiction. You’ll write a total of four responses, one for each work. These responses could be revision letters covering developmental problems you noted in the published works or critical reviews describing how the book works, with notes about its failings (if any).

The course covers what we mean by experimental fiction and how it differs from mainstream works (include breaking novel-writing conventions). It discusses a variety of types of experimental fiction (stream-of-consciousness, epistolary, metafiction, and more). It covers a basic history of the development of experimental fiction. And it digs into how we might effectively edit such manuscripts, balancing both the author’s desired method of expression with the needs of readers.

The novels needed for the class are:

Dear Committee Members by Julie Schumacher

Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn

Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders

If On a Winter’s Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino  

You’ll need to purchase or borrow each of the novels used in the class. The links above are affiliate links to Amazon but of course you can purchase from any bookstore or borrow from your local library.

Each lesson includes an answer key to help enhance your understanding of the class concepts.

Intermediate classes are intended for those with some developmental editing experience or who have taken the Beginning + Intermediate DE for Fiction classes or the self-paced DE 1 through 6 classes.

The class is entirely online and asynchronous (you don’t have to be in any particular place at any particular time to participate).