Tag: revisions

Monster Revision & Deep POV: Suzanne Johnson – OCCRWA August Online Class

I’m excited about the August OCC/RWA Online Class, Monster Revision & Deep POV, with instructor Suzanne Johnson, who also writes as Susannah Sandlin. I have a manuscript in mind I want to tackle.

Pull out that WIP, ready-to-revise manuscript, or even a chapter from an already-published book, and get ready to dive into “Monster Revision,” an intensive one-pass revision system that’ll take you from Draft Zero to Done.

In this 30-day workshop, we’ll cover a one-week overview series of lessons, followed by three weeks of techniques that will leave you with a lot of tools in your revision toolbox. You’ll get individual feedback on your posted homework (yes, homework!), and I’ll work on a revision of one of my WIPS as we go through the course as illustration.

Part One:

* The Monster Revision Process: It’s easier than you think. Not fast, but not rocket-science.

* The Opening Scene Test.

* The Action-Reaction Test.

Part Two:

Warning: There will be color-coding. Take a deep breath and pull out those highlighters.

 For the remainder of the class, we’ll take a sample chapter or two from your manuscript and massage it till it hurts. (You can try doing a whole manuscript during the class but it’ll be more effective to do the techniques on one or two chapters.)

We’ll be covering:

• Methodology and color-coding, and why deep POV is an important part of revision.
• Setting and description, including timeline, continuity, and backstory quicksand.
• What’s important to show, and what is better told.
• Dialogue as Action, and isolating character voice.
• Internal dialogue: pace, voice.
• Emotion: raw, ugly, visceral, internal.
• The color wheel.
• Read to the dog.
• DIY Toolbox: manual and online.

About the Instructor:

Suzanne Johnson was happily ensconced in New Orleans as a university magazine editor when Hurricane Katrina sent her adopted hometown underwater. She took her Katrina experiences, added wizards and magic (and the sexy undead pirate Jean Lafitte), and began what has become the Sentinels of New Orleans urban fantasy series published by Tor Books. Writing under the name Susannah Sandlin, she also writes award-winning paranormal romance, including the popular Penton Legacy series for Montlake Romance, and romantic suspense and thrillers, including two series, The Collectors and Wilds of the Bayou, also for Montlake.

Suzanne grew up in Alabama halfway between the Bear Bryant Museum and Elvis’s birthplace and lived in New Orleans for fifteen years, so she has a highly refined sense of the absurd and an ingrained love of college football and fried gator on a stick. She currently lives in Auburn, Alabama, where she is a full-time author.

Enrollment Information:

This is a 4-week online course that uses email and Yahoo Groups. If you do not have a Yahoo ID you will be prompted to create one when you join the class, but the process is not difficult. The class is open to anyone wishing to participate. The cost is $30.00 per person or, if you are a member of OCCRWA, $20.00 per person.

Enroll here: http://occrwa.org/classes/august-online-class/

Linda McLaughlin
OCC/RWA Online Class Co-coordinator