Editing Master Class: Pat Dobie

Pat Dobie. For information on her developmental editing class click on the image.

Simply stated, Pat Dobie is one of the best editors I’ve ever worked with. She makes everything I write better, even if all she changes is a word here and there in a short piece of fiction, but more often than not, she takes sentences I thought I’d tightened, and gives them one more improving twist.

She is good.

And she is teaching a class on developmental editing. This is a great opportunity for new and established editors to sharpen their skills, but also for writers to deepen their skills and get inside the mechanics of writing.

You can find more information here. Or by clicking on her photo above.

Below is her description of the class:

Class Information

This is hands-on training in the art and craft of developmental editing for book-length fiction. We will cover how and why writers work with developmental editors and how a writer’s publishing goals will influence the type of editorial feedback they seek.

Since developmental editing is best learned by doing, you will be guided step by step through the developmental edit of an unpublished novella manuscript. You will learn:

How to crack open the inner life of a book-length manuscript and convey your experience through the four main developmental editing tools.

How to articulate your reading experience in a way the writer can absorb and act on.

How to meet the book (and writer) where they’re at—not by suggesting a different book, but by showing them how to make the book they wrote fulfill its maximum potential.

You will learn how to read analytically and deeply, how to use marginal comments to convey key aspects of your reading experience to the writer, how to deconstruct a novel and create a book map to analyze its structure, pacing, and component parts, and how to use your analysis and reading sensibility to create the bones of your editorial feedback.

You’ll create a book map and craft an editorial letter that delivers your findings to the writer in a way that rallies their enthusiasm for the task of revision. You will get personal feedback from a working developmental editor (your instructor) on sections of your editorial letter and on a portion of your manuscript markup.

We will also cover the essentials of working with your first few clients, or for experienced developmental editors, refreshing how you take on clients—how to home in on and convey what you offer, how to assess “fit” with both the client and the manuscript, how to establish and maintain strong ongoing relationships with a variety of writers, and how you can expand your offerings as you gain experience and know-how.