Writing Workshops

The Art of Revising Your Manuscript

GIVE A GIFT OF A WORKSHOP TO THE WRITER IN YOUR FAMILY

GIFT CERTIFICATES AVAILABLE

23 January – 6 February ~ three Saturday mornings

from 9:00 a.m.- 12:00 p.m. on the UNC Asheville campus

129 Robinson Hall

Workshop Fee: $129

The instructor is L. McKenna Donovan. Her website is: http://www.towritewell.com

Revision is one of the exquisite pleasures of writing. ~ Bernard Malamud

Do you shudder when you think of having to revise your manuscript?

Does such pithy advice as “murder the little darlin’s” give you nightmares?

Do you become defensive about your first draft?

There are many reasons for a writer’s knee-jerk reaction to the process or revising, but there is one thing for sure: it’s unnecessary. Revision is the writer’s greatest opportunity to strengthen and enrich a manuscript so it evokes strong emotions from your readers.

Strong revision creates a memorable manuscript—one that literary agents and publishers want.

In our workshop on revision, students learn the five key questions to ask of their manuscripts. In particular, students learn to identify where they have avoided writing “this scene” or “that plot development,” especially when the manuscript would be immeasurably strengthened.

Week 1: How To Identify, Create, And Dramatize Real Motivation

Week 2: How To Make A Scene Count, And Then Count More

Week 3: How To Find The Depths, But Not The Murk

LEARN THE EXQUISITE PLEASURES OF REVISION

The workshop focuses on the five key questions writers should ask of their manuscripts during the revision process. Students may bring the first chapter of their current work-in-progress. Although the workshop will include some opportunity to work individually, the main purpose of the workshop is to provide techniques of revision, which the student will then be able to apply to their work on their own.

Join us!

*Receive a $10 discount on your tuition for each friend you enroll.
To Register: email: ashley.long@towritewell.com or call: 828-492-0576
A registration form will be emailed to you, just print it out, fill it out and send it to the address provided on the form with check enclosed.
If you refer a friend, be sure they let me know you referred them and we will deduct $10 (or reimburse you)
Any questions? email or call Ashely via contact info above.

To Write Well is proud to offer two full scholarships to this workshop. Applicants must be full time UNCA students

Scholarship requirements:

Send in an email to McKenna Donovan (mckenna.donovan@towritewell.com)

A sample of your writing: creative, non-fiction, or creative non-fiction. No more than four, double spaced pages. Does not need to be a complete essay, story, or article.
McKenna will make the selections based on strength of theme or storyline within those four pages, plus use of language.
We are looking for students who demonstrate a serious desire to write- show that in what you submit!

To register or for more information, please email Ashley at: ashley.long@towritewell.com or call: 828-492-0576

WHY WORKSHOP?

Writing workshops infuse students with greater skills in the Craft of writing. Additionally, students often find renewed commitment, even renewed passion, for their Art.

Well-designed workshops provide:

a focus on techniques that DEEPEN AND ENRICH your writing in a specific area,
practical exercises, both in-class and at-home, to develop and EMBED NEW SKILLS,
resources for ON-GOING STUDY beyond the scope of the workshop,
incentives to get you WRITING NOW, and
individual feedback from HIGHLY QUALIFIED INSTRUCTORS, who broaden their students’ understanding of the Craft.

Writers walk the path of the artisan. We feel deeply, but more than that, we feel compelled. Our sense of the world provides the inspiration for our Art, but it is the knowledge of Craft that provides the shape—the shape that compels our readers to read our work not just once, but again and again.

To master the Art of writing, we must continue to study the Craft. An investment of our time and money in well-designed writing workshops helps us achieve that mastery.

Join Us!

Modern writers need not cower in the shadow of the great writers of history, convinced they could never write “like that.”

~ Eric Stark

“I am fortunate…that McKenna has been to my classroom many times… amazing things happen when McKenna develops skills children may have but are not tapping into. Her workshop helps students paint their ideas with words. Stories and feelings dance. It is exciting…to have students ask for more writing time. As a seasoned teacher, I use the skills learned from her visits every year. Thank you, McKenna, for the ideas and skills!”

Jim Falcocchio

fifth-grade teacher,

Voyager Elementary,

Peninsula School District

Gig Harbor, WA USA

Writer’s Digest Competition

2004

L. McKenna Donovan
Executive Director

To Write Well

mckenna.donovan@towritewell.com

110 Big Sky Drive

Leicester, NC 28748

828.683.8751

L. McKenna Donovan is the Founder and Executive Director of To Write Well, a private educational organization founded on the belief that memorable writing is both Art and Craft.

McKenna holds a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from Goddard College in Vermont and a Bachelor of Arts from University of Mary Washington in Virginia.

McKenna’s writing spans a wide spectrum of fiction and non-fiction, including a six-part series on business professionalism as well as creative non-fiction articles on traveling in Europe.

Her book reviews on various texts of the craft of writing can be found at her website:

http://www.towritewell.com/artofstyle.php.

Her essays on writing and the use of language can be found at her blog, Rhetorically Speaking:

http://lmdsplace.towritewell.com.

McKenna is currently completing a novel of transnational intrigue, which layers its characters’ stories around the idea that mankind’s thought might not be entirely his own.

*Workshop sessions are 3.0 hours each.

*Workshops are usually scheduled for Saturdays, so a three-session workshop will take three weeks to complete. Classes are not held on holidays.

*Workshops marked with a + require a paperback text, which is easily acquired through sources such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

“Every writer’s journey to a unique voice is punctuated by a few magic moments. One such moment was McKenna’s Impact of Style class. I recommend it to all writers, from novice to expert.”

JK Mason

Grand Prize Winner