Intermediate Copyediting for Fiction (On Demand)

Description

$400 (Members: $360) | How to copyedit fiction | 4 lessons | With Instructor Feedback | Intermediate

On-demand course schedule must be arranged with the instructor as soon as possible after enrollment.

This class picks up where Beginning Copyediting for Fiction leaves off. It assumes you know the basics of using The Chicago Manual of Style to make editorial decisions, how to write editorial queries, and how to write (and use) a style sheet.

We’ll dig deeper into the differences between light, medium, and heavy copyedits, and you’ll get practice doing all three.

We’ll investigate how to do more sentence-level editing to address awkward or unclear sentences without affecting the author’s voice.

And we’ll practice making more complex judgments calls regarding the line between defaulting to the author’s preference and adhering to the style guide.

You will need a copy of:

• The Chicago Manual of Style, Eighteenth Edition or access to the online version
• Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Edition or access to the online version
• And you may also wish to purchase Amy J. Schneider’s The Chicago Guide to Copyediting Fiction, but you will not need to have it to do the work required in this class

This class covers American English copyediting standards. Punctuation, usage, and spelling can be very different in Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and other areas where English is widely used.

Each week includes a new lesson and a new assignment to be submitted for the instructor’s feedback along with online discussions about developmental issues.

Prerequisite: Beginning Copyediting for Fiction

The class is entirely online and asynchronous (you don’t have to be in any particular place at any particular time to participate) but your final materials will be due on a deadline agreed to with the instructor.