Your First 10 Pages: Ready, Set, Go!

March 7 – 13, 2016 Full

Our next date will be in June or July 2016.
It will follow the same format (below) as the recent March course.
Please email me and we’ll let you know when the next course dates are announced!

If the first ten pages of your book don’t grab an agent’s or editor’s attention, they’re unlikely to keep reading. (Even if you are self-publishing, the same holds true for your readers!) Get feedback from two veteran writers and editors in this short individual feedback course designed to hone your first ten pages so your readers can’t wait to read on.

“This is the best writing critique course I’ve experienced.” A writer in a First 10 Pages course.

This one-week intensive feedback seminar is for writers who already have 10 pages completed of a book-length manuscript, fiction or nonfiction. Perhaps you’ve written the entire book, perhaps you are only partway through. Either way you will receive specific and detailed feedback from both Tania Casselle and Sean Murphy and you will have the chance to revise your pages using our feedback and run it past us again.

SCHEDULE

Monday February 29 Advance Guidelines: We send you guidelines on what makes a strong beginning to a book – and common mistakes to avoid. We do not believe in formulaic writing. A creative writer can make anything work… if they make it work! Still, there are certain things to watch out for, so we’ll give you an overview to help you avoid the problems we often see in first pages. You then have time to make any revisions on your first 10 pages with those pointers in mind before….

Monday March 7: On or by midnight on March 7, you email us your first ten pages in standard industry format. (Double line spacing, standard font like Times New Roman 12 point, etc. We’ll give all those specs in the advance guidelines as this is how you will need to present your pages to an agent/editor.)

Friday March 11: Either Sean or Tania will reply to you on or by March 11 at the latest with feedback on the pages in Track Changes and cover notes. We will tell you what is working well, and anything that is not working so well, with specific suggestions on what you might do to bump this baby up to the next level. You then have (at least) 48 hours to work on any revisions, taking any of our suggestions you wish.

Saturday March 12: Conference call at 5 pm U.S. Eastern Time (New York time). This is an optional call, but if you have any questions about opening pages in general or about the feedback we gave on your specific pages, call in and discuss it with us. We are happy to take any and all questions!

Sunday March 13: You email us your revisions on your first ten pages on or by midnight March 13. Whichever one of us did not give feedback on the first round will give you feedback this time. Therefore you get input from both of us over the two rounds, and you will receive the second feedback on or by Tuesday March 15.

As professional authors, editors, and teachers, Tania Casselle and Hemingway Award winner Sean Murphy have helped hundreds of writers polish their manuscripts to perfection – and we look forward to helping you!

Participants in a previous course said (in an anonymous survey):

• Excellent structure for feedback from both of you with time to rewrite and resubmit. Wonderful to focus on opening pages in such depth. This helped clarify the entire project.

• This course gave me a chance to look at my work with a more critical eye. I received many excellent suggestions on the conference call which I am applying to my work.

FEE:  $169

HOW TO REGISTER: Complete the form below, then we will send you a PayPal invoice to pay by credit card or from your PayPal account and confirm your registration. You do not need a PayPal account to pay by credit card.