Good novels don’t just happen—they endure several revisions before publishing, and the first round of edits is usually the substantive edit.
What is a substantive fiction edit? Sometimes called a macro edit, it’s the “big picture” edit—before the copy editor looks at each punctuation marks and notations, the substantive editor looks at the whole book: characters, pacing, plotlines, point-of-view, setting, etc., as well as keeping an eye on punctuation, grammar, and more.
In Substantive Fiction Editing 101, we’ll look at the basics of a well-written novel and learn how to help our authors learn and incorporate those techniques. The class includes everything from understanding the Christian fiction market and its genres, learning the elements of an effective substantive edit, and mastering the basics of Christian fiction—showing versus telling, characterization, plot, and formatting.
Six lessons, only $60!
Course Outline
Lesson 1: CRA, ABA, and Genres
- Christian Retailers Association (CRA) versus American Booksellers Association
- Book Lengths and Classifications
- Genres and their Characteristics
Lesson 2: Resources, POV, and Formatting
- Editing Resources
- Point of View
- Industry Formatting Standards
- Why Formatting Matters
Lesson 3: Plot Types
- Man vs. Self
- Man vs. Man
- Man vs. God
- Man vs. Destiny
- Man vs. Setting
- Man vs. Society
- Man vs. Machine
- Man vs. the Unknown
- Man vs. the Situation
Lesson 4: Three Acts
- Act I (Beginning)
- Act II (Middle)
- Act III (End)
- Subplots
Lesson 5: Transitional Elements
- The Inciting Incident
- Door #1
- Door #2
Lesson 6: Characters
- Consistency
- Goal-Motivation-Conflict (GMC)
- Strengthening Weak GMCs
- Authenticity
- Fictional Stereotypes
- Diversity
- Secondary Characters
Six lessons, practices assignments, and answer keys–only $60!
