MASTERCLASS: The Ultimate Workshop For Editing Your Novel with Sara Grant

“Sara’s revision workshops have changed the way I edit my work. She has a fantastic way of breaking things down and demonstrating what needs to be done. Her tips are practical and her planning is a work of organizational art. As an editor Sara helps you to uncover the well-crafted story that is buried beneath. She asks the questions that make you find out what is important in your story, what is distracting from it and what you can do to make it the best it can be. Armed with Sara’s revision strategies, a bit of patience and a handful of highlighters you’ll be ready to take on those edits. Revision is hard, but Sara has a way of breaking things down so it suddenly seems doable. Using Sara’s strategies really helped me to organise the structure of my story without losing the spontaneity of the writing.” – New York Times Best-selling Author Mo O’Hara of numerous picture books and funny books for young readers

“Sara Grant’s revision workshop was a revelation. As a former magazine journalist, I thought I was good at editing but Sara’s systematic methods were next level. I’ve now edited eight Young Adult thrillers and these methods are second nature to me. She is the unrivalled expert in the field – and I remember her workshop being energetic and fun which might be hard to imagine unless you’ve attended one!” – Sue Wallman, award-winning author of YA thrillers, including Such a Good Liar, Lying About Last Summer, I Know You Did It, and Watch Your Back

“I remember the faces around the table in the first Sara Grant revision workshop I attended nearly 10 years ago, and a number of us went on to be traditionally published by the likes of Penguin Random House and Scholastic. Sara’s insights were single-handedly responsible for my first real growth as an author: the fact that deep and resonant themes are inside our stories if we look for them, and that energetically revising isn’t the mark of a failure as a writer, it's the mark of a professional. In one of Sara’s revision workshops, I remember she said, ‘I should be able to make you care about whether I take this sip of coffee.’ That’s stayed with me, and it’s something I still challenge myself to do, whatever I’m writing: How can I make the reader care more? How can I help the reader get closer to my characters? I’d recommend Sara Grant’s revision workbook for any author serious about their craft.” – Sheila Averbuch, author of Friend Me (Scholastic Press New York)

“I think I’ve learned more from Sara than from anyone else about how to take a critical look at a messy draft and rework it into a tighter, clearer, and better structured manuscript.” – Tracey Mathias, author of Silence is Also a Lie