31 Days, 31 Revision Prompts: A Month of Self-Editing Your Essays
Develop a full suite of tools that will allow you to polish and perfect your first-person writing.
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Cost: $119
So, youâve written an essay draft â or maybe even a lot of drafts â now what? Does the idea of revision and editing strike fear in your creative heart? Thatâs natural, but it doesnât have to be that way. This March is the time to develop the skills and inspiration to push forwards on self-editing your drafts. Narratively Chief Submissions Reader Amy Barnesâ popular â30 Days, 30 Essay Promptsâ class has given hundreds of writers a full month of inspiration and generative ideas. Now this new month-long course uses a similar format to guide you in self-editing and polishing your drafts, whether you wrote them last week or years ago.
This self-guided course is designed to help you tighten, strengthen, expand and contract your own essays or memoir. The course will help you add depth and background, make your narration shine, be more active with your word choices â in short, take what youâve already written and prepare it for potential publication.
For each of the four weeks, weâll focus on a specific editing approach. For six days of each week, youâll receive a short personal essay or two to read, paired with a prompt and instructions about how to approach revising your own writing. Daily exercises or prompts may include creating a narrator personality chart, finding the most resonant starting/point of your essay, or identifying ways to make your writing more active. The last day of each week will be set aside for looking more closely at what youâve worked on or read during the week, and sharing your revisions and breakthroughs with the group when you choose to do so.
This is not an overly time-consuming class. The idea is to set aside half-an-hour each day to focus on revising your writing, and to make sure you edit something. You are not required to participate every single day; the goal is to challenge yourself to edit as much as you can. You might edit just a few sentences, come up with a new title for your piece, or when youâre inspired, do much more.
The overall goal is to provide you with a self-editing toolbox of techniques you can use to polish your current drafts and perfect future essays.
This is a self-guided class. You will have the option to share your initial and revised work with a supportive group of writers.
This class is right for you if âŠ
You have one or more essay drafts that feel ready for editing.
You have interesting life experiences that you want to share in essays, but youâre not sure if your essay drafts will resonate strongly with readers and editors.
You want directed readings and inspiring prompts/instructions on how to strengthen your writing through self-editing.
By the end of this class youâll be ready toâŠ
Finish and submit multiple personal essays this year, and/or move forward on your full-length memoir.
This is a 31-day self-guided prompt-based class, running from March 1 to March 31, 2025. Students can work at their own pace, at a time of their choosing, and are not required to write every day.
Instructor Bio: A Narratively editorial team member for the past eight years, Amy Barnes stepped into the new role of chief submission reader in 2024. Her third collection of fiction and essays, Child Craft, was published by Belle Point Press in September 2023. She has read over 2,500 essay submissions for Narratively, along with nonfiction and memoir stories as a reader and editor for sites and presses including Fractured Lit, Craft, The Porch TN, The MacGuffin, Orison Books, Ruby and Gone Lawn. She taught online courses for over 20 years for JER Group. Her own essays and creative nonfiction have appeared in many publications: McSweeneyâs, JMWW Journal, SmokeLong Quarterly, Southern Living, Allrecipes, Motherly, Romper, Reckon Review, Simplemost, Forbes, Fodorâs, AARP, Business Insider, The Lonely Crowd, and others. Sheâs also been nominated for writing awards, including Best of the Net and a Pushcart Prize, was included in Best Small Fiction 2022, and longlisted for the Wigleaf Top 50 Very Short Fictions from 2021 through 2025.
Registration Details: Seats in this class are limited and available on a first-come, first-serve basis. Prior to the start of your class youâll receive an invitation to access the virtual classroom and view all class materials.
Cancellation Policy:
Full refund when canceling 7 or more days before the class start date.
50% refund when canceling less than 7 days before the class start date.
No cancellations after the class start date.
Questions? Email us at academy@narratively.com.
More: Check out all of our Narratively Academy online writing classes here.