The Revision Workshop
You have a draft. Now learn to read it clearly, identify what is not working, and fix it — without losing what is.
Next cohort: September 22, 2026
Overview
What this program is
Finishing a first draft is an achievement. Knowing what to do with it is a different skill entirely — one that most writers are never taught. The result is drafts that sit in drawers, revision processes that go in circles, and writers who rewrite the same chapter endlessly without making it better.
This program teaches revision as a discipline. Over six weeks, you will learn how to read your own work with critical distance, diagnose structural and prose-level problems, and make targeted changes that improve the whole without destroying what is already working.
The program is suitable for fiction, memoir, and narrative nonfiction. You will work on your own manuscript throughout — every framework, every exercise, every session of feedback is applied to your actual pages.
Outcomes
What you will leave with
- —A diagnostic framework for reading your own draft as a stranger would
- —Structural revision techniques for fixing plot, pacing, and character arc problems
- —Line-level editing skills: cutting, clarifying, and strengthening prose
- —A complete, prioritised revision plan for your manuscript
- —Feedback on 30 pages of your manuscript from peers and instructor
- —A repeatable revision process you can apply to every project you write
Who this is for
Who this is for
- —Writers with a complete or near-complete first draft of a novel, memoir, or narrative nonfiction book
- —Writers who have revised before but feel like they are going in circles
- —Writers who know something is wrong with their draft but cannot identify what
- —Writers preparing a manuscript for submission to agents or publishers
Schedule
Week by week
Distance — Learning to read your own work
The hardest part of revision is reading what is actually on the page rather than what you intended. This week you will learn the techniques that create critical distance — how to read your draft as a stranger would, what to look for, and how to take notes without immediately trying to fix everything.
Structure — Fixing the bones
Structural problems are the hardest to see and the most important to fix. This week you will learn how to identify structural issues — scenes in the wrong order, a midpoint that does not turn, an ending that does not earn its emotion — and how to address them without rewriting everything.
Character — Arc, desire, and consistency
Character problems often masquerade as plot problems. This week you will learn how to audit your characters' arcs — whether their desires are clear, whether their choices are consistent, whether their change is earned — and how to revise when they are not.
Scene — Making each one earn its place
Every scene in a finished manuscript needs to justify its existence. This week you will learn how to evaluate individual scenes — whether they are doing enough work, whether they are in the right place, whether they can be cut — and how to revise scenes that are almost working but not quite.
Prose — Line-level revision
Once the structure is sound, you can work at the line level. This week covers the techniques of prose revision: cutting redundancy, clarifying syntax, strengthening verbs, managing rhythm, and finding the specific word. You will work on 10 pages of your manuscript in the session.
Plan — Your complete revision roadmap
The final week is about synthesis. You will assemble everything from the previous five weeks into a complete, prioritised revision plan — a document that tells you exactly what to do, in what order, and why. You will also receive final feedback on your work and discuss the path forward.
Instructor
Eleanor Marsh
Founder, The Prose Haus
Eleanor has edited and revised her own work through two published novels and helped dozens of writers through the revision process as a coach and workshop leader. She created The Revision Workshop because revision is where most writing careers stall — and it does not have to.
FAQ
Common questions
Ready to do the work?
Next cohort starts September 22, 2026. Spaces are limited.