Overview: Driftwood Press is excited to announce an updated version of our Editors & Writers Seminar! Instead of being offered on specific dates with large groups of students, you are now able to begin the seminar on any Monday you'd like! Read below to see what this new seminar offers.

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This five-week seminar will be most useful to three types of writers: (1) writers who are submitting to magazines and want  tips and tricks to fight through the slush pile to round two; (2) writers who want to be editors of short fiction or run a literary magazine; (3) writers who want to become better editors of their own and others’ work.

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Each week, the student will receive a pre-recorded video lesson from the instructor (Driftwood Press’ Managing Fiction Editor James McNulty) and a few reading assignments. Throughout the course, the student will also receive four total writing or revision assignments and detailed feedback on each of these four assignments. Those who take the class will also receive a copy of the brilliant craft essay collection On Writing Fiction (David Jauss), shipped directly to them near the beginning of the course.

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Application: Once you've paid the fee and told us which Monday you'd like to begin the course on, we'll confirm your date or discuss alternates if we have a conflict. To apply, please provide the following:

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• Statement of Interest: A 200-word statement of interest detailing how this online course would benefit you or why you are interested.
• Brief Biography: A short, 100-word biographical statement outlining any work history, editorial experience, publications, or upcoming projects you are involved in.

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Cost: Cost for the entire five-week course is $250.00 USD. The course-cost includes:

• Five video lectures available exclusively to students.
• Four assignments, two of which will be revision assignments.
• Detailed instructor feedback on <500 words of prose assignments each week for all four assignments.
• Digital reading assignments
• A copy of On Writing Fiction by renowned craft writer David Jauss delivered directly to you near the beginning of the course.
• Open communication with Managing Fiction Editor James McNulty. While taking the course, feel free to shoot over craft and career questions and concerns, and James will be happy to help as he can.

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Lectures: Most lectures are approximately one-hour, but some are much longer. These lectures were recorded when the seminar was offered as a multi-person class, so I may very briefly address a body of students at one or two points. The lecture topics are as follows:

1. Common Missteps (1hr.): Here, we’ll be looking through a hodgepodge of different mistakes that flag submitters as amateurish. This first lecture will be a head-spinning crash course on the most frequently botched craft issues at play in submissions. We’ll cover everything from the four modes of fiction (description, action, dialogue, and interiority) to stories that lack specificity to repetitive sentence structures.
2. On Beginnings (1hr.): Next up, we’ll work through roughly a dozen opening paragraphs and pages, looking for why an unforgiving editor could kick a story from consideration early on. We’ll also talk through some submissions that caught our eye on the first page and what made those stories stand out.
3. From the Editor (1hr.): An exploration of what it looks like on the editor’s side. This includes an explanation of how Driftwood is run as well as a walkthrough of the submissions manager from the editor’s perspective. We’ll talk about what exactly it takes for a submission to be rejected or accepted, and we’ll cap the lecture with a brief discussion of the financials of a literary magazine.
4. Editorial Philosophies I (1hr.) & II (2hrs.): What are the philosophies of an editor? Here’s a quick rundown on our philosophical editorial policies at Driftwood, including a talk on prescriptivism/descriptivism, the five types of drafts, mandatory changes, overstepping, and other related topics that will be useful to writers, too. We’ll wrap up the lecture by showing—in detail—a writer’s path to acceptance with us. In the bonus two-hour lecture, I'll go even more in-depth to show how our revisions process works with our published authors.
5. Personalized Lecture (1.5hrs.): Based on questions and counterpoints brought to my attention by two old classes, this lecture is a hodgepodge of miscellaneous but relevant mini-lectures and questions answered.

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Timeline: The class timeline is as follows:

• Mondays: I will send you a lecture, the week's prompt, and the week's reading assignment (often alongside optional, additional readings).
• Sundays: You will turn in your <500 word prompt response, which I will return with comments before the following prompt is due.

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About the Instructor: James McNulty holds an MFA in writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts. He’s been the Managing Fiction Editor of Driftwood Press for nearly a decade. For more about James and Driftwood, you can read this recent interview.