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Authors often love to polish their prose, shining up their words until they gleam. But there’s much more to line editing than just making the words pretty.

In the strongest stories, the language serves the story as potently as any other element of craft. It strengthens, clarifies, deepens, and heightens impact.

Line editing means taking a microscope to every word of your story and making sure it says what you want say in the most impactful way; that it says exactly what you mean; that it clearly conveys your intentions; and, most important, that it never draws attention to itself and gets in the way of the story.

Even if your story is compelling, well-paced and gripping, what sets a good book apart from a great one can be the prose itself. With concrete, specific examples, you’ll learn how to spot and eliminate useless verbiage, unnecessary modifiers, dueling descriptions, spoon-feeding, and more. Plenty of specific examples will show how to make your style as tight as your storytelling—and how to elevate your prose to serve and deepen the story.

In this 90-minute online class, career book editor Tiffany Yates Martin shows you how to avoid flabby writing that can stall out or dilute the effectiveness of your story. Instead, you’ll convey your intentions in the most elegant and effective way, while expressing your unique voice that will set your story apart.

Tiffany has spent decades in the publishing industry and edited literally thousands of manuscripts. She knows what will capture a reader’s attention and what presents a risk to keeping them engaged.

You’ll learn to make your prose:

• Clear and specific: Do you convey exactly what you mean to say, with depth, nuance, and impact?
• Accurate: Are you using the correct words and phrases with the exact meaning you intend? 
• Visual/visceral: Are you painting a vivid, visual picture for readers—one that elicits powerful reactions in them?
• Elegant: Are you conveying your full intentions in the most economical way, without flab that can bog down the prose, dilute the impact, and stall momentum?
• Effective: Does the prose serve and further your story: deepen and develop characters, the plot, the stakes?
• Original: Does your work have style, voice, and your own unique stamp?

Who this class is for

• Anyone writing a book-length narrative. The class will feature examples from novels written for adult readers. For those writing memoir or narrative nonfiction, this class may be useful if you want to consider how to effectively and elegantly use language and master line editing skills. However, nonfiction examples will not be part of the class.

This class is not suitable for

• Poets
• Children’s picture book authors

How do I attend the live class?

This class uses Zoom webinar technology (see system requirements). You will join through your Internet-connected computer or mobile device. When you register, you will receive information via email on how to join the class. If you don’t receive it within 1 hour of registering, please contact us.

• When: Wednesday, October 29, 2025
• Time: 1:00–2:30 p.m. Eastern / 10:00 a.m. Pacific
• Fee: $25

The webinar is broadcast via the internet with live audio delivered through your computer or mobile device speakers. The visual presentation is displayed directly from the presenter’s computer to your computer screen. The Q&A is managed through a chat-style submission system with questions read and answered by the presenter for the entire class to hear.

Closed captions are provided during the live class. We use Zoom’s automated closed caption service, which is about 80%+ accurate. We use Adobe Premiere to generate a lightly edited transcript, provided with the recording.

All students receive the following

• Access to the live class. After roughly 75 minutes, the instructor will take questions during class using in-class chat/text. The class will end after roughly 90 minutes.
• A recording of the class—audio and video. This is especially helpful if you have a conflict with the class time or something comes up and you can’t make the session. Each registration comes with access to the archived version of the program and the materials for 30 days. You do not have to attend the live event to access the recordings.
• Presentation slides. All participants receive a copy of the slide presentation in PDF form.
• Rough transcript. We use Adobe Premiere to create an automated transcript of the entire webinar, which is lightly edited for you.
• A line-editing checklist to help you elevate and streamline your prose.

Event Attendance & Anti-Harassment Policy

We strive to provide an environment where all present—whether attendee, presenter, or staff—can feel supported. In order to ensure a welcoming event, here is what we expect from all who participate.

• That the presenter and the presenter’s work be treated with respect by attendees and that all attendees treat each other with respect and a generosity of spirit.
• That attendees will refrain from harassment of any sort including (but not limited to) comments or questions of a racist, homophobic, sexist/sexual, or threatening nature. This includes actions that disrupt or interfere with anyone’s ability to participate. Offenders will be disconnected from the live event.