About this item

The definitive handbook for the novelist who is ready to revise This wise and friendly guide shows writers how to turn first-draft manuscripts into the novels of their dreams. A critic, longtime teacher, and award-winning novelist, Sandra Scofield illustrates how to reread a work of fiction with a view of its subject and vision, and how to take it apart and put it back together again, stronger and deeper. Scofield builds her explanations around helpful concepts like narrative structure, character agency, and core scenes, using models from classic and contemporary writers. The detailed, step-by-step plan laid out in The Last Draft offers invaluable advice to both novice and experienced writers alike. In Scofield, they will find a seasoned, encouraging mentor to steer them through this emotional and intellectual journey.



About the Author

Sandra Scofield

Sandra grew up in Texas and was educated in Catholic schools. In high school she was a champion debater. After college (University of Texas) she traveled and lived in Mexico, NYC, the San Francisco area, Portland, Oregon, and Chicago. Later she did graduate work at Cornell, Northern Illinois University, and University of Oregon. She settled in Southern Oregon for thirty years, and has lived in Montana for a decade. She was a public school and college teacher for ten years, and since then has devoted herself to writing and teaching writing (Iowa Summer Writing Festival; Pine Manor College Solstice MFA Program) , and to painting, a passion that developed after her move to Montana. In recent years she has traveled frequently to Mexico, Italy, France, and England, and plans to visit Scandinavia and Japan soon. She is a besotted grandmother and spends almost half her time in Portland, Oregon with her daughter and granddaughter.Sandra's first published writing occurred in a Catholic newsletter when she was seven: "I'm a Texan, tall and strong..." and has nourished her her whole life. Her archives are housed at Texas Tech University's Sowell Library. As you would expect, she is an avid reader. Favorite authors include Mavis Gallant, Sybille Bedford, Tove Jansson, Shusako Endo, Claire Messud, Oliver Sacks; the poets Lisel Mueller, Emily Dickinson, and Billy Collins... the list goes on! She loves to watch European movies and mysteries on TV. Sandra has been married to Bill Ferguson, a Montana native and retired teacher, since 1975. Some of her wonderful past students: Sarah McCoy, James Anderson, Anita Amirreszvani, Deborah Taffa.Lately, she has been compiling her teaching files--resulting in THE LAST DRAFT: A NOVELIST's GUIDE TO REVISION (a companion book to THE SCENE BOOK: A PRIMER FOR FICTION WRITERS, both from Penguin) , and is working on a collection of miscellaneous essays about writing and reading. She has also bought many books from New York Review Books and loves revisiting such wonderful classic authors as David Plante, Henry Green, Jean Giono, and Elizabeth Taylor.You can find more about Sandra at sandrajscofield.com



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