The way we revise is too often a norming process--a push towards sounding more like what institutions and gatekeepers want to hear. In this multidisciplinary class, we'll explore an alternative method of revision: finding the bright spots you love in your work and amplifying those spots until they are your bright sun. This strength-based revision technique seeks to help you discover the beauty that you already bring to writing, and encourages you to believe in it. 

We'll talk through The Bright Spots Revision Method and then you'll revisit a piece you've been stuck on lately. You will transform this work over the course of the class through many revisions, and through generative and thoughtful prompts, you'll rediscover what you love about your work every step of the way. Writers are encouraged to bring in a piece of writing that they've been struggling to revise (less than 1000 words may be more manageable, so excerpts are also completely acceptable), but an idea will work perfectly too. 

Eshani Surya is the author of RAVISHING, forthcoming from Roxane Gay Books/Grove Atlantic in 2024. Her short stories and essays have appeared in The Rumpus, DIAGRAM, [PANK], Catapult, and Joyland, among others. Eshani is a 2022 Asian Women Writer’s Workshop mentee, a 2022 Kenyon Review Writer’s Workshop scholarship recipient, and a 2021 Mae Fellowship recipient. She also works as the Programs and Operations Coordinator at Blue Stoop, a literary non-profit in Philadelphia. She holds an MFA from the University of Arizona. Find her online @__eshani and http://eshani-surya.com.