Course Overview

Overview

Summary has been demoted to second-class craft for fifty years. We’re going to promote it back. Four weeks on when to compress time, when to leap, when to give the reader the headline and move on. Summary is not laziness — summary is the craft that makes drafts move. By the end your drafts will be 20% shorter and twice as fast. Bring an over-shown draft. Leave with compression that respects the reader’s time and the story’s momentum. Four weeks. Twenty lessons. The deliverable is a summary skill that compounds for years.

What’s inside

• 4 modules, 20 lessons + summary drills — compression-focused, working-writer practical
• Mindset Maven Test that names YOUR specific summary-resistance pattern
• 4 guided meditations averaging 9 minutes — paired to compression sessions
• Toolkit: the Strategic Summary Reference + the Compression Drill Workbook
• Lifetime access, unlimited retakes — summary skills compound across drafts
• Companion blog post per module — public, perfect for the writer afraid to compress

Who this is for

• Novelists
• Memoirists
• Journalists
• Essayists

FAQs

Won’t compression feel like laziness?
Strategic compression reads as confident, not lazy. The lazy summary is generic; the strategic summary is specific and chosen. Module 2 covers the distinction.

What’s the 20% claim?
Most students cut 15-25% of draft length using the compression skills in this course. The cuts are usually moments that were over-shown and are stronger in summary.

Does this apply to journalism?
Yes — module 4 covers long-form journalism specifically. Long-form often falls apart at the mid-section because the writer can’t compress connecting material.

How is this different from BM-185?
BM-185 teaches the THREE-way decision (show/tell/skip). BM-187 goes deep on the TELL — the strategic summary as a craft. Pair them for full decision work.

What’s the difference between summary and exposition?
Exposition delivers information the reader needs to understand the story. Summary compresses time / events / details to maintain momentum. They overlap; the course distinguishes them.

Can I retake?
Yes. Unlimited.

What one student said

★★★★★

“I acquire literary fiction for an independent press. I read 400+ manuscripts a year. The single most common reason I pass on a submission with strong prose is over-scening — the writer scenes everything that could have been summarized. This course teaches the compression skill I have been wishing my submitters had. I now send the course link to several of my authors with their developmental edit letters. The course is making my editing job easier. Five stars from someone who reads dialogue and prose for a living.”

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