At The Writers' Block, we have a peer review system in place. Each person who wants to get a draft reviewed can do so by submitting to a critique queue. We have around 700 members. Thank heavens they're not all prolific writers. At the moment, we have a team of about 10 regular critiquers who are more experienced and we try to work as quickly as we can.
However, we're all volunteers with jobs and we want to get some actual writing done ourselves too. That's why we implemented a process in different stages to streamline the critiquing and to encourage people to submit their drafts more than once before posting it online.
People now go through at least three rounds of editing with their draft but we have started to structure our process a bit more. We now work on the bigger issues first, fixing character arc and plot, and looking for a killer opener.
We make sure the big picture of the piece works, before exhausting ourselves looking for an overdose of adverbs and word echoes, trying to turn telling into showing etc on a piece of prose that may end up cut or pared down anyway.
In writers' workout, the group that joins us in our exercises is a bit smaller. We started out with five writers, and each week a few more start working on the assignments. These exercises are queued as well, and developed, nitpicked and polished to perfection. Or as close to perfection as we could get them.
The benefit of this approach is that you work on a draft and you look it over, make it as clean as you can and then you submit. Three, sometimes more people come in and look at your piece. Fresh eyes who haven't beaten those words to death yet. While it's in the queue, I try not to think about it--to let it rest. I trust my friends to tell me what works for them and what doesn't. Because the opinion of a reader has value. The opinion of an experiences reader who will have an analytical outlook on things, is invaluable.
When they're done ripping it apart for me, I go back in and fix what I can, not having looked at it for a day or two. That means I have fresh eyes on it once again. I've had time to let everything sink in. Sometimes I'll read everyone's editing notes and put it away again. For another night of sleeping on it and letting it all sink in, before I even think of implementing edits.
And we do this again and again.
Our process might not be perfect just yet, but with every submission to our queues, we gain experience. As readers. As writers. As editors.
The most important thing we all share is a desire to learn, do better, grow as writers. I can't think of a better place to sharpen my skills, and if I look back at the first things I posted, I can tell it's starting to pay off.
This is the fourth companion post that is linked to a story I'm serialising on the Steem blockchain at the moment. It was edited and polished through peer review within our Writers' Workout group, where we all worked on fairy tales over the last few weeks. I couldn't be prouder of the work everyone has put in, and the results they got from it. My story, The Land Down the Well, can be found by visiting the library section on the left side of the page. Feel free to have a look. ;-)
Hugs
Jasmine
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