Introducing Community Critiques: Lifting the Veil on the Editorial Process

Submit your personal essay draft for the chance to get a free critique from our editor—and join a fun experiment to show our community of writers how this process works.

I love editing stories. There’s something so rewarding about reading a writer’s first draft, helping them identify what’s missing, and then seeing it all come together on a rewrite. I’ve edited several thousand stories during my decade-plus as Narratively’s editorial director, and the launch of Narratively Academy last year gave me the chance to work with even more writers via Narratively Critiques, where writers sign up to get tough, honest, in-depth and actionable feedback about how their drafts can be improved. Several of the essays I’ve critiqued have gone on to be published on Narratively.com, including Cathy Alter’s recent “Unburying My Mother’s Secret” and J Martin’s “The Man Who Betrayed Me Was Also the Man Who Loved Me.” Others have been published in Memoir Land and additional great outlets, and two authors whose longer manuscripts I critiqued have landed book deals.

As a fun perk for our Narratively Academy subscribers, we’re lifting the curtain on the editorial process even further by launching Community Critiques.

Here’s how it works:

Submit your personal essay draft (up to 2,500 words) and we’ll choose one essay to get a FREE critique (a $275 value). The writer whose essay we choose will receive:

• A memo outlining my overall feedback, thoughts and suggested changes.

• In-line comments on the story about aspects that can be improved.

• A one-on-one video call with you to talk through a plan for next steps.

• A review of your edited draft, after you incorporate feedback.

Choose a story draft that you’ve been working on and can’t quite seem to nail, or that you’ve submitted to publications and haven’t gotten accepted yet.

So that everyone can benefit from this process, we’ll be doing this critique publicly for the whole Narratively Academy community. Subscribers will get the chance to read the writer’s draft, see my edits and feedback, join the live video call or watch a recording, offer your own thoughts, and then read the edited final draft. Whether or not your essay is chosen for this first Community Critique, you’ll get the chance to see how this whole process works and understand more fully how editing can help improve any personal essay.

The opportunity to submit to the Community Critique and to join the process is open to paid Narratively Academy subscribers. If you’re not subscribed yet, please join now! Keep reading to submit your story draft by Tuesday, September 9.