Writer_In_Motion_

Writer-In-Motion came about in editor Jeni Chappelle’s slack group, Writers’ Craft Room. It started with author J.M. Jinks saying she wanted to post the first draft and then the final draft of her manuscript to show how the revision process makes a huge difference to a gem in the rough. Then author K. J. Harrowick, in one of her many moments of brilliance, said it would make a great blog series. And so the idea was born. Why not show writers the big changes that can occur over the course of revisions, just on a scale much more manageable than a hundred-thousand-word manuscript? In Jeni’s words: “When you’re drafting, the only comparison you have to your writing is a published book. And that’s such an unfair comparison. Those books have been through multiple rounds of self-editing by the writer and received feedback from many people—editors at the least but often also agents, beta readers, and critique partners. It’s not unusual for ten or more people to provide feedback to an author on any one manuscript by the time it’s published. When you make the comparison between a first draft and a published book, it’s like comparing an acorn to an oak tree—all the raw materials are there, but it’s going to take time and a lot of work to get it to grow that much.” From there, the details were worked out: participating authors would write a 500-1000-word short story based on a prompt. Then every week, they’d each post their most recent draft. There’d be four weeks total of drafts: their first (unedited) draft, their second draft (self-revising), a third draft based on critique partner feedback, and a final draft based on editorial feedback. Then on the last week, they’d each share their thoughts about the process. The project turned out to be a stunning success, with twenty-four participating authors and four incredible editors who volunteered their personal time to provide professional guidance. Knowledge was shared, much fun was had, and a tremendously supportive commun