Blog • Perfecting your Craft, Reedsy News
Posted on Jan 16, 2026
Inside the Reedsy Writing Discord: A Guided Tour
Martin Cavannagh
Head of Content at Reedsy, Martin has spent over eight years helping writers turn their ambitions into reality. As a voice in the indie publishing space, he has written for a number of outlets and spoken at conferences, including the 2024 Writers Summit at the London Book Fair.
View profile →Your writing can grow in surprising and meaningful ways when you share the journey with fellow travellers. If you’ve ever wished for a space where you can share your creative ambitions and writerly challenges, the Reedsy writing Discord offers all that and more: a free, real-time chat community where 5,000 (and counting) writers hang out, write together, and help each other improve.
If this sounds like the kind of club you’d like to join, here’s a quick guide to the most popular corners of our dedicated (and free) online space for writers.
✍️Convinced already? Join us here: https://discord.gg/MJeWSQA2kq!
Find your footing in the community channels
The #writers-lounge is the best place to get your feet wet when you’re joining the server. It’s the main gathering space, where you'll get to know the community. Conversations range from craft questions and industry talk to small wins, frustrations, and moments of doubt that most writers can relate to. 
Here, you’ll find a healthy mix of voices: first-time writers, contest finalists, and published authors. This is a low-pressure environment for asking questions and getting a sounding board. It’s the kind of place where you can toss out a character dilemma and come away with five new angles you hadn’t considered or (at the very least) some reassurance that you’re not the first to encounter a certain problem.
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Write alongside others in sprints
When motivation’s the matter, writers can turn to the #writing-gym and #daily-sprint channels for a breakthrough. Both channels help you write — they just do it in slightly different ways.
Think of #writing-gym as, well, just that. Show up when you want, do the work you came to do, and write alongside others at your own pace. It’s where you can practice your craft and develop your writing habit.
The #daily-sprint space is more like a running club for writers. One person starts a sprint using the Sprinto bot, others join in, and everyone tracks their own word count over the same time window. It’s a great way to have some healthy competition spur you on when you’re trying to hit a personal goal. 
Get clear, constructive feedback on your work
It’s often useful to get a fresh pair of eyes on your work. And while you can find beta readers on Reddit, Goodreads, and niche forums, they’re often hit-or-miss for turnout and follow-through of promises.
You can turn to our writing Discord’s feedback spaces for encouraging, non-judgmental responses from readers who understand both your genre and the craft.
For quick questions or shorter excerpts, #writing-feedback is a good starting point. Writers often post a paragraph under 500 words, or pose a general craft question to other members.
Now, if you’re looking for a closer critique, the Feedback Threads forum gives you space to share longer pieces, tag them by genre, and receive more thoughtful or specific responses from readers who choose to engage. It’s useful for testing your writing voice and spotting early issues so you know what to focus on next. 
Since many experienced writers, including published authors (aka @Mentors), are active in the server, feedback here tends to be generous and honest. The goal isn’t to overwhelm you with opinions, but rather to help you see what’s clicking or how a piece reads from another point of view.
That said, great feedbackis a two-way street. And the best way to get a thoughtful response is to give it first. A few simple ways you can do that as a reader:
- Respond to what you felt as a reader before suggesting changes
- Be specific. Identify moments that did and didn't work for you
- Focus your commentary on clarity and impact, rather than tweaking someone else’s voice
- Match the level of feedback you’d want to receive
It helps to think of this as a shared practice. If you show up with the kind of feedback you’d want on your own work, others are more inclined to meet you there.
Q: How do you balance being critical while encouraging authors through your feedback?
Suggested answer
I perform editorial assessments and developmental edits and try to look for exciting and interesting spots where the author is really doing a nice job. I always start my editorial notes with what is working well, because there is always something that the author is doing well, and it's nice for authors to know what their strengths are. In my sidebar notes directly on the manuscript, I also like to highlight specific spots that are written exceptionally well also.
The reality is that there are publishing standards that readers, agents, and publishers expect to see in a book, so I try to focus on the "must-haves" as far as structure and expectations first in my comments.
Since there is a subjective element also in editing, I also encourage authors to read the comments and take on board the ones they agree with and that work for them and their book. At the end of the day, it is the author's work, and they must decide how best to navigate both positive and corrective feedback.
Melody is available to hire on Reedsy ⏺
Fortunately, this hasn't been as difficult as it may be for some; I have been a publisher in addition to being an editor in the past, and I'm used to working with writers of every personality and depth in multiple genres. I see the human being in addition to his/her/their capacity as a writer--this includes being supportive in terms of what I see in their writing as well as assuring each that certain issues in writing are common--so they shouldn't feel self-conscious. They're safe with me in working with them. In terms of delineating what I see in their work, I always do an overarching general assessment in addition to a markup; the markup is for any text-specific comments, questions, or clarifications in addition to any corrections (which as an editor I can't help proofreading), while the general assessment is where I recognize the broader talents and capacities the writer has--as well as any specific issues I see either consistently (grammar, punctuation, etc.) or in terms of plot, character, and/or narrative arc. I see us as being here to be supportive as well as professional. Writers can be vulnerable when it comes to their work--I can usually see via their communication if they are; some are just matter-of-fact, so I know I can be more blunt. Others it's about communicating in a way the writers will best understand what I'm saying. It always depends on the individual writer.
K.j. is available to hire on Reedsy ⏺
As soon as I receive a request from an author with a sample of the manuscript in question, I read it thoroughly to get a sense of their voice and their intention in writing. I "listen" deeply to it. I specialize in non-fiction and memoir, and I only edit manuscripts that are of interest to me. Often they are subjects I am keen to learn more about or study more deeply, or I sense they are valuable stories to offer to the world. This puts me in the position of being naturally interested in what they are saying, which comes through in our exchanges.
I pay special attention to honoring their unique voice and I see my work as helping to bring it forward more clearly and powerfully. All my suggestions are based on whether I understand what they are conveying, if I notice ambiguity, if I sense the reader might misunderstand something, or if the language is clunky or otherwise distracting. I provide a sample edit so they can see right away how I work. This allows them to feel how my suggestions land for them.
I also ask questions when something isn't clear to me, rather than make assumptions. Working with authors this way feels a lot like ordinary relationship—listening deeply, being curious about their perspective, and reflecting back to them what I notice so they have a mirror to gain perspective as well. It is important to me to schedule enough time to go back and forth with an author so I understand what they need, they can ask questions and rework things based on my feedback, and so forth. This process creates a sense of respect and collaboration which, in my experience, is mutually empowering.
Clelia is available to hire on Reedsy ⏺
Build momentum with writing challenges and prompts
If you write best with a bit of structure or friendly pressure, our challenges are designed to help you keep moving. You can join hundreds of writers enrolled in our Reedsy Studio challenges, and then share updates about your progress in #sprint-crew to keep each other motivated and accountable to your goals. And if you’d like to see where you stand, we use a simple Scoreboarder bot where you can add your name and daily word count to the leaderboard (like this one for our January challenge). 
You can even earn custom badges and cool achievements when you hit a milestone or complete a Studio challenge.
For something more consistent (but big on inspiration), our weekly Writing Prompts contest is a great way to test your short story chops. Each week, participants share their submissions, swap feedback and chat about their experience with that week’s prompts in the Prompts Contest channels. 
What most members seem to enjoy is the feeling of showing up to write alongside people who are rooting for you, all of you working toward the same goal. So, we keep momentum rolling throughout the year with a mix of:
- Writing challenges.
- Spotlight mentions.
- Peers who check in for accountability.
- Clear FAQs and guidance, plus our wonderful moderators.
- A culture of steady, judgment-free progress.
✍️If you’re still exploring whether an online writing community is right for you, we’ve put together a broader guide on what some popular ones offer.
Stay in the loop with regular updates
For updates on upcoming Live sessions, Learning events, new challenges, and community milestones, be sure to check out #announcements. Many of these updates will also appear as Events in the sidebar, so you can stay updated without following every channel.
And if you want to know what’s going on in the wider Reedsy world, follow #socials to keep up with our posts on various social media platforms like Instagram or LinkedIn. 
With more writers joining our ranks each week, Reedsy’s Discord community is steadily growing into a home base for writers from all over the world. It’s an accessible space to focus on writing, finish a draft or two, or simply make writer friends who remind you that writing is easier when you don’t have to do it alone. So drop into the lounge, join a sprint, or share a chapter in the feedback forum -- chances are, you’ll feel at home right away.
Hire an expert
Ema B.
Available to hire
Globally focused editor/coach with an emphasis on contemporary and women's fiction. An inquisitive style guides Ema's big picture editing.
Britny P.
Available to hire
Britny (she/they) is a developmental editor with over 8 years of traditional publishing experience in fiction and non-fiction.
Antonia R.
Available to hire
Former English Editor at Book on a Tree specializing in YA and speculative fiction. Career highlights include writing comics for Disney.
