Calling all poets! Join us in the Poetry Workshop on PALnet!

If you write poetry, we hope you'll visit the Poetry Workshop on PALnet; just jump in and get to know everybody! We aren't as formal in our critiquing process as the fiction workshop. Poets can post their work in the chat for immediate feedback, as long as other members are present. (If the room's empty, just ping @geke, @hopehuggs, @hypexals-spiral, or anyone else you see listed in the room and we'll be glad to pop in and work with you!) We can be more informal in our process because poetry is generally shorter than fiction. And we hope that critiques right in the chat will make the process of writing and editing poetry more visible and accessible to everyone, including lurkers.

In addition to crowd-sourced critiques, we also sometimes have fun crowd-sourcing a poem from scratch. As the workshop grows, we hope to generate more of these types of creative outlets. We also discuss the process of editing. Recently in the workshop, this question came up: do you tighten lines as you go or edit everything at the end? We'd love your thoughts on topics like this, and hope you'll post some of the dilemmas and conundrums you face as a writer.

The goal, of course, is for us all to help one another produce better poetry on Steemit. But the platform lends itself so beautifully to serialized content that we're also encouraging poets to write longer, serialized works. The benefits are many; serialized work tends to be better noticed and monetized, it can be a huge exercise in technique and discipline, and serialized work is where authors can really generate a following.

Plus, serials are good for Steemit. Wattpad blogged on this very topic in Why Serialized Content is Taking Over the World, describing how serials actually promote and tighten online communities: “[T]he interesting thing about serialization... is that it is often a major driver for collaboration. Pushing out a chapter at a time allows for a level of audience engagement that you simply can’t get otherwise. This format is what allows the author to take in reader feedback chapter by chapter, consider alternative viewpoints, and even change the story on the fly based on what resonates with the audience. This is an incredibly powerful tool for authors to have at their disposal. Reading is something that we are continually redefining. Serialized content works for both the audience and the author, because it provides a pause and an opportunity to engage and create conversation, which ultimately forms deeper and more meaningful human interactions.”

The only problem with developing a serial is that it can be hard for your readers to find previous installments. That problem has been solved with the introduction of Steemshelves, a repository where you can collect and organize your related Steemit posts.

Steemshelves is a project of Steemhouse Fiction Trail ( @sft ) and @rhondak explains how it works: “Steemshelves is a website where links to Steemit fiction are collected and 'shelved' in one convenient, easy-to-access location. This is particularly beneficial to authors who write serialized work, like novels and novellas. Each author gets a page with a custom URL, profile pic, and author bio. The page will contain links to each series as well as a 'you might also like' scroll across the bottom. No legitimate fiction or creative work will be denied a shelf... This is a pay-per-link system, at a rate of 2 SBD per link.” Visit her complete Steemshelves introduction for more information.

PALnet is a feature of MSP, the Minnow Support Project.
The poetry workshop meets on Discord here:
https://discord.gg/nmP4gD4

^{PALnet wouldn't be possible without the generous help and direction of @aggroed, @ausbitbank, @teamsteem, and @canadian-coconut. We would also like to thank the PALnet moderators who have helped us out in so many ways, including @gmuxx, @swelker101, @discordiant, and of course @rhondak, who has been very kind and helpful on the Discord fiction-workshop channel.}

The Poetry Workshop can be found on Discord here: https://discord.gg/nmP4gD4 You can also private message @geke, @hypexals-spiral, or @hopehuggs with any questions or concerns. Hope to see you there!