CreativeFree
Creative Writing Feedback in the Margins
Paste a story, chapter or personal essay. Get an editor's comments on story, scenes and sentences, plus what is working. Your words stay yours.
Paste a short story, a chapter or a personal essay, and River puts it into a document exactly as you wrote it, then leaves an editor's comments in the margin. Each comment is pinned to a specific passage. It says what is happening there, how it is likely to land with a reader, and offers a way to revise, labelled as an option. River notes what is working too, so you know which passages to protect while you revise the rest.
The comments cover three levels. At the story level: whether the piece knows what it is about, where it gains or loses momentum, and whether the ending is earned. At the scene level: tension, dialogue, point of view, and where summary might serve better as a scene, or the reverse. At the line level: clarity, rhythm, repetition and word choice. Tell River which draft this is, and it weights the comments to match, so an early draft is not buried in sentence notes.
This is for fiction writers, memoirists and essayists who want a careful reader before a workshop, an agent or an editor. There is no fixed number of comments, so a strong piece gets fewer. Recurring habits are named once, with examples, rather than flagged everywhere. A note at the top gives the overall read and the three revisions most worth making first. Your text is never rewritten unless you ask, and every decision stays with you.
What useful creative writing feedback looks like
Useful feedback is specific. "This drags" is a feeling; "two paragraphs of backstory arrive just as the argument starts, so the tension drains" is something a writer can act on. Good comments name the passage, describe the effect on a reader, and suggest a direction without dictating the words. They also say what is working, because writers revise their strengths away as often as they fix their weaknesses, especially in later drafts, when everything starts to look like a problem.
Feedback also has an order. In an early draft, line edits are wasted on sentences that may not survive, so the useful comments are about what the piece is doing, where it sags and what it needs. In a later draft, the structure is settled and attention moves to scenes, dialogue and individual sentences. Matching comments to the draft keeps you from polishing a scene you are about to cut, or restructuring a piece that only needs a final line pass.
Craft advice works as tendencies, not rules. Showing usually beats telling in key emotional moments, but summary is the right tool for moving through time. Passive voice is weak when it hides who acted and fine when the actor does not matter. Adverbs, fragments and long sentences all have their uses. A good editor asks what the writer is trying to do, then judges each choice by whether it serves that aim on the page.
How it works
Paste your piece
Paste a story, chapter or essay, or drop the file, and say which draft it is.
River reads it through
It reads the whole piece once before commenting, to understand what you are aiming for.
Review the comments
Margin comments on story, scenes and lines, with a top note listing the main revisions.
Revise in your voice
Make the changes yourself, or ask River to explain a comment or suggest options.
What you get
- Your piece placed in the document exactly as written, with comments pinned to specific passages
- Comments at story, scene and line level, weighted to match how finished the draft is
- Each comment names the effect on a reader and offers a revision as an option
- What is working noted alongside what needs revision, so you keep your strengths
- Recurring habits named once with examples, rather than flagged at every instance
- A top note with the overall read and the three revisions most worth making first
Common questions
Will River rewrite my work?
No. Your piece is copied into the document exactly as written and River adds comments in the margin. Where a comment suggests wording, it is offered as an option to consider, never applied. If you want help revising a passage, ask, and River will suggest options for that passage in your voice while leaving the rest untouched.
How many comments will I get?
As many as the piece needs and no more. A rough draft of a long chapter may get many; a polished short story may get a handful. River never pads to reach a number. When the same habit recurs, such as stating a feeling right after showing it, River names it once with two or three examples instead of repeating the comment.
What does the feedback cover?
Three levels. Story: what the piece is about, momentum, structure and whether the ending is earned. Scene: tension, dialogue, point of view, and the balance of scene and summary. Line: clarity, rhythm, repetition and word choice. Choosing "An early draft" weights comments toward story; "Almost final" weights them toward lines.
Will it respect my genre and style?
River reads the whole piece before commenting so it can judge choices against what you are trying to do. Spare prose is not marked down for being spare, and lyrical prose is not cut to the bone. Craft advice is offered as tendencies, not rules. If a comment does not fit your aim, ignore it; you make the decisions.
How long a piece can I submit?
Anything from a flash piece to a long chapter. River comments on up to about 6,000 words in one pass. With a longer text, it works through whole scenes, says where it stopped, and continues when you ask. Sending a chapter at a time usually gives more useful comments than a whole manuscript at once.
Does it work for memoir and personal essays?
Yes. Comments on memoir and essays focus on the same craft questions, such as structure, scene, voice and clarity, plus whether the piece makes its reflection earn its place. River never questions the facts of your life or adds events. It comments on how the telling lands with a reader.
Creative Writing Feedback in the Margins
Describe what you need, add any files you have, and your workspace opens with the work already underway.