Editing In by Alexandra

Editing In by Alexandra - June 2020 Scholarship Essay

Sitting at my laptop, I see words twirling gracefully around on the page of a Google document, waiting to be read, analyzed, and edited. With a smile, I dive in, carefully placing compliments wherever I can, ornamenting the page with comments and well thought-out suggestions. Hours go by, and there I am, brushing a piece of creative writing clean, and utterly content.

I’ve loved reading since I was young, but doing anything other than enjoying novels never crossed my mind until age fourteen, when my friend Kasey approached me, asking if I would read a story she’d written. Curious, I agreed--little did I know that I would be receiving a three-hundred-page tome that more resembled War and Peace than the young adult novel I had expected.

It was love at first sight.

Sitting at my desk, scanning through what she had written, I enjoyed myself, but the moment I started piecing ideas together, cleaning the writing, and leaving comments, I felt my body begin to float out of my desk chair. It felt like I’d gained a whole new world to explore, one that I got to tinker with and expand on.

I found myself becoming enamoured with editing. Being able to work with others collaboratively to create a piece of art is something I’ve always loved, and it feels amazing to be able to smooth out edges that others can’t perceive, or suggest a new concept that completely revolutionizes the way a story takes place. Not only does it fill me with a sense of purpose, but it’s taught me about what I view as a good book, and how to look deeper at a piece of writing than the average reader might. Editing is where I found flow.

My love for editing, and literature in general, has led me far. Over the past three years, I’ve edited and reviewed pieces for my friends, my school newspaper, and even a professional publishing company. During my time interning, I took responsibility for sorting through submissions and editing manuscripts, a process that is truly unique from editor to editor. As a bisexual Latina, working to make stories more representative of the diversity I see around me, even just within my own family, is extremely important, a fact that came in handy when sorting through some truly questionable unsolicited submissions.

Sexism, racism, and homophobia abounded, and it was while staring, horrified, at those submissions that I realized the incredible power that publishers wield. They help decide what novels people have access to, and what kind of ideas are shared with the world. It was in that moment of discovery, that I also realized I could foment change, even as an intern. The offending submissions were returned to their authors with comments on their conduct, and when editing pieces which had already been accepted as a part of a book deal, I made sure to list every area of concern. By the end of my internship, my supervisor sent me a message thanking me for my in-depth responses to each piece and my work to ensure their integrity.

After this experience, I know that I want to pursue a career in publishing to help make it a more diverse, more respectful industry. Where young adult fiction is currently seeing a rise in inclusive pieces, other areas and genres are falling behind, and ensuring that people of all age groups and all interests are able to see themselves represented in what they read is a worthy goal for anyone passionate about literature.

We have seen people editing out women, people of color, and members of the LGBTQ+ community from literature for as long as I can remember. It’s time for us to edit them back in.