Editors
Story Stream
What Is an Editor? May 22, 2024
“What editors do for writers is mysterious, and does not, contrary to general belief, have much to do with titles and sentences and ‘changes.’ The relationship between an editor and a writer is much subtler and deeper than that, at once so elusive an...
Flannery O’Connor’s Salvific Intervention May 20, 2024
Few people in Flannery O’Connor’s life seem to enjoy her stories—at least according to Wildcat, the new biopic about the acclaimed Southern gothic writer. Her mother wonders why she can’t write “nice stories.” A family friend asks for “cute stories.”...
From Misogyny to No Man's Land May 13, 2024
In 1963, Mary McCarthy published The Group. A ranging social novel that follows eight female friends after their graduation from Vassar College in 1933, The Group was a smashing success, soaring to the top of the New York Times best-seller list and b...
Bad Nostalgia May 10, 2024
Early on in my career in publishing, an agent outlined the rules of comparative titles to me. “Comp” titles, as they are known in the industry, are a part of a process by which publishers assess the commercial viability of a book by comparing it to p...
Kristi Noem’s Team Told Her to Nix the Dog Story May 08, 2024
Kristi Noem’s story about killing her dog made headlines across America. But it wasn’t news to people who worked on her first book, where the tale made it into a draft of the memoir before the publishing team nixed it.Then, as now, Noem wanted the st...
Censorship in the New Regime Is Corporate May 08, 2024
October 14, 2020. It’s one of the dates etched in my mind, alongside my wedding anniversary, my kids’ birthdays, and my reception into the Catholic Church. Unlike those happy occasions, however, October 14 is associated with a dark memory. It was the...
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of 'Fallout' May 06, 2024
In terms of popular franchises that were ripe for adaptation, Fallout had to be one of the best candidates available. It’s an immensely popular video game series with a devoted fanbase, several bestselling games, and endless source material that a te...
