Hi. My main character is a journalism student (undergrad) who writes for her college newspaper. I want to give her the goal of becoming an editor at the paper but realized I know nothing about how this works. 1. How does one go from writer to editor at a college newspaper? Who makes that decision and what do they take into consideration when deciding? 2. Is becoming an editor competitive/difficult? Or maybe this depends on the individual college paper and how many people are vying to be editors? 3. If my character plans to apply to grad school (for journalism), does an editor position look more impressive on an application than a writer position? Basically, the way I have it written, my character is starting her junior year and has been a writer at the paper since she was a freshman. She's working hard to make editor by the end of the year in hopes it'll help her get into a top grad program. Is there anything here that doesn't make sense? Any other insight you can provide would be appreciated. Thank you!
Is this a large college/university or a small one? I can only speak to this as an editor of my undergrads literary magazine. My undergrad was very small. I became an editor when the previous editor graduated and i had next seniority. Id imagine in a larger school, it would be competitive. We were all English majors/Creative Writing majors
I don't think anybody wants to be an editor.* This sort-of answers the first question as well. My understanding of it comes from reading things about and by editors of comic books and pulp magazines. People enter the industry fired up about being a writer (or maybe an artist in the case of comic books). Then when an editor quits, someone (one of the writers or artists) is chosen to replace him/her. They're generally not very happy about it, because being an editor isn't really a creative job, you have to tell everybody what they're doing wrong and what they should be doing instead. So usually they take the job rather (or very) reluctantly. I think the criteria for choosing a new editor is basically they've been working in the industry a long time and know it inside and out, they're good at writing and know grammar, syntax and paragraph structure really well, and maybe they seem to have leadership qualities (though I suspect often they don't worry about that). I think in some ways it's equivalent to being a producer rather than a director or actor. Nobody grows up dreaming of being a film producer, or gets excited when they hear their favorite producer is taking on a new project (except for maybe industry insiders or people who are really into movie-making). A producer is a business-person, not an artist. * Maybe some people want to be editors rather than writers because they just want to boss people around, or they have an agenda they want to push onto the industry.
Yes, this is a fairly large college. Makes sense that the process would be different at a smaller school. Thank you for the help!
Interesting take that I hadn't considered. I wonder if it's different for college vs the real world...i.e. are college students still young and idealistic enough that maybe an editor position holds a lot of appeal? Either way, thanks for contributing!
Yeah, that's possible. Maybe for the prestige and clout in getting a better job out in the real world. Also, it's quite possible many writers want to publish or edit at a magazine or publishing house because they're idealistic about good writing and want to help promote it.
People who want to be editors might also take pleasure in the detail work that writers blow off or don't notice in the first place. The fellow who used to edit the weekly newspaper I freelanced for was an okay writer, but he was an outstanding editor. I admired his acumen because he never altered my copy and he admired my copy because he never had to rewrite it.
Yeah, you make a good point about how different the job of a writer is than the job of an editor; almost a 'those who can't do, teach' situation, perhaps? Makes me wonder how skilled at writing your typical editor is!
Right, and I guess that's part of my question: is an editor position more prestigious than a writer position? I'm inclined to think so, but I'm not sure how others see it.
How skilled at editing is a typical writer? Those who can't do, teach? Those who can't write, edit? Do people become diesel mechanics because they can't be automotive engineers? Does that skilled carpenter only build houses because she can't design them? Sometimes a job skill is just a job skill, and not a measure of comparative worth.
Who’s comparing worth? One skill is no more worthy than the other. And you’ll notice I said ‘perhaps’…with a question mark…
A skilled editor may or may not be a skilled writer. There's that thing where sometimes you can see problems in other people's work better than you can see them in your own. There have definitely been people who are great instructors or critics or editors but weren't very successful at painting or sculpture or writing themselves. But there are also many examples of people who were great at both. Edgar Allen Poe was an editor, and so was Ambrose Bierce.
