Hello friends,
Today, I’d like to introduce you to a colleague, friend, and huge part of the network of authors who are also editing professionals here in the Portland area.
I’ve known Liz for some two decades (has it really been that long?) and have marveled at the books she’s had a hand in editing for Forest Avenue Press, as well as her own carefully researched and crafted collections.
I recently found out that Liz has expanded her offerings as an editor. I wanted to know more, and the result is the interview below. I think Liz has a unique approach to working with writers—from brainstorming sessions to editorial built on years of experience and her natural talent for intuitive story wrangling. If you have short stories or essays you’d like to take to the next step, or just want to talk through an idea or need help refining a concept for the marketplace, Liz could be your shortcut to that goal. Find out more about Liz below, and for specifics, check out her website: https://www.lizprato.com/consulting
1. What do you like best about working with writers and their material?
There are two different ways I work with writers, and I love them for different reasons. I offer both one-on-one virtual sessions, and also developmental editing. The virtual sessions are great because I get to see the writer’s enthusiasm and curiosities bubbling up in real time. The consultations can be on almost any writing and publishing topic—what to look for in a small press, how to work with bookstores, how to write a solid query letter and opening pages—or sometimes it’s more along the lines of, “I have this idea for a book. What do I do next?” I can hear and see how writers feel more confident and excited when they’re empowered with knowledge. And that’s why I do this, because I’ve have 20 years experience in the writing and publishing world, and I want to empower others with the same knowledge and skills.
The other piece I offer is developmental editing on short stories and essays. I love figuring out what a writer’s goals are, seeing if they’re achieving that, and if not, helping them get there. I admit there’s been a shift in my editing and teaching methods over the years. I think I used to try to impose more rigid . . . I don’t know what the right word is, rules, maybe? You know, those “right ways” to write and edit that a lot of us learned decades ago, that were—let’s face it—passed down from privileged white guy to privileged white guy, to us. While some of that advice is solid, the model also places the editor or teacher above the writer, smarter than they are, like we know better. I bought into that originally, this whole idea that I needed to assert my authority. But now, I don’t think my job is about being smarter than the writer, but it’s about having a fresh set of eyes that’s particularly good at spotting patterns, meanings, structure, and voice, and helping the writer bring that forward through a conversation with them and their work. Sometimes I see a strength or direction already in the piece that the writer hasn’t—an amazing connection, an echo, a sentence structure—and that’s really exciting.
2. What’s your process for working with writers?
For virtual consults, it’s a one hour Zoom session. I find out what a writer wants out of their time, they talk, I listen, I ask questions and answer theirs. It’s super efficient. Classes and workshops are awesome in a lot of ways, but not everyone has the time, energy or abilities for that kind of commitment. With a Zoom consultation, the writer comes away with more knowledge and skills than they had only 60 minutes earlier. That’s cool.
For editing, I’m pretty old school in that I work off hard copy. So, a writer emails me their essay or story, and I print it out. I do the first read through without making any marks on the manuscript, because I want to get a sense of the entire piece and how it all comes together first. I also might reach out to the writer and ask what their goals are, what they want the piece to be. I think that’s a place where I diverge from the traditional model, where the writer isn’t supposed to tell me what they want—where I’m supposed to tell them what I think it is, instead. I see this as a place where many workshop and editing experiences go off the rails, where the editor or teacher tries to impose their idea on the writer, instead of understanding what the writer wants and helping them get there.
My next read-through is when I start making notes on the page about what’s working particularly well, and what’s not, or could be stronger to bring the essay or story to fruition. I put it aside for a couple of days and let all that marinate, then go back and do a third read. Then I start to put together the summary letter—which is usually a minimum of two single spaced pages, but sometimes longer. As I’m putting that together I always see other things I want to highlight. Then I scan the manuscript pages with my handwritten notes, and email them back to the writer along with the typed summary letter. And I’m always open to answering questions, clarifying ideas, etc.
3. What’s your typical turnaround time, and when are your current next openings?
The editing process that I just described isn’t a super speedy one, I admit! It’s usually a two week turnaround time for a short story or essay. I have at least one opening for November and one for December right now, and then more after the first of the year. I have ongoing openings for Zoom sessions. Sometimes schedules sync up right away, and sometimes it takes a couple of weeks to find a time we’re both available. As far as I can remember, no one’s ever had to wait even as long as a month to get a virtual consultation with me.
4. Any memorable projects you’d like to talk about?
Oh, yeah, totally! One I’ve been excited about and honored to be a part of is from the writer Angela Ajayi, a journalist by trade who started writing fiction a few years ago. She hired me to give feedback on a short story, and then a few months later another story, and then another, and so on. Angela’s stories are based on her background and her parents’. Her mom is from Ukraine and her father from Nigeria, so her stories take place in both those locations and cultures, sometimes from the standpoint of characters similar to her parents, and some from a POV similar to Angela’s—a mixed-race, mixed-nationality young woman growing up in the United States and visiting Nigeria and Soviet-era Ukraine, and trying to understand what it means to be all those things. It’s so beautiful and vivid and poignant and relevant (sadly, even more so because of the war against Ukraine). One of those stories won the PEN/Robert J. Dau Short Story Prize for Emerging Writers. Anyway, after working on a few stories together, we both realized, “Hey, this is a linked short story collection!” That was exciting, because it gave a whole different container to each individual piece. And I’ve gotten to see revisions of earlier pieces, which is so cool, because I get to see Angela’s ideas and skills evolve. I’m expecting to see one of those revisions in the next couple of weeks, and I believe that brings the whole manuscript to completion, and she’ll start looking for an agent. I can’t wait until the world gets to see it.
5. Why do this? Aren’t there easier ways to leverage your wordsmithery?
Okay, so here’s the deal: I’ve written three traditionally published books and edited an anthology—as well as having guest edited literary journals and being Editor at Large at Forest Avenue Press—and I still want other eyes on my work, I still need feedback and encouragement on my process. I’m totally aware that no matter how smart and skilled we are, we can’t see all the holes in our own work. Sometimes we don’t know what we don’t know, and sometimes we need someone else to remind us what we do know. We can be supremely skilled at certain aspects of writing and publishing, and need direction in others. For me, that’s a natural part of the process. Seeking help doesn’t make us less than in any way. It makes us smart, and part of something bigger.
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And Liz is kind. Encouraging. But also honest. So if you have a story or an essay that needs fresh, smart eyes, I highly recommend Liz. Again, here is where you can find out more.
Great interview!
Beautiful. I love her philosophy. Will definitely keep this interview in mind.