Donna Maree Hanson, Author, Phd in Creative Writing

I am very lucky again to have the very interesting and talented Cat Sparks here for an interview.

First a little about Cat.

Cat Sparks is fiction editor of Cosmos Magazine. She managed Agog! Press, an Australian independent press that produced ten anthologies of new speculative fiction from 2002-2008. She’s known for her award-winning editing, writing, graphic design and photography.

To see more about Cat check out here website here.

Cat has varied the format. Instead of answering the questions I sent, she has mashed them all together into…A  rant by Cat Sparks

Cat says: 

I didn’t originally set out to be an editor so much as a producer of anthologies with editing being a component of the product. I perceived there was a gap in the Australian SF marketplace so I decided to fill it with the sort of books I wanted to read myself.

In 2002, I unleashed Agog! Fantastic Fiction on the scene while being engaged in the process of acquiring a post-graduate certificate in editing and publishing from UTS. The course was a good one, covering marketing and writing as well as the nuts and bolts of editing and copy editing.

Eventually the burden of running a small press while trying to write my own material and hold down a day job became too much so I bailed. The short fiction landscape had blossomed in the meantime and the internet had made redundant the isolation previously experienced by many Australian writers.

I feel very fortunate to hold the fiction editor position at Cosmos magazine because it has enabled me to continue with the part of the process I enjoy most – sniffing out and shaping good stories – while others are responsible for layout, sales and distribution.

Fiction editing is performed in partnership with the author. The aim is to enhance the story without overpowering the author’s style. Some stories come to me like diamonds in the rough. Precision tooling is required to make them shine. Others are almost at publishable standard when I receive them, needing little more than suggestions, taps and tweaks to get them across the line. My job involves knowing when to intervene and when to leave well enough alone. I never try to leave my mark on an author’s work. Good editors are invisible menders. Our best efforts go unnoticed.

When I ran my own press I had more time for the shaping of rough diamonds. The Cosmos publication schedule does not allow for this so anything too unkempt and unruly gets passed over for works where the author has taken more care. There is no shortage of quality writing on offer. If an author can’t be bothered presenting a professional manuscript, I’m not prepared to run behind them with a dustpan and brush sweeping up errant adjectives and punctuation.

Most stories I reject have one thing in common. They’re boring. I’m bored before I’ve reached the end of the first page because the prose lacks style, rhythm, content and, quite frequently, all three.

We’re living in a society where the majority of citizens are literate. Possession of literacy is not enough in itself. If you’re calling yourself a writer you need more. Fiction writing is storytelling, not just telling. Anyone can tell me that a character went someplace and did stuff, what I’m looking for is the layer below the surface.

A story is more than the sum of its parts. The reader needs to walk away with more than they went in with, even if only for a moment. Even if the resonance doesn’t last. A slab of prose containing a protagonist, a beginning, middle and end is not necessarily, by default, telling a story.

If you don’t understand what I’m talking about, go and read the good stuff for yourself. When you pick up a page, read a couple of lines and want to know what’s going to happen next… that’s story. The bit about wanting to know.

Because remember, no one has to keep reading that page. They can easily flip to the next one, or put down the magazine. Other forms of entertainment like TV or music are more effortless to consume. Readers have all the power, most especially the power to move on to something else.

Apologies, Donna – I seem to have veered wildly off target and off topic. I better stop now before I start ranting on about all those submission faux pas editors despise most.

DH: That’s great Cat. Great to get another point of view. Thank you for taking the time to share.