What’s inside this post?
An interview with editor, Loan Le from Atria (Simon & Schuster) and Author of YA rom-com A Phở Love Story.
Exciting updates from the current Deb class.
Upcoming calendar deadlines for writing conferences, fellowships and retreats.
Living Inside the Lines
An interview with editor and author, Loan le
Jennifer Fawcett: So, what got you into editing?
Loan Le: I just really enjoyed books. The books I read are much of what I edit too. Those dark and moody books, but there’s still a bit of wonder. I loved exploring those different worlds. I didn’t necessarily know that I wanted to be an editor until maybe sophomore year of college when I was able to get an internship at Simon and Schuster. So, I had that exposure of hearing the passion of editors who were bringing up books at the board meetings, and I was also reading behind my supervisor. I was either reading submissions coming in or a book that she was currently editing, and she just needed a second eye. So, I was able to really live inside the lines.
Being an editor, you feel as if you’re just jumping into the pages and living there for a little while. It’s like being invited into someone’s home where the foundation, the structure of a book belongs to the author - they’re the ones who built up this beautiful home. But for me, as an editor, I’m invited inside to sort of fool around with some interior decoration or move the furniture around, but nothing that would change the basic foundation of the story. So, I’m really honored to be invited inside your house, and it’s also a literal house in your case.
Jennifer Fawcett: When we first spoke on the phone for the author call, I felt like you just got the book. How did you get in my head? Can you describe your editing process? You had such a deep understanding of what’s there and maybe what’s not there but is under the surface.
Loan Le: Every time I’m preparing to edit something or trying to work through writer’s block, I read this book called The Art of Subtext by Charles Baxter. Whenever I read manuscripts, I try to look at what’s being obviously said, but I also appreciate what doesn’t need to be said but can be easily felt.
For the editorial letters, I do a surface read for the initial read, but then I do the subtext reading where I’m thinking this is what it seems like the work is saying, but underneath, I might sense that you’re trying to get somewhere else. I just want to be clear that the subtext, what you are trying to communicate, whether you knew it or not, is landing. I love these letters. They take a lot out of me, as a person, because you are living inside these worlds. I mean, I feel so much when I read in general, but to edit, I’m noting my entire reaction to everything.
Before I even write the letter, I do a full read. I have a notebook beside me, and I will drop down my emotions for certain chapters, certain scenes. And I put question marks around page numbers. I get an idea of how I’m feeling throughout the novel, moments where I need clarification, moments where I was fully engrossed. And then, I take these notes and put them into an excel grid. It separates my emotions from the actual logic of the novel. I do separate columns. There’s one that’s the emotional arc, which is the characters’ arc, and then there’s the plot arc which is like the actual events that are happening, and there are page numbers, and then there’s the page count. Because for me, I realized that when there are more pages for this one chapter, that means something big is happening. And if it’s the other way around, like if there are so many pages but nothing is happening, that’s an indication that the pages need to be cut down.
After, I transfer my notes to the grid to where there’s a comment section. And I try to mix praise and feedback too because obviously, the reason why I’m working with the author is that I love their work and I feel it could be really successful, so there’s a lot of praise. But this is the chance where I can really try to help this author.
I also use this grid because I’ve noticed that the things I edit have texture where it’s just not one point of view, it might be multiple points of view, multiple timelines. They add tension to the plot in the story. But they have to be well placed where they’re not revealing too much; they’re just giving enough to the reader. And so, I track that on the grid, too, because I want to make sure that these pieces aren’t interrupting the main narrative; they’re not a complete distraction. Instead, they’re helping the plot move along. So, the grid helps me see this. Sometimes I notice there are too many of these interstitials and I want to get back to the main narrative. So, I have my notebook and then the grid, and then I sort of take these and build them into my letter. I try to give it my all for these letters, so they’re often like thirteen, fourteen, fifteen - I think the one I worked on last was twenty-six pages. It depends on how much work the book will require, or maybe there are questions and stuff. But when I give my letter to the author, I always tell them don’t worry about the page count. It doesn’t say anything bad about your book; it’s just that I have thoughts.
I always open with a letter to really emphasize to the author what they have done. Writing a book is no easy feat. It’s lived inside your head for years and years, and then eventually, people will read it, and I want the author to know that it’s going to matter. All the work is so worth it, and it’s going to land with the right reader. I’m trying to remind the writer that like wow, please clap for yourself. And emphasizing that I am giving you this letter as an editor, but I wrote it as a reader, like a love letter to the author.
The next part is what I call big picture items, like a storyboard: big elements like character motivation, setting, dialogue, certain big events that you just want to rearrange. Where you might have to rewrite a little, or you might have to sit with it longer and see if you’re using it in the most effective way, like thinking about how this person’s past informs the future and what this person really wants. Sometimes I highlight if there’s an imbalance of relationships, where this character feels like they have a strong, clear line, but then there’s another relationship that feels almost secondary in a way that it shouldn’t because each of the character relationships should feel significant. I might call out a subplot that doesn’t feel as emphasized or as necessary to the plot. The subplot has to feel independent and, maybe through subtext or something, support that main plot.
And then the next section is the chapter by chapter, and that’s where the notes I jotted down come in, where it’s my real-time gut reaction. I highlight certain lines I love or certain lines that confuse me. Things that don’t take too much thought to fix in a way. And this whole time, I’m not touching how things are phrased or how clean the writing is. To be fair, a lot of my writers’ prose is not the issue.
Jennifer Fawcett: And to receive it, it feels like it’s this thing that you’ve been living with for so long, and you’re not alone anymore. You must read the book so many times. Is there a point where it gets hard to keep reading it because you don’t have the distance anymore?
Loan Le: I think, in total, I read it like maybe five, six times. Plus, the first pass, so seven seems like my magic number of reading. I tend to forget a lot of things. I’m really bad at quoting stuff, so I can never for the life of me pull anything from a book. It’s more like I remember the physical feeling of reading.
Jennifer Fawcett: It’s like an editorial superpower!
Loan Le: Yeah, but when I attempt trivia, nobody wants me on their team because I can’t remember anything!
Jennifer Fawcett: So, you were an editor before you were an author. Is the way you write impacted by how you edit, and vice versa?
Loan Le: When I was writing my novel, initially, I did have that editing hat on. I was writing stuff, and then I would stop and go in as an editor to fix the prose - make it pretty, you know, which is really annoying. When you’re generating, you cannot do that because it stops the whole flow of things, and you’re criticizing yourself before you’ve even written something. I think I began that way, but then, after a while, I just tried to forget that and think about emotions.
I learned a lot from my original editor, too, because she was doing the big picture edit. She was pointing out subplot and character relationships. Especially important since you want people to feel invested in rom-com characters.
Jennifer Fawcett: Can you block out times where you can just be an author?
Loan Le: I’ve been able to do that. But the amount of free time I have as an author is dwindling as I’m editing more and more. As I’m acquiring more titles. And my manuscript deadline is ever looming.
I feel okay if I don’t write every day. I have to accept that sometimes I’m just too tired. Sometimes I’m chasing after another submission I want to buy or just reading a bunch of submissions. So, whenever I have a thought, I write it down in my notebook. I open a page and write it in a way that hopefully, I will remember what the heck I was trying to say because a lot of my thoughts are like that, like “midnight.”
Jennifer Fawcett: When I read your book, and I see “midnight,” I’m going to be like, there it is! It made it in.
Loan Le: Exactly. But just the word! I have started to record notes to myself. I was coming out of the shower a few weeks ago, and I was like, I have an idea! So, I recorded it, and it’s in there somewhere, though when I go back to it, I’ll probably sound like a mad scientist. So, no, it’s not too hard to separate myself anymore after I get into a rhythm.
Jennifer Fawcett: You’re shepherding these books through this long process from the initial purchase to publication. How many projects are you involved in at a time?
Loan Le: It depends on the season for me. I’ve been an editor for almost two years now. It’s like Editorial Assistant, Assistant Editor, Associate Editor, and Editor is when you really have your list. So, I am still building my list. But it depends on the season. Right now, I’m working on seven titles across different seasons.
If anyone has to be my assistant in the future, I feel very sorry for them because I am, at times, all over the place, but it’s chaos I can understand. I have to read things; I have to edit things, I have to start positioning things. I have a team where they welcome editorial input, so I’m trying to think like them too. It’s important for an editor to try to put on multiple hats and not only think like an editor because we can be really boring. So, I try to be adventurous and try different things. I am primarily doing fiction but I also have a few nonfiction titles on my list.
Jennifer Fawcett: Whenever I get feedback from you, I know that you’ve read so closely. It always feels like it is coming from an organic place, like inside the story. It’s great to hear what the process is from your point of view. Thanks for chatting with me.
Loan Le: Thanks! It’s been fun.
Loan Le is an editor at Atria Books, a Simon & Schuster adult imprint. She is also the author of A Phở Love Story, a YA rom-com that earned praise from NPR, POPSUGAR, Bustle, Bon Appetit, USA TODAY, and Buzzfeed. Solving for the Unknown, her next YA contemporary novel and a companion to A Phở Love Story, is slated for Summer 2023. She holds an MFA degree in fiction from Fairfield University, where she also earned her bachelor’s degree. A Pushcart Prize-nominated writer, Loan has had her short stories appear in CRAFT Literary, Mud Season Review, and more. When she’s not writing young adult novels, she’s writing ghostly, dark adult fiction, watching slow-burn K-Dramas, and listening to BTS. Visit her website at writerloanle.com and find her on Twitter @loanloan and Instagram @loanloanle.
What We've Been Up To
Sarah Grunder Ruiz’s Love, Lists and Fancy Ships made the Goodreads’ List of Most Hotly Anticipated Romance Novels of November. Check the article here.
Flora Collin’s Nanny Dearest was the top November pick from book influencers out of all the Harlequin Trade Paperback titles.
Jennifer Fawcett’s Beneath the Stairs received a coveted Library Journal Review. They said “Fawcett’s debut is both incredibly suspenseful and immersive. A word of caution to readers: leave the lights on.” We’re also celebrating that Jennifer’s novel will be published by Simon and Schuster in Canada and be made into an audiobook!
Writerly Things: Upcoming Deadlines
The Opportunity Agenda Culture & Narrative Fellowship
Deadline: November 10, 2021
This fellowship is for artists and cultural strategists working to dismantle and replace the dominant narratives of our time—especially those informing racial justice and immigrant rights—for true economic justice. The six-month fellowship comes with a $15,000 award.
LMCC Arts Center Residency
Governors Island, New York
Deadline: November 12, 2021
The 2022 Arts Center Residency will offer short-term, project-based residencies to artists and creative practitioners whose work is concerned with the broader themes of equity and sustainability.
Mellon Foundation Gender and LGBTQ+ History Fellowship
New York, New York
Deadline: November 15, 2021
Hired for a two-year term, the Mellon Gender and LGBTQ+ History Fellow works as a public historian for the New-York Historical Society’s Center for Women’s History. This fellowship will receive a stipend of $70,000 per year, with benefits.
Velvet Park Writers Residency
Brooklyn, New York
Deadline: November 15, 2021
This writers residency is open to emerging and established LGBTQ+ writers working in poetry, fiction, creative fiction, and multidisciplines. A private workspace will be awarded to a selected writer.
PlySpace Residency Application
Muncie, Indiana
Deadline: December 1, 2021
This residency program offers visual artists, writers, performers, designers, and other creative individuals time and space to investigate and pursue their own practices. Each resident will propose a personal project as well as a project to be completed in partnership with a community collaborator. The application is free through November 15.
Art Omi Residencies
Ghent, New York
Deadline: January 2, 2021
Art Omi has five distinct residency programs supporting artists working in dance, music, visual art, architecture, and writing. The residency is free to all artists with lodging and meals provided.