As an intern with Apex Magazine, I was able to gain a great deal of valuable experience in the field of publication. I was able to read and judge the flash fiction contests.
Veronica first reached out to us in January and I was delighted to bring her on board. She came to us clearly committed and excited about the opportunity. I love to give our interns editorial experience, but that starts with reading submissions. Until you’ve read a good stack of submissions, it’s hard to understand the decisions that go into choosing stories for publication. I really enjoy the challenge of trying to pass on what I’ve learned. (Rebecca Treasure, managing editor of Apex Magazine)
The first few months, I would read the flash fiction and leave a comment and rating as was expected for a slush reader; however, with the most recent flash fiction competition, I was asked to read each of the stories that passed to the final round. This was one of the more difficult tasks during my internship because each story that passed into the final round had its own merits. I gave my opinion on each story, and my opinions, while not the main determining factor, were considered when selecting the two finalists.
This is a little like the final project for interns, and I’m glad Veronica shared that it was difficult! Every month I struggle with choosing the final flash piece, bemoaning how great the finalists are in our team chat. Veronica’s thoughts were instrumental in my decision for the two unpublished author stories (and it was still a super hard choice). (Rebecca Treasure)
In addition to reading the flash fiction, I was able to provide copyedits for the two finalists in addition to three stories in Issue 149. For the stories in Issue 149, I provided copyedits that were heavier than necessary but working with Becky helped me to better understand what a copy editor is meant to provide. We’re not meant to change the voice of the stories more than necessary. Any changes made should keep the integrity of the author’s voice intact while ensuring that story is clear to the reader.
This is such a hard and subjective thing about editing. Every editor has a personal approach to copyedits, and every market I’ve worked with as an author approaches the process a little differently. I actually screwed up big here and had to apologize to Veronica (sorry again!) because I didn’t want her to think I was mad, so I asked her to meet with me on video chat to discuss her copyedits. Which, of course, had the opposite effect! It was a good learning experience for me as well, that I need to be clearer with both expectations and feedback to make sure there are no misunderstandings.
That being said, it is something that I feel is important as an editor to keep in mind. When I’m editing, even if it’s a deeper developmental kind of pass, the focus should always be on enhancing the story as the author intended it. For me, if I don’t like the story the author was trying to tell, I had no business accepting the piece. So finding that balance between clarity and consistency, and, the author’s voice is important. (Rebecca Treasure)
For the flash fiction stories, I tried to do a lighter copyedit, but I focused too much on punctuation. Again, Becky offered valuable critiques to the work I did, and I intend to learn from them and keep her comments in my mind for future copyedits.
I told Veronica at the time that this is very subjective! At least at Apex, grammar isn’t the final judgement of whether a comma does or doesn’t belong. Making suggestions, especially if punctuation would improve clarity, is always okay, but in many cases I personally default to trusting the author’s intention. (Rebecca Treasure)
My time interning with Apex Magazine was fantastic because I got the chance to work with so many wonderful people, I was able to read a wide variety of amazing stories, and I gained valuable experience. I’m still learning, but I hope to be as great as the members of the Apex Team one day.
We’re all still learning. Veronica was a great addition to our team, and she’s going to keep reading submissions for us, so she’ll be around. I’m personally grateful to her for the trust and opportunity to see our work from the outside. (Rebecca Treasure)
