Editor Insights: What's Your Narrator's (Secret) Agenda

Part 3 of the 'Evaluate Your Work Like an Editor' Series with Steve Chang

Art by Mariam Chagelishvili

Psst - voting is open for our Community Favorite Best Lit Mag Awards

Read Like an Editor: What’s Driving Your Story?

Today, we’ll be looking at pre- and post-revision versions of Rina Olsen’s Skeletons in The Closet (don’t read it yet), a vividly inventive flash about looking back on youthful mistakes and learning… all the wrong lessons.

The published version was longlisted for The Wigleaf Top 50 (2024), which is a pretty cool brag for anyone, and especially (I hope) for a writer who was in high school at the time.

I’ll talk to Rina about how we revised for publication and touch on:

• Arc, Argument, and Accrual

• Music Boxes vs. Snow Globes and Pinball Machines

• And narrators with agendas

First, check out the unrevised draft below and roleplay as an editor. Wherever you see thought bubble 💭 questions, take a minute to consider your own responses to the story. (No need to write anything down, but feel free to bring your ideas to the comments at the end of the lesson.)

💭 As you’re reading, try to guess what makes this piece a Music Box and not a Snow Globe or a Pinball Machine.

Skeletons in the Closet by Rina Olsen

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