How a Reader Becomes an Editor

I can pinpoint the moment I discovered I wanted to be an editor to the day. 

On April 23, 2020, I finished reading a Jane Austen fan fiction novel (a.k.a. JAFF) to relax. I had just finished the third year of my honours bachelor of arts degree (HBA) and had somehow survived the rapid switch to remote learning without a stable internet connection (thanks, COVID-19). JAFF, to this day, is a comfort genre for me, with Pride and Prejudice retellings as my particular hyperfixation. Like most romance readers, I find comfort in knowing that no matter what they go through, Darcy and Elizabeth will somehow find their way to each other. My first paper in grad school was on Unmarriageable by Soniah Kamal just so I could justify purchasing the novel with the rest of my textbooks for the semester. This past June, I finally crossed Most Ardently: A Pride & Prejudice Remix by Gabe Cole Novoa off my to-be-read list. I love reading how authors remake or reimagine Pride and Prejudice through race-bending (see Kamal’s work) and gender-bending (Novoa’s novel), and by posing various “what if” scenarios (Being Mrs. Darcy by Lucy Marin is one of my favourites — what if Darcy and Elizabeth were forced into marriage after a scandal?). I’ve read JAFF set in the Regency era and in the modern era, told from the original protagonist’s perspective or from a minor character’s perspective, set in England and elsewhere. I have read … a lot … of variations of Austen’s work, some of it traditionally published, some of it indie. 

Editorial awakening

Despite all of the variations I’ve read before and since, the one I finished in April 2020 still stands out to me as my “editorial awakening.” This novel was by no means perfect, but I really enjoyed its take on Darcy and Elizabeth’s story — until I got to the epilogue. There was one line of dialogue that almost ruined the book for me. It suggested that Darcy was considering giving away Pemberley, his ancestral home, which would have disinherited his current and future children. Property was immensely important in the Regency era, especially when it was an ancestral home like Darcy’s. The tenants of the Pemberley estate provided Darcy with his annual income, and, since the property had been in the family for years, it marked Darcy as a member of the landed gentry rather than the nouveau riche. Mr. Darcy was reputed to be an excellent master and landowner who was very considerate of his employees and tenants. As the first and only son, he would have been raised to take care of Pemberley, training that George Wickham’s son, the person Darcy was considering giving Pemberley to, simply would not have. Giving away Pemberley would lower the status of the Darcy family politically, socially and economically, and potentially worsen the lives of his employees and tenants. This anachronism stood out all the more because it was in the epilogue, so it stayed with me long after I finished the novel. I believe the author’s intention here was to show Darcy’s character growth, but they did not consider the historical context of the Regency era.

This one line helped me envision myself in the editorial space in a way that I hadn’t been able to before. I could see how my personal experiences and interests could help me catch problems and inaccuracies that others may not notice. I could see the queries I would make, offering potential alternatives to demonstrate Darcy’s character growth. I started to consider editing as a career for the first time. After I finished my HBA and my master’s in English and cultural studies, I pursued a publishing certificate to learn more about editing. It’s been six years since then, and I’m finally working with my first client. I still have a lot to learn, but I am so excited to finally be diving into this fascinating industry. 

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