Rebecca Robinson is a development editor who enjoys working with new and unestablished authors. She is currently launching her own business, First Write Editors, which offers editing services and advice to authors at an affordable rate.

Q1 – What is the name of your latest project? Tell us more about why you embarked on this project. If a writer, share your synopsis.

Unfortunately, I’m not allowed to share my client’s project ideas without their permission, so I’ll focus on sharing my role as a developmental editor for Michael Camarillo’s Warder 516, which is the second book of the Keepers series. I am really excited about this book because I’ve found a technical expert to check details of the new settings, and I have started to code myself! I feel like I can utilize a lot of different knowledge and approaches with this book.

Q2 – What inspired you when you encountered struggles along the way?

It’s really easy to get stuck in a rut when you’re editing. You start picking out the same things, and you try to cut every story so that it fits a similar mold to what is already on the market, but I try to keep in mind that every manuscript is as unique as its writer. It’s more than just a story for an author. It’s a project that they have poured themselves into, and I have to respect that and pour every ounce of myself into it as well or else I’m not doing my job to the best of my abilities.

Q3 – Have you ever traveled as research for your work/project/story?

I am traveling to the south of England for some workshops later in this year, which will hopefully enhance my skills as an editor. Even best selling authors, their editors, and publicists, can always improve, so I always seek to better myself.

Q4 – How has your lived experience influenced your work/project/story?

I wrote a novella while I was at university based on my experiences as a teenager. It helped me realize that I was thinking of life in the wrong way, because the story was very bad since the main character (me) lacked agency. Everything happened to the character, and there was no real plot. I decided to start making things happen because I think that’s harder to do. It’s harder to look at what is failing for you and actively improve it than it is to blame that failure on something inherent in your life that you can’t control. 

Q5 – What do you want readers to take away from your work/project/story?

I would like everyone to feel that it is completely within their grasp to write a book. Writing isn’t reserved only for graduates or professors; it’s for everyone. Writing is not meant to perfect either. I see lots of people so wound up over grammar or having a specific structure within their chapters, when it’s more important to express yourself. People connect to raw emotions and the reality you’re portraying to them, so don’t shy away from that and hide behind overused archetypes and semicolons.

Q6 – Do you believe books can inspire social change? How?

This is difficult. I think books can inspire individual change, which can then connect to a larger movement. One book alone without any other factors or help cannot inspire social change at a societal level. People do that. And people do that in lots of different ways.

Q7 – Anton Chekhov said, “The world is, of course, nothing but our conception of it.” What is your opinion of this statement? How does it coincide or conflict with your perspective of the world?

Yeah, very knowledgeable words, and I am definitely in no position to add anything further to it. I will anyway, though, because I am a hypocrite like that!

I feel statements like this can be somewhat misrepresented sometimes because people will assume that social issues aren’t real issues because it doesn’t match their perception. If it doesn’t match their perception, then it must be the issue of the person who is falsely perceiving these things. I think of perception in a very literal sense here, you can look at an object, say an apple, and see a red shiny skin on your side, but your friend could see bruising on the other side. You’re both seeing the right thing and you’re both seeing the apple but that does not mean one of you is right or that one of your perceptions is more valid than the other. The bruises still exist, even if they are outside your own perception and you must be aware of that. On an individual level, statements like this, I feel, can be quite harmful when applied to the individual. Chekhov uses the phrase, “our conception” here. We can’t forget that.

Q8 – What personal experience had the greatest influence on your worldview?

I read Kokoro by Natsume Soseki, and there’s a character called K who just completely turned up my way of thinking. I really connected with the character, but their lifestyle and story completely changed how I saw the world. It’s a very haunting but beautiful novel. I haven’t really connected to anyone who has read it yet, which is really disappointing. It’s one of the greatest novels of all time.

Q9 – What perspectives or beliefs have you challenged in your work/project/story?

I come from a religious background.. I was an atheist and often had a very secular perception, I still do, but by studying religious theology, I definitely developed a newfound respect for religious beliefs. I find myself getting defensive sometimes when people start questioning some quite basic things, such as, “What kind of God would let a child die?” and so forth. I know these people are in pain from the suffering they are witnessing, but attacking someone for their faith isn’t going to solve any of that. An individual and their God is their own matter and you cannot disrupt that, especially because most people aren’t educated enough to understand why people would still love a God who lets bad things happen. There’s a lot of ideologies and philosophies supporting lots of different religious beliefs, so if you are interested in understanding this supposed contradiction, you can look into some really cool theories. You don’t have to agree with them, but some people do and it’s important we understand why and respect that.

That helped me realize that we have to understand all points of view, not just challenge or argue with others. I think arguing is really unproductive and doesn’t really resolve anything.

Q10 – How do you see the relationship between writing and culture? How about the boundaries between fiction and reality?

I get so excited when people develop their own fictional cultures. Culture is the basis of a novel, whether or not you want it to be. Even if a novel isn’t making a big social or political statement, the world that the story is set in has its own set of rules and logic that the plot and characters adhere to. These can be fictional (so these rules are developed by the writer) or they can be based in whichever real-world society the writer wants them to be within.

I sometimes find lots of writers noting down characters who behave in an illogical manner, or do things that would contradict what we see in the real world, and I always explain that if you set your story in a real-world society, then readers can easily tell if you’re portraying the culture accurately. If they start disagreeing with a lot of what you’re writing, it stops the suspension of belief you’re supposed to be developing within your story, and your reader will stop sympathising with your characters and may dislike the story.

I also developed a fictional society with their own culture and language while I was a student, and it was hard work. Everything needs to be accounted for, and conlanguagers (writers who develop languages) practically have to write down a whole history for this world in order to make it believable. Although the style isn’t great, Tolkein is a fabulous linguist, and he has some of the most sophisticated constructed languages in the world because he developed their different tongues for his characters by creating a language tree and working out how it would develop for each of the societies he had created. I think I may have gone on a tangent about language, but the two are very closely connected to me. Culture, language, and identity.

Regardless of how much fiction there is in the society you’re writing about, we need the culture there to understand how the world works in the story you’re setting it in. Without this information, it will be harder for your reader to get lost in the story.

Q11 – Aldous Huxley said, “I wanted to change the world. But I have found that the only thing one can be sure of changing is oneself.” How have you changed throughout your creative process? How do you improve yourself every day?

The first step I ever made towards being an editor was to stop being defensive of my own work. I think it’s really easy to see constructive criticism as a form of rejection, especially when you’re really attached to your work.

As a society, we’ve developed this notion that the best are naturally talented and that we should all strive to be like them. If you are criticised, it means you’re not the best and that’s bad. But it’s not really like that. The best have learned to accept criticism and improve themselves upon it, which has developed their craft or skill. They aren’t naturally talented. It takes time, it takes a lot of emotional stamina, and it takes resilience, but it is really normal to feel defensive about your work. You poured yourself into it and therefore, criticism of your work is criticism of yourself. To accept it means you’re not the best, which is a hard thing to do.

It is good to take a break after reading any feedback and let it soak into you a little bit so that the criticism has lost its digest shock value. Digest the criticism into little bits and strive to understand where it has come from and whether acting upon it can better your work. It is a lot to take in, and it is normal to feel that way, but criticism is there to help you in the long term.

That being said, ensure your criticism is coming from a valuable source. I see so many writers bashing other writers on online groups and when the writer being bashed lashes out, they’re dismissed with a, “Don’t ask for feedback if you can’t handle it.” I’m always a bit shocked because some of the people who give out feedback have no idea how to do it in a constructive manner and they’re not usually professionals or in any position to be giving this advice. I’ve seen people who I’ve worried would never write again at the sheer amount of rejection they’ve gotten from so-called writers on Facebook. I think other writers who are trying to make it can have invested interests and feel very threatened sometimes, which can lead to this behaviour. Likewise, an editor might make out your work is worse than it is to gain more business from you. It’s up to you as a writer to seek out who you deem as a valuable resource and work with them to develop worthwhile feedback on your manuscript or text.

Q12 – To what extent can fiction affect or improve the developments in science and technology in human life? What about religion and politics?

There’s a lot of quotes about this, for example, “Science fiction doesn’t predict the future” from Kristin Houser at Freethink/Big Think. I love the idea that we write stories full of ideas that we can only dream of, and that opens a door for experts to develop these ideas into working mechanisms in the real world. Invention is merging creativity, imaginativity, with logic and practical skill. What better representation of the two?

I think when people speak of novels changing political ideas and religious beliefs, it’s important to remember we have specific texts that inspired the beliefs that you’re trying to change in the first place. Take the First Amendment, an admired and powerful form of literature that will hold the hearts of Americans for generations to come. This text has an immense degree of power and truth within it, and inspires change despite being an elderly script. Do you reckon another book could displace the ideas that have been developed here?

At the same time, these texts can also hinder progression when taken to radical extremes, such as the Bible breeding homophobia or the Constitution breeding racism. Despite this potential danger, they’re still revered books in our society. They haven’t always been, so I think that shows that influences outside of books are also at play and can sometimes drown out the influence of a text, particularly in places where the community isn’t literate.

That upsets me a little bit when people put so much power into books because not everyone can read and write, and they are just as powerful and capable of change as someone who can read a book about a specific political belief. We need to realize the power is within ourselves and not within the text. We are giving the text the power to control our behaviour, beliefs, and society.

There’s a lot of onus on books being extremely influential, but it’s important that we, as people part of a society, are able to agree or disagree with texts and research the ideas that are brought up within books. We shouldn’t blindly accept something because it’s well written, or has a great plot, or sounds deep.

Q13 – Eckhart Tolle said, “Awareness is the greatest agent for change.” In your opinion, what is the next step and how can writers affect this?

I think it is quite difficult to be self-aware as a writer sometimes. You have to build a world to wrap yourself within when you’re writing. You are absorbed in your ideas and your characters and when taken to the extremes, you can be completely blind to everything else.

I have had clients who have said to me, “No, I’m sending this message out, and I’m writing about this topic for this audience,” despite my warning. I’m self-aware for you as a writer, and I’ve seen writers with the most inappropriate messages or plots for their target audience, or developing ideas I know will 110% be rejected by a traditional publisher. I know what’s acceptable, and I watch the market so I know what is trending. But writers sometimes get so immersed in their project that they can’t see this. It’s great to push boundaries for what you believe in, but if you want to make a difference or traditionally publish, then you have to do it in a very specific way for it to be accepted. Otherwise, your writing is in vain, and I know how much rejection from agents, firms, and the market is.

I think we must also keep a part of ourselves open to hearing the experiences of others. Don’t go into something thinking, well this person doesn’t believe in the same thing as me and look for holes to poke in their ideas. Just listen and absorb. Don’t respond. Half of the time, we don’t hear others because we are so focused on what we want to say back. That’s the most common way we lack awareness, and I feel everyone can admit to doing this when an argument breaks out. Regardless, it’s good as a writer to have a large directory of characters with different personalities and lives to call upon, which you get from socializing with lots of different people.

If you’re a little shy like me, being a wallflower and people watching is a good substitute for socializing! At university, a lecturer once told us all, the hallmark of a writer is a person who people watches.

Q14 – Intolerance and divisiveness are prevalent across the globe. Our voice may not be loud enough to right every wrong, but it is enough to make a difference one person at a time. Small acts move mountains. What one thing would you ask your audience to do to help inspire social change?

I don’t think I could ask. Everyone can inspire change in their own way. I couldn’t go out and speak in public because I’d be too nervous to, but someone else might feel at their best going to a rally or speaking at an event. Change is subjective and personal to the individual. As long as the person reading this knows that they matter and that their voice is valued, I have confidence that they will do things however they see fit.

Q15 – Pick 1-3 social issues that are most important to you. Explain why you picked these and how we can help raise awareness/impact change.

The most important social issues to me are: civil rights, the class divide, and queer rights. I know I say rights for a lot of these issues, but I suppose respect would be a more suiting word. I feel civil rights and the class divide are inherently linked. The working class remaining poor are imperative for capitalism to succeed, but I cannot with good faith be a part of a society that exploits the vulnerable for the luxury lifestyles of a few. This feeds into queer rights, BAME rights, civil rights, because money often dictates who receives rights and those that do, belong to upper classes.

Unfortunately, BAME people often fall into working class categories, and therefore, their rights are infringed. There’s very little class mobility in our society.

Q16 – Maya Angelou said, “I did then what I knew how to do, but now that I know better, I do better.” We have all made choices that we regret. We are all flawed humans. Together, we are experiencing this human story unfolding. Share a transformative experience where you learned from a mistake. How do you actively choose to make better choices?

Gosh, this feels like a job interview, ha! I think a big mistake I made for most of my life is that my value came from men. I thought that I only had value if I was beautiful and if I could attract a man. I would feel very low if men weren’t paying attention to me or said something negative to me. I think, in general, I made myself a very vulnerable young woman for men to take advantage of because I thought I was worthless if they weren’t vying for my attention. Often they didn’t, so I kept changing my appearance, the way I acted, the way I talked and texted. All sorts.

It’s the way a young girl is programmed to think, and it’s hard to extract yourself from that belief system when you live in a heteronormative society that drools over celebrities and has such high expectations for beauty. I’ve met some awful people who have judged and treated me based on how I look, and they have bought into this belief system too.

I think (and hope) we’re changing this narrative, but it was very much alive and damaging throughout my adolescence.

I feel bad because I can’t say what changed me, but I just seemed to change. Maybe the change was so tiny and slow that I never noticed it. I grew more and more comfortable with myself and more and more irritated by men who felt I was inferior or held this sort of belief. I think, to loop back to Kokoro, that book did have a profound effect on me because it made me realize that being content with your life comes from within, not vices such as alcohol, or material items, or compliments, or likes. There’s nothing wrong with liking these things and engaging in activities such as shopping or drinking. It’s just that they shouldn’t be your quick fix to feeling okay. They should be cherries on the cake.

That’s what I’ve figured and that belief has helped me develop as a more individual.

And it’s okay wherever you are on your journey. I think you’re always going somewhere, you never get to see the end product of your labors in that respect.

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