REUTS Editor: Cait Spivey

Bio: Cait Spivey is a speculative fiction writer, author of the paranormal novella series, “The Web”. In addition to working on these and many other projects, she is a developmental editor for REUTS Publications and a freelancer with Bear and Black Dog Editing, LLC. She is currently assistant to Saritza Hernandez of Corvisiero Literary Agency. Formerly, she was a generalist reader for literary agent Jenny Bent, and lead editor for more than a dozen novels with Curiosity Quills Press.
Cait has been the editor for two books with REUTS:  The Keepers  by Anoosha Lalani (out now!) and the upcoming Off Book by Jessica Dall.
1.      Tell us how you came to work with REUTS.I met the Editorial Director of REUTS, Kisa Whipkey, on Twitter somehow or another. When we realized we both lived in the same area, we started hanging out and quickly became friends. The process that followed is hazy, but we both sort of arrived at the idea that I might fit in well with the REUTS team, so I applied. Ashley (Ruggirello, Creative Director and Founder) agreed, so I became a REUTS editor.
2.      What does your job entail?I’m sort of an all-in-one editor in the sense that I do developmental and copy editing simultaneously. Kisa usually does some structural/developmental work with the authors before the manuscripts come to me, but I still evaluate big picture arcs as well as the line-level stuff. The author and I work collaboratively on the manuscript in Google Docs, which I have to say is a pretty great way to do it. It really strengthens the relationship between the editor and the author because we can have a conversation about it right then and there. That’s important to me because I want to make sure the author understands the critiques I’m giving. It also means that if I notice a pattern, the author can see that comment and work ahead of me to correct it through the rest of the MS, which saves us both a lot of time and frustration.Because we work on the doc at the same time, the number of rounds or passes gets pretty nebulous, but I do end up going over the document probably two or three times on average. 3.      What do you enjoy most about being an editor?The best is definitely when you can really feel the story coming together, when you read over it for the fourth time and just think, “yes, yes, yes!”
4.      What have your experiences been like working with the authors?So far, I’ve only worked with two authors for REUTS (except for the Project REUTSway Anthology), but Anoosha and Jessica have both been fantastic. There’s nothing better than a receptive author--and I don’t necessarily mean an author who just does what I tell them. When you work with an editor you have to be ready to brainstorm and collaborate, to incorporate feedback, to consider changes that can potentially be huge. Having an author who is willing and even excited to dig in with me and do the work is the dream, and that’s been Anoosha and Jessica.
5.      What is the hardest part of being an editor?Doubt. Yes, editors feel it too. As much as we wish we could ensure that the manuscript comes out perfect and will be adored by everyone, we can’t. All we can do is apply all of our instinct, experience, and knowledge to the manuscript. This, FYI, is why it’s important to talk to your editor about your goals for the book, where you want it to go, what you want readers to focus on, etc.
6.      And what is the best part?The journey from beginning to end. This can be a little bittersweet if you’re foolish enough to read reviews, because you’ve seen how far the manuscript came and the reviewers have no idea, but it’s still so awesome to know exactly how hard the author worked on their book. Great authors are truly dedicated to putting in those hours and it’s pretty amazing.
7.      Last question; If you could bring any book/movie/TV show to life, what would it be and why?Tough question. I’m going to be unoriginal and say Harry Potter, because the world-building makes it so easy to imagine that world being real and fitting in nicely with the world as it is now.