An author's voice does not venture into the wild west alone; it rides with a full posse. On the surface of a published piece of work, the author appears to be the lone genius; yet, underneath in multilayers of revisions and conversations that carry an author's voice over the rooftops of the world, voice is an intimate communal affair. As an editor, I view co-creation as embodying the push-and-pull relationship that forms between writer and reader, including the editor. A good editor pulls out the best sound from the author even when the manuscript is a wild, caterwauling animal. An editor is merely a highly-specialized reader and, like all readers, will become one of a multiple of voices who will forever inform, evolve, and challenge the author's words. A good editor will filter and fiber the blood of a writer, and in turn, the author's creative work will go on to to the same for its readers. In the end, it is the conglomerate of readers over a span of years, decades or centuries even, that exalts the author's voice to its most powerful level of co-creation. Here, the author's individual sound, or texture, is recycled out in the wilds of the storytelling jungles and untamed forests. Through the process of co-creation, a creative endeavor takes on a voice of its own, busting seams and declaring itself, in the spirit of Walt Whitman, a free entity. We are all co-creators of voice in this wild, animal-wrangling endeavor of creativity.
","abstract_html":"<p>An author's voice does not venture into the wild west alone; it rides with a full posse. On the surface of a published piece of work, the author appears to be the lone genius; yet, underneath in multilayers of revisions and conversations that carry an author's voice over the rooftops of the world, voice is an intimate communal affair. As an editor, I view co-creation as embodying the push-and-pull relationship that forms between writer and reader, including the editor. A good editor pulls out the best sound from the author even when the manuscript is a wild, caterwauling animal. An editor is merely a highly-specialized reader and, like all readers, will become one of a multiple of voices who will forever inform, evolve, and challenge the author's words. A good editor will filter and fiber the blood of a writer, and in turn, the author's creative work will go on to to the same for its readers. In the end, it is the conglomerate of readers over a span of years, decades or centuries even, that exalts the author's voice to its most powerful level of co-creation. Here, the author's individual sound, or texture, is recycled out in the wilds of the storytelling jungles and untamed forests. Through the process of co-creation, a creative endeavor takes on a voice of its own, busting seams and declaring itself, in the spirit of Walt Whitman, a free entity. We are all co-creators of voice in this wild, animal-wrangling endeavor of creativity.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Mathews, Valerie M."],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Arts in Professional Writing (MAPW)","degree_level":"Capstone","degree_discipline":"English","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Margaret Walters","Sergio Figueiredo"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2017,"date_issued":"2017-05-09T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2017-05-09T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:43:17Z","subjects":["author's voice","writing process","writing style","fiction writing","editing","Peter Elbow","Creative Writing"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/mapw_etd/25","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Margaret Walters","Sergio Figueiredo"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Mathews, Valerie M."]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2022-04-30T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["English"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Capstone"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Arts in Professional Writing (MAPW)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["author's voice","writing process","writing style","fiction writing","editing","Peter Elbow","Creative Writing"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/mapw_etd/25"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["An author's voice does not venture into the wild west alone; it rides with a full posse. On the surface of a published piece of work, the author appears to be the lone genius; yet, underneath in multilayers of revisions and conversations that carry an author's voice over the rooftops of the world, voice is an intimate communal affair. As an editor, I view co-creation as embodying the push-and-pull relationship that forms between writer and reader, including the editor. A good editor pulls out the best sound from the author even when the manuscript is a wild, caterwauling animal. An editor is merely a highly-specialized reader and, like all readers, will become one of a multiple of voices who will forever inform, evolve, and challenge the author's words. A good editor will filter and fiber the blood of a writer, and in turn, the author's creative work will go on to to the same for its readers. In the end, it is the conglomerate of readers over a span of years, decades or centuries even, that exalts the author's voice to its most powerful level of co-creation. Here, the author's individual sound, or texture, is recycled out in the wilds of the storytelling jungles and untamed forests. Through the process of co-creation, a creative endeavor takes on a voice of its own, busting seams and declaring itself, in the spirit of Walt Whitman, a free entity. We are all co-creators of voice in this wild, animal-wrangling endeavor of creativity.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["The Creative Voice--Dialogue Between Writer and Editor: A Portfolio"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Margaret Walters","Sergio Figueiredo"],"dc:creator":["Mathews, Valerie M."],"dc:date.available":["2022-04-30T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["An author's voice does not venture into the wild west alone; it rides with a full posse. On the surface of a published piece of work, the author appears to be the lone genius; yet, underneath in multilayers of revisions and conversations that carry an author's voice over the rooftops of the world, voice is an intimate communal affair. As an editor, I view co-creation as embodying the push-and-pull relationship that forms between writer and reader, including the editor. A good editor pulls out the best sound from the author even when the manuscript is a wild, caterwauling animal. An editor is merely a highly-specialized reader and, like all readers, will become one of a multiple of voices who will forever inform, evolve, and challenge the author's words. A good editor will filter and fiber the blood of a writer, and in turn, the author's creative work will go on to to the same for its readers. In the end, it is the conglomerate of readers over a span of years, decades or centuries even, that exalts the author's voice to its most powerful level of co-creation. Here, the author's individual sound, or texture, is recycled out in the wilds of the storytelling jungles and untamed forests. Through the process of co-creation, a creative endeavor takes on a voice of its own, busting seams and declaring itself, in the spirit of Walt Whitman, a free entity. We are all co-creators of voice in this wild, animal-wrangling endeavor of creativity.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/mapw_etd/25"],"dc:subject":["author's voice","writing process","writing style","fiction writing","editing","Peter Elbow","Creative Writing"],"dc:title":["The Creative Voice--Dialogue Between Writer and Editor: A Portfolio"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["English"],"thesis:degree_level":["Capstone"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Arts in Professional Writing (MAPW)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:43:17Z"}