The Editor's Half Hour

Andréa Topper: Part 1: Editing True Crime


Listen Later

Given its intense subject matter, it takes a special type of editor (or writer, journalist, etc.) to work on true crime. Throughout the developmental process, editors ask questions that often go much deeper than expected. We question the nature of content and how explicit it should be. And depending on your role in the project, you may be called to make ethical decisions when you least expect it.

This episode is the first of two parts. In part one, I introduce Andréa Topper—a writing coach and editor—who has had a varied career in journalism, content marketing, and corporate communications in Silicon Valley. She describes her role in 2018 as a writer for CrossFit’s Journal to cover a new program, Redemption Road CrossFit, which supports health, wellness, and personal redemption within the prison system. She was assigned to visit the Limon Correctional Facility, a men’s maximum-security prison located roughly 100 miles southeast of Denver, Colorado. While attending one of the sessions, she met Damian Arguello who fatally stabbed his wife and toddler while high on crack cocaine. He is now serving a life sentence.

Andréa is currently working on a book that covers Arguello’s story and her first-hand observations about our country’s prison system. We discuss a wide variety of topics that come into play when handling true crime: the writing process, emotional unrest when stepping away from work, journalistic skills required for interviewing, and making ethical decisions related to developing content.

For more information about Andréa’s prison visits, click on the following links to her blog and other articles:

  • Building Community Behind Bars—https://journal.crossfit.com/article/limon-seminar-cecil-2
  • Reporter’s Notebook: CrossFit in Prison—https://journal.crossfit.com/article/limon-2-cecil
  • Redemption Chronicle (blog)—https://medium.com/redemption-chronicle
  • For a full list of posts, please use this link—https://medium.com/redemption-chronicle/stories/published


In addition to her experience in writing and editing, Andréa played a vital role in editing and contributing to the book, Speal: A David and Goliath Story, which sold tens of thousands of copies: https://www.amazon.com/Speal-David-Goliath-Chris-Spealler/dp/1544500564.

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

The Editor's Half HourBy Nadia Geagea Pupa

  • 5
  • 5
  • 5
  • 5
  • 5

5

19 ratings


More shows like The Editor's Half Hour

View all
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast by Marc Maron

WTF with Marc Maron Podcast

29,336 Listeners

The Editing Podcast by Louise Harnby (fiction editor) and Denise Cowle (non-fiction editor)

The Editing Podcast

64 Listeners

Deliberate Freelancer by Melanie Padgett Powers

Deliberate Freelancer

71 Listeners

Dateline NBC by NBC News

Dateline NBC

47,886 Listeners

Search Engine by PJ Vogt

Search Engine

4,352 Listeners

The Modern Editor Podcast by Tara Whitaker

The Modern Editor Podcast

25 Listeners

Culture Study Podcast by Anne Helen Petersen

Culture Study Podcast

656 Listeners