Inside the editorial process of Chapman’s art and literary magazines

Graphic by Easton Clark, Photo Editor

From poets to music producers, painters to playwrights, filmmakers to photographers, Chapman is home to a thriving creative community. And each semester, art and literary magazines like Calliope, Ouroboros and The Underground offer Chapman creatives of all mediums a home for their work. 

But how do the editors of these magazines decide which pieces to accept into each issue? Let’s delve behind-the-scenes into the selection and editing process for Chapman’s art and literary publications. 

Calliope, the oldest literary magazine at Chapman, published its first issue as its current iteration in fall of 2014. The publication accepts a wide range of written and visual work, including poetry, fiction, nonfiction, scripts, photography, digital art, paintings and drawings. Currently, Calliope’s editor-in-chief is senior screenwriting major Joshua Olatunji. 

Ouroboros, which published its first issue in fall of 2020, specializes in work that falls within the speculative genre. The magazine accepts written and visual works of various mediums including poetry, fiction, scripts, sculptures, animations, photography, digital and traditional art. The magazine’s current editor-in-chief is junior creative writing major Selah Sanchez.

And The Underground, Chapman’s newest addition to the literary magazine community, is a revived version of an older publication which was shut down during the COVID-19 lockdown. Having released its first issue as a renewed publication in fall of 2024, the online journal focuses on experimental work in a variety of forms, including written pieces, visual art, interactive games, music and films. The journal is currently led by editor-in-chief Zoë Edeskuty, a junior creative writing major and the arts and culture editor at The Panther.

What does the editorial process look like?

Though the editorial procedures for each publication vary slightly, the general editorial process is similar. 

The magazines split the submissions they receive into smaller batches, rather than reviewing them all at once. 

The publications also have designated editorial teams for different categories of submissions: all three have separate boards for written and visual work. The Underground also has a board for audio submissions. 

Editors first review submissions within their categories on their own and make their own notes. 

In Calliope and The Underground, all editors read all the pieces in their category, while in Ouroboros, editors are split into groups that read a portion of the submitted works.

Then, the editors gather at group meetings to discuss the pieces and share their thoughts. In Calliope and The Underground, the editors rate pieces on a scale from one to five beforehand, and focus discussion on pieces that cross a threshold of 2.5 — although they may discuss pieces below the threshold if time allows.

These group meetings offer a platform to explore different perspectives, debate whether or not a submission should be accepted and bounce ideas off one another. 

What qualities do editors look for in a piece? 

Calliope written editor Michael Daniels, a senior creative writing major, values originality. 

“I want to see something new, I want to see something unique, something that feels like I haven't read before,” Daniels said.

Anisa Abdulkariem, an editor for Calliope’s art board and a senior graphic design major, pays special attention to the story and message being conveyed in visual pieces. 

“Our feedback focuses on the conceptual depth, composition and visual storytelling of each piece,” Abdulkariem said. “We discuss the artist’s use of color, form and symbolism, and whether the work communicates its intended message effectively.” 

For magazines like Ouroboros and The Underground, which focus on a specific genre of work, ensuring a work fits the genre is vital. 

Ouroboros accepts only speculative work. But what exactly does the term “speculative” entail? 

According to Brianna Vélez, the co-managing editor and art director of Ouroboros and a junior creative writing major, “speculative” refers to anything within the fantastical, magical or otherwise unreal realm of fiction. 

“So, mostly the genres around fantasy, sci-fi, horror — things that don't exactly appear in the real world, so far as we know, right?” Vélez said. 

Before sending pieces to the editors, the Ouroboros executive board goes through submissions to filter out those that don’t fit the speculative criteria or that go above the maximum word count.

According to Julian Romano, a fiction editor for Ouroboros and a senior film and media studies major, the team leans towards pieces where they don't have to question whether or not it is speculative. 

“That just removes a barrier to us understanding and enjoying your work,” Romano said.

The Underground focuses on experimentalism as an artistic and literary form, defined on the journal’s website as “the commitment to exploring new concepts and representations of the world through methods that go beyond the established conventions of art and literary tradition.” 

This can include playing with syntax, form and language, or anything else that challenges traditional narratives of storytelling and defies audience expectations.

According to Angie Barrios Mackepeace, a written editor for The Underground and a junior creative writing and political science double major, pieces should be “at least a little mind-boggling.”

“To be experimental is to take chances and make choices that others wouldn’t,” Barrios Mackepeace said. 

CJ Prat, an audio editor for The Underground and a senior guitar performance major, asks questions such as “does it challenge the norm?” and “does it blur the line between music and noise?” 

According to Prat, it can be difficult to determine whether a music piece is “experimental.”

“It’s hard at times because new music from the past 50 years or so has been considered experimental in the music industry, so sometimes, the term ‘experimental’ is subjective when it comes to music, but that’s why we have a team,” Prat said. “We discuss the piece and provide our own insight about what makes it experimental.” 

Beyond genre requirements, editors also take into account technical qualities, such as artistic skill and correctness of grammar and spelling. And of course, some things are an immediate “no.” 

“Obviously, the easy stuff, like inappropriate content or, you know, racism, which has happened before,” Romano said.

The magazines must also be careful to avoid violating copyright laws. 

“We had a submission in the past year that had a sample from a pre-existing piece of music, and it was really cool, but we just couldn’t publish that,” Prat said. 

How are final decisions made?

After the editors meet to discuss pieces, it’s time to make decisions on which pieces will be accepted or rejected. Calliope and The Underground also designate some pieces as resubmits, in which submitters have the chance to revise pieces that were not accepted as-is and resubmit them to the current issue. The status of each submission is determined by a direct vote among the editors. 

After decisions are made, it’s time to announce them and return feedback to submitters. Editors are assigned individual pieces to provide personalized suggestions and feedback on. In Ouroboros, an editor is assigned to compile the most important edits from all the editors who reviewed the piece onto one document. Feedback is provided to acceptances, and to rejections that specifically request it. Calliope gives feedback on every piece the team had the chance to discuss during meetings, while The Underground offers feedback on submissions that cross the threshold. Submitters whose pieces were accepted (or marked as a “resubmit”)  then have the chance to edit their pieces before the final publication (these edits may be required for acceptance or just suggestions). 

What happens once the issue is complete?

Once decisions are finalized and the issue is laid out, each magazine typically hosts a launch party to celebrate the issue’s release, giving featured writers and artists the chance to read and share their work. Hosting these live events provides a social aspect and helps build a sense of community among creatives that goes beyond the page.

The events may be hosted on campus or at an off-campus venue. This past April, The Underground celebrated their fall 2024 and spring 2025 issues with a launch event at Beyond Baroque, a literary arts center in Los Angeles. The event featured live readings and performances, a screen to display visual art and videos and speakers to play audio submissions, creating an immersive multimedia experience. 

Building a creative community

Calliope, Ouroboros and The Underground have joined forces to foster an artistic and literary community on campus; last semester, the three got together to host their first lit mags mixer, featuring an open mic, crafts and custom typewriter poetry. 

Vélez believes that the literary magazines should come together and support each other more often, especially now, when the arts are often dismissed. 

“People think the only thing that’s important is STEM, but without the arts we become apathetic, and then science and math have no purpose if it’s not used towards providing better lives for people,” Vélez said. “At the core, literature, art and storytelling is what makes us human.” 

Sanchez holds an appreciation for the multiple art and literary publications at Chapman and the unique perspectives they bring. 

“I’m really happy there’s more than one of us here on campus — it feels in many ways like a literary ecosystem,” Sanchez said. “We all fill very specific niches of form and genre, and have elevating and showcasing the best of these niches at our core.”

So if you’re interested in exploring Chapman’s art and literary scene, be sure to check out upcoming issues of Calliope, Ouroboros and The Underground to enjoy the wide range of forms, genres and styles they have to offer.