Q&A with literary editor Luke McGinty

UNC freshman Luke McGinty is the founder and editor-in-chief of The Charles Carter, a new literary magazine on campus that combines written work with podcasts. Now accepting submissions, the online magazine aims to cover all forms of writing and engage in active editing to give writers feedback on their work.

Staff writer Palak Patel spoke with McGinty about starting the publication.

DAILY TAR HEEL: What inspired you to begin the magazine?

LUKE MCGINTY: As a writer, I’ve gone through the process so often of writing a poem or short story and just thinking, “So what?” Because no matter how good you think something is, it’s really hard to know and it’s really hard to find something to do with it.

I always loved that part of class where people have to read what you write and get the feedback. That’s part of the reason why I liked it. I also wanted to give people a place where they could submit something and ideally it could get published and people would read it. The third or fourth submission we got, the girl said, “I have no idea if it’s good, but at least I can get it published.” And that is the whole point of the magazine.

DTH: How is The Charles Carter different from other magazines?

LM: I wanted it to be a collaborative experience. For me, I know you can submit something and an editor in a far-away room reads it and gets back to you. But I’ve always wanted a more active involvement for the author and see how they work. We don’t have a distinctive style or genre, but what defines us is the active involvement from people who care about the writing process.

DTH: Where did the idea come from?

LM: I looked at the idea for a few months. And then a month or two ago, I was watching “The Social Network” with friends and I thought, this guy is 20 and created Facebook. I thought, “He knows computer programming and I know how to write.” It inspired me to put my expertise into something. It was basically like, “What can I do?”

DTH: Tell me a little bit about the leadership of the magazine.

LM: Right now we’re just starting up. There’s a core group of 10 of us who I’ve been running ideas with. Now that we’ve started getting submissions, we are finding people who are really passionate about it before even doing anything. The term “editor” is not accurate. The way the process works is that everyone is an editor. We group-read everything and talk through it.

DTH: I’ve heard this magazine also features a podcast. Tell me a little about that and where the idea came from.

LM: For me, I always love podcasts such as “This American Life.” I always kind of felt like you could walk into the room after a long day and press play and just listen to someone’s story for 15 minutes. The dream is that UNC students come home and think, “Oh what did Charles Carter post today?” I think it’s a way to expand readership outside of UNC. We’re going to post all the podcasts on the site and iTunes, so we can get readers from all over.

DTH: Who is your audience?

LM: One of the things I noticed before I started working on it is that almost everyone writes something. There are so many people who write a story, a poem, etc. I like to get submissions from people you wouldn’t expect, such as a football player or a guy who spends all his time at the gym. My goal is that everyone who writes something submits it and has it read.