Christa Angelios

MetaMythica Literary

Welcome to MetaMythica’s Literary Grimoire!

Like a beloved book of spells that’s been handed down through the generations, we’re here to help you hone your art and practice your craft with a personal touch.

Christa is a creative coach, editor, and proofreader who loves horror, folklore, and mythology, as well as postmodern literary fiction, narrative nonfiction, and poetry.

She works with both genre and literary writers, but specializes in working with writers of upmarket speculative fiction with a postmodern twist. While novels and series are her bread-and-butter, she’s especially fond of short-form works—from short stories and essays to poetry.

Whatever the form or genre, Christa cultivates narratives that revel in the rich nuance of our globalized, interconnected world. As a first-generation Egyptian-American, she’s especially suited to working with multicultural works and English-language learners.

Read more about Christa’s coaching services and find her full bio, background, and editorial philosophy below.

At a Glance:

• Currently copyrights associate at Penguin Random House
• Former editorial intern at Tor Books and agency intern at Dystel, Goderich, & Bourret
• Columbia Publishing Course alumna
• B.A. in creative writing and business administration from Iowa’s Coe College
• Former teacher and tutor of English Language Arts (ELA) and English for Students of Other Languages (ESOL)
• Additional training from New York University, Graywolf’s Fiona McCrae, National Book Award-winning author Jesmyn Ward, and more

Services:

• Writing and Creator Coaching
• Manuscript Evaluation
• Substantive and Developmental Editing
• Copyediting and Line Editing (not currently accepting)
• Proofreading (not currently accepting)

Specialties:

• Horror and dark fantasy
• Folklore- and mythology-inspired works
• Upmarket speculative fiction
• Postmodern fiction
• Short-form works (short stories, essays, poetry)
• Multicultural works
• Working with English-language learners

Here at MetaMythica, we know that creative work is often deeply personal, which is why we lead with a trauma-informed approach in all of our work. We center the experiences of historically marginalized populations, including recommendations for conscious language and authenticity reading.

We hope you’re as excited to begin your creative journey with us as we are to walk beside you on that journey.

Let’s make some literary magic!

Christa is currently only accepting coaching, manuscript evaluation, and developmental editing queries.

**She is not accepting any projects with generative-A.I. components at this time.**

Please be aware that Christa is a part-time freelancer with a limited schedule best reached evenings and weekends, Eastern Time (ET).

Thank you!

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NEW: Writing and Creator Coaching

Christa is thrilled to add both writing coaching and creator coaching to her services.

Evolving naturally from her background in teaching and publishing, her two coaching services will help you reach your creative goals with one-on-one guidance. She fosters a collaborative working relationship, but you’ll always be in the driver’s seat—she’s here to listen and support you however she can in service of a common objective.

Writing/Book Coaching: With writing coaching, also sometimes called book coaching, that objective is to reach the finish line on a particular project. Together, we’ll analyze story structures, archetypes, genres, tropes, movements, literary and rhetorical devices, and other fundamental story elements to help you complete a manuscript of your choice.

Creator Coaching: Christa is just as invested in literature as she is in the wellbeing of the people who create it. That’s why she goes beyond coaching by project to offer creator coaching. With creator coaching, she’ll focus on skill-building and supporting you through all aspects of leading a healthy creative life. She knows no two creators are alike, so you won’t find didacticism here—instead, we’ll explore your own habits, practices, needs, values, and goals to sustain your practice in the long-term.

With both coaching paths, Christa will help you build a personalized Creative Codex to keep track of all of your learning and growth, and easily find resources for the future.

Contact Christa today to book a free 15-minute consultation and see if coaching is right for you!

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Christa’s Full Bio

At Penguin Random House, Christa currently assesses fair use alongside the in-house legal team (as she is not a lawyer and cannot give legal advice) and assists authors in obtaining permissions. Her love of language learning, cultural exchange, and literary activism brought her to serve on the Associate Board of Literacy Partners and volunteer with PEN America. Christa began her editorial career with her high school literary magazine, Albuquerque Academy’s Other Voices. Previously, she held an editorial internship at Tor Books and a literary agency internship at what is now Dystel, Goderich, & Bourret, where she read, requested, and vetted manuscripts. She served for a stint as flash fiction editor of Silver Pen’s Liquid Imagination, and poetry editor of the Christian horror magazine The Midnight Diner. She supplemented her education from the Columbia Publishing Course with a proofreading and copyediting course from NYU; an editorial masterclass by director and publisher of Graywolf Press, Fiona McCrae; and a webinar on “Finding Your Characters’ and Your Voice” from National Book Award-winning author Jesmyn Ward. Christa earned her B.A. in creative writing and business administration from Coe College—alma mater of Paul Engle, former Iowa Writers’ Workshop director and co-founder of the University of Iowa’s International Writing Program. At Coe, Christa served as a fiction and communications editor for the literary magazine, The Coe Review, and practiced literary fiction, poetry, and folklore under a slate of professors who all studied at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. She is also a member of the American Copy Editors Society (ACES).

Christa’s teaching experience honed her proofreading skills, her poetry background gave her a keen copy editing eye, and her creative writing classes taught her the craft of developing narrative arcs. As a first-generation American and lifelong folklore enthusiast, she is especially suited to multicultural fiction and authors whose native language is not English.

Read more about Christa’s background and editorial philosophy below.

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Educator Background

In addition to editing, Christa was a teacher in a former professional life. After proofreading English curricula for Public Prep, a charter school network in New York City, she co-taught 6th-grade English Language Arts (ELA) at Girls Prep Bronx Middle School. Between her full-time teaching and her independent tutoring, Christa has taught both ELA and English for Students of Other Languages (ESOL) to over 50 students from 7 countries, from 3rd grade through college. Among her favorite units to teach were the hero’s journey with Rick Riordan’s The Lightning Thief; historical fiction with Margi Preus’s The Heart of a Samurai; comparative, multimedia folklore with various versions of Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Snow Queen” and the Japanese “Yuki-onna” tale; and gothic literature with William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” and William Carlos Williams’s “The Use of Force.”

Editorial Philosophy

Christa believes in the power of stories to change the world, and believes that power must be wielded responsibly: from thorough research and authenticity/sensitivity reads to inclusive language and complex characters. She also believes in the magic and power of awe and wonder as critical functions of art, especially for those who are struggling with trauma and systemic oppression. Nothing perhaps sums up her philosophy better than the core belief that it is the duty of art “to comfort the disturbed, and to disturb the comfortable.” (Dr. César A. Cruz, 1997)

New York, NY
US

Business phone: (515) 650-3882

Email: metamythica@gmail.com

Years in the field: 10
Years freelancing: 5