Brighter, tighter and better: Steve Padilla and the role of the editor

Steve Padilla, the Column One editor at the Los Angeles Times, knows nothing comes out right the first time. “Writing is rewriting,” he said. That’s his point, and to reiterate, he says everything twice.

In his 37 years with the LA Times, the story architect has edited a diverse array of articles – a profile on the last surviving veteran of Pearl Harbor, the discovery of Amelia Earhart's sunken plane, and even a feature on the last operating adult theater in Los Angeles.

Padilla, animated and impassioned by his craft, paced across the room as he spoke to USC JOUR 447. He shared his beloved writing tips – three, to be precise: meaning, verbs and reading aloud. “We are not rebuilding the engine, we’re polishing it,” he said.

As a writing coach, he focuses on narrative structure, word choice and dialogue. Above all, writing should always convey a certain meaning. “You can write once you know what the message is,” he said. For him, writing is about thinking through his fingers.

“Don’t think! That’s the worst thing to do here,” he urged quickly, but just as crucially, writers should always focus on the point. When Padilla struggles to clarify his thoughts, he composes out loud: speech clarifies thought.

He also credits E.B. White as an essential writer to study descriptive style. “The key is not flowery, its accuracy,” he said.

Toward the end, Padilla recalled an analogy he once wrote about dancing ballerinas: “grace and precision like exploding popcorn.” With his boundless spirit and verbal finesse, it is clear he’s still popping with the same level of flair – and maybe just a hint of chaos.