Rejectomancy

Since it looks like the novel thread is dead (?), I'll post my 480-day form rejection from Harper Voyager's 2012 open call here. Ugg.

Sorry to hear of your novel R, Eliza. That's one long wait for a form.

Sorry for your multiple R's Aislinn. Hope its not too much of a downer.

Aislinn said:

I love all my stories, which makes the submission process full of hope, and every rejection unexpected and painful. After a few months of not looking at a story I can often see why it might not have been perfect. But I usually still think it was pretty damn good. (It would be nice to be more realistic but I guess we're all different )

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I sometimes forget about the stories I send out. I don't send out a story if I grow to hate it - there are a couple I've decided I'd prefer didn't see the light of day. I think of them all as learning experiences though, even if I realise I don't like them. Each one teaches me something new.

But the ones I keep sending out, I still like. I feel for my characters in them, and I hope they find a home.

Last year I wrote a number of things that weren't for short story submissions, so I didn't produce as many complete new shorts as I would have otherwise. I realised the other day that because of continually submitting, the majority of stories I've written and subbed have found a home, and I've developed a better feel for various markets. I only have five circulating at the moment. Desperate to finish some more off!

As well as acceptances, which are always great, the thing that encourages me is seeing my writing gradually improving.

fihr said:

Sorry for your multiple R's Aislinn. Hope its not too much of a downer.

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Each rejection is not too bad but I think they've set up a kind of negative feedback loop on my writing. I can't find the joy at the moment! School holidays aren't helping either. I've done lots of revisions but not hardly any new writing. I'm reading Rumpole to cheer myself up

Eliza, sorry about your long wait for the novel rejection

Aislinn said:

School holidays aren't helping either. I've done lots of revisions but not hardly any new writing.

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Tell me about it! Through a fortuitous circumstance I did get one single interruption-free day in the holiday period to write new stuff. The rest of the time, I could only edit. I tried to fill my head up reading new books though - that was great.

Hope you get your joy back when the year gets into a new routine. And also that your stories begin to find their homes.

Sorry about all the R's. There were far too many of them this weekend from the special calls it looks like.

Writing and parenting is tough. I avail myself of the coffee house every Sunday to be sure I have uninterrupted time at least once a week. I didn't even drink coffee before I was a writer, but that two bucks a week to sit in a calm place was well worth it before my kids were all school age.

Some of my stories I have mixed feelings on. I'd write about fairies and dragons all day if I thought I could sell any like that to short fiction markets. I've had to dramatically change my subject matter. There's always something about a story that keeps me writing it and keeps me sending it out, but some of my stories get a lot darker than I ever thought they would when I first started writing.

Melinda Moore said:

I've had to dramatically change my subject matter. There's always something about a story that keeps me writing it and keeps me sending it out, but some of my stories get a lot darker than I ever thought they would when I first started writing.

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That's very interesting, and makes sense. I'm far more aware now of when I'm writing a story that's likely to be unmarketable or a hard sell, even if I finish it regardless for my own satisfaction. And I relate to what you say about darker. Light seeps into grey, grey into dark, and the border between dark and horror is sometimes hard to define. My understanding of what 'horror' is has changed since I began writing.

14-day R from C.C. Finlay's guest issue of F&SF. Pretty much echoed what I was already thinking about this story. It's got some funny bits (subjectively) but something about it doesn't click. Still working on this one.

I also had a 3-day R from Stupefying Stories. They've had a string of fast responses lately, both for my work and some others posting to the Grinder.

92 day rejection from the Ruminate short story contest.
Apparently I was a semi finalist, though.

Izz said:

Semi-finalist is good!

Keep in mind that most short story writers get more rejections than acceptances, especially when they're starting out. Get that story back out into the world, and keep it out there until it finds a home or there's nowhere left to send it (hint: there'll always be somewhere to send it). And do the same for the next story!

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Thanks for the encouragement

What Izz said, Gnome. He speaks wise.

5-day form rejection from Interzone. It's roughly my dozenth R on this story, which is discouraging as i feel like it's one of my best. Oh well, maybe they'll like it at Crowded.

Got all the way up to 8th place in CC Finlay's F&SF queue but then the rejection hit, and it was a form. A very nicely phrased form, but a form nevertheless.

Personalized rejection from C. C. Finlay's F&SF special issue. He said he really liked it, though, so that's something.

Tough one AC and Alex. Sounds like both were close though!

2 weeks from Phobos. Liked it, but didn't quite fit the theme enough. They always seem like a good mag to deal with.

Izz said:

Interesting blog post from CC Finlay re the F&SF guest issue: http://ccfinlay.com/blog/nectar-for-rejectomancers.html

I'm happy the term 'rejectomancy' is beginning to get more traction. While we didn't invent it, i'd like to think we're helping it to spread

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Thanks for sharing that. I was really glad I read it even though I didn't submit anything to that issue.

Condolences for all the rejections so far this week.

Wow, that's a cool blog post. I got the template 2 rejection. Endings *are* hard. The story I sent in is a longer one, and it's not among my most recent pieces. I worked really hard on it, and I am loathe to revisit stories once they're out there...but I love this story, and I really, really want it to be good. Maybe next time it comes back I'll give it another look.

Izz said:

Interesting blog post from CC Finlay re the F&SF guest issue: http://ccfinlay.com/blog/nectar-for-rejectomancers.html

I'm happy the term 'rejectomancy' is beginning to get more traction. While we didn't invent it, i'd like to think we're helping it to spread

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I got a lot out of that article too, even though I didn't submit to the issue. I hope F&SF can find a way to permanently open electronic submissions. If I had submitted, I would have been one of the super-grateful non-US authors.

I got a 6-day personal from Shimmer today. Lately I've been getting a lot of 'great concept' comments on my stories. (Ie 'great concept, but... ) This freaks me out because it feels like I'm wasting all these great ideas with poor execution

Usually I'm a duck. You know? The one with the water and the back. This time, I won't lie, it stung.

After 2 days at number 3 in the F and SF queue, having stood strong for 30 days, my story was rejected this morning. CCF said he really loved the story and kept thinking about it, his slight reservation was pacing. It hurts, but, to quote the great man, it's all in the game.