Rejectomancy

Marzioli · Mar 28, 2012

77-day form R from Lore. According to Rejection Wiki, it was a standard form. I was particularly irritated by, "While I enjoyed aspects of this tale..." Why editors include false praise in low tier forms is beyond me. There's no possible way they could enjoy aspects of every rejected story.

Besides Borderlands 6, Dark Faith 2, and Nameless, I'm in the teens or less on everything. Strange feeling for everything to be so young.

mhaynes · Mar 28, 2012

GreenRoom said:
The metronomic 30-32 day responses are for their regular slushpile.
[...]
One of the assistant editors talks about the slush a bit on this thread (if you scroll down a ways):
http://forum.writersofthefuture.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=618

Thanks for sharing!

defcon6000 · Mar 28, 2012

*hugs* for all the R's. :Hug2:

goldmund said:
edit:
BTW., anyone waiting on Dark Faith, too?

Here, here. I'm at 57 days. I'm tempted to sim-sub the story.

Marzioli said:
77-day form R from Lore. According to Rejection Wiki, it was a standard form. I was particularly irritated by, "While I enjoyed aspects of this tale..." Why editors include false praise in low tier forms is beyond me. There's no possible way they could enjoy aspects of every rejected story.

That annoyed me too when I first submitted there. I get that they're trying to be positive, but it comes off kind of insulting--yeah right you liked aspects of my story!

btw, I have a sub with them at 57 days also. Huh, guess I sent that sub out along with the Dark Faith one.

ETA: I'm a little sad that there's a 9-day rewrite request listed for FFO, and I have a sub waiting with them at 38 days.

Sai · Mar 28, 2012

Just crickets here. I need to get more stuff in circulation :/.

alexshvartsman · Mar 28, 2012

GreenRoom said:
They have a second slushpile for bootcampers, and they also pull people previously published in their magazine (and likely - given Alex's data point - people who have other sfwa publications) out from the regular slushpile.

That's basically correct. There are a couple of criteria that might get you a faster response than the regular slushpile. However, being a bootcamper and such things won't get you any closer to getting *published* - unless the story's awesome

alexshvartsman · Mar 28, 2012

77-day form R from Buzzy Magazine for my favorite story ever! I sent it to them first because it's set in the same world and features the same protagonist as the story I sold to them last year.

So where should I send a very light, action-packed 6300 word urban fantasy? Don't think it's F&SF's or Clarkesworld's cup of tea at all. Strange Horizons maybe? Any ideas?

defcon6000 · Mar 28, 2012

You could try SH, but I believe they prefer 5,000 words or less. *goes to check duo* Oh hey, Weird Tales has opened their doors! I bet they get slammed.

ETA: Weird Tales is having themed issues (Lovecraft and fairy tales), so probably not them. Lightspeed or DSF, maybe?

Marzioli · Mar 28, 2012

defcon6000 said:
ETA: Weird Tales is having themed issues (Lovecraft and fairy tales), so probably not them. Lightspeed or DSF, maybe?

They did say they keep half their mag open for flash fiction and non-themed stories, although it's expected to be weird. They also accept simultaneous subs.

As for me, thanks for mentioning this market! They accept bizarro and I happened to have a bizarro piece with no home.

holy_shiitake · Mar 28, 2012

5-day R from scissors and spackle -- personalized rejection, I think; the editor said "We're going to have to pass on your story, despite its obvious merit", which made me a bit happy because at least she thinks the story isn't drivel. Oh well. The story's still waiting on a reply from Anatomy so it might find a home there.

zanzjan · Mar 28, 2012

Anyone else having problems getting duotrope to load?

defcon6000 · Mar 28, 2012

Marzioli said:
They did say they keep half their mag open for flash fiction and non-themed stories, although it's expected to be weird. They also accept simultaneous subs.

As for me, thanks for mentioning this market! They accept bizarro and I happened to have a bizarro piece with no home.

No problem.

I just mentioned that about the issues because Alex was looking for a place for his story, so I had to scratch my recommendation for WT.

If you don't mind subbing to a semi-pro market, Alex, there's this--Into the Darkness anthology. They say UF is their favorite genre.

zanzjan said:
Anyone else having problems getting duotrope to load?

Hmm, nope. Could be something up with your router.

WordCount · Mar 28, 2012

alexshvartsman said:
Rejectolanche!!!

Got a low-level form from Lightspeed in the morning, followed by a form R from Shimmer (who rarely send out forms). The cherry on top was a personal R from the senior editor at IGMS, who informed me that my story "honestly didn't make sense to me" (direct quote).

Now this is the same story that made it past the slush at a few good markets (like Apex) so I know it's more a function of personal preference than the story being terrible, but still -- ouch.

Time to send those poor stories back out again.

Ouch. That'd cut me deep.

Makes me appreciate my "Nice beginning, fell flat on its face ending."

We're here for you. Would you like some ice cream? (I have chocolate, if you like, and I may be able to find some cookie dough ice cream at the bottom of the freezer .)

zanzjan · Mar 28, 2012

defcon6000 said:
Could be something up with your router.

Well, whatever it was, it seems to be working now. Weird.

Not that looking at duotrope does me any good, except to see how just badly in limbo I am with everything. If only I could distill some essence of longevity from my crickets for people, we could live well into our thousands.

Marzioli · Mar 28, 2012

Zan, I had the same problem. Tried loading four or five different pages and none of them worked. Seems to have corrected itself, though.

alexshvartsman · Mar 28, 2012

defcon6000 said:
No problem. I just mentioned that about the issues because Alex was looking for a place for his story, so I had to scratch my recommendation for WT.

If you don't mind subbing to a semi-pro market, Alex, there's this--Into the Darkness anthology. They say UF is their favorite genre.

Hmm, nope. Could be something up with your router.

Thanks for the suggestions! I might as well try Lightspeed. At worst it will cost me 4 days

The anthology guys are looking for dark and grim horror.... my story is on the completely opposite end of the spectrum

It's very light and almost humorous action story. Which may make it a tougher sell. Ah well, I wuv it anyway

Sai · Mar 29, 2012

Rejection from DSF. That's what I get for complaining about crickets

.

O'Dandelo · Mar 29, 2012

Drinks all around for the rejectioneers and cricketeers. My own crickets are reaching giant mutated B-movie status.

Marzioli · Mar 29, 2012

Got a 10-day rejection from Penumbra. They disagreed over the relevance of my semi-bizarro fantasy with their Dream theme. Does anyone know what their standard rejection is? I was wondering if the, "I would enjoy seeing more of your work" was form, or if she legitimately liked my writing.

Also got an R from Drabblecast. I find their energetic send-off amusing. "We're sorry, your story wasn't good enough... Cheers!" (Yes, the exclamation was in the original).

Pemako · Mar 29, 2012

Marzioli said:
Also got an R from Drabblecast. I find their energetic send-off amusing. "We're sorry, your story wasn't good enough... Cheers!" (Yes, the exclamation was in the original).

Seriously? Wow, what a great R. Now I want to submit to Drabblecast just so I can get one of their Rs. (But sorry for the R, though I think I would print that one out and hang it on my wall. Hilarious.)

Marzioli · Mar 29, 2012

Pemako said:
Seriously? Wow, what a great R. Now I want to submit to Drabblecast just so I can get one of their Rs. (But sorry for the R, though I think I would print that one out and hang it on my wall. Hilarious.)

Heh, well, no, the first part was paraphrased. I only meant to imply the excited "Cheers!" was real. To me, it's like when an officer tells you to enthusiastically "have a nice day" after he gives you a ticket.

goldmund · Mar 29, 2012

First "we like your writing and would welcome the chance to see more from you" rejection from Subtropics, then two standard form ones.

It feels as if I've disappointed the kind people. :-(

defcon6000 · Mar 29, 2012

Received a 39-day personal R from FFO. All their comments point to expanding the story, and I think I'll take them up on it; just too much worldbuilding that went unexplained.

WordCount · Mar 29, 2012

Sorry about all the Rs, everyone.

It's all crickets over here.

kd1984 · Mar 30, 2012

Sorry about those Rs, folks, but I'm happy to be here in this lil' community. :hi:

Crickets for me. 2 out right now and working on edits to one and finishing another that need to get out ASAP.

mhaynes · Mar 30, 2012

kd1984 said:
Sorry about those Rs, folks, but I'm happy to be here in this lil' community.

Crickets for me. 2 out right now and working on edits to one and finishing another that need to get out ASAP.

Good luck with those edits and nice to have you here!

Rejectomancy

Could be worse!

practical experience, FTW

Book lover/Spy

Could be worse!

KB1VWJ

killin' all teh werds

You don't have coffee? Go away.

killin' all teh werds

Could be worse!

Book lover/Spy

Could be worse!

Could be worse!

---

You don't have coffee? Go away.

practical experience, FTW