Tuesday 26 February 2013

Rejection, the pain, the pain!


One of my stories got rejected about a week ago, it's taken me this long to have the strength to write about it. (Sob) It was so very quick. It submitted my story to a magazine, I won't name it, and expected it to be many weeks, or even months, before I'd know, but it was all over in less than two weeks.

The publication has a three level vetting process. In just six days my story passed the first stage, some wonderful person had read my story and said, 'yes', it was good enough for stage two. I was informed that stage two would take about 2-3 weeks for my story to work through stage two, a three reader assessment. Not to be, it only took seven days for a sorry, email to come. Rejection, the pain, the pain!

But wait! There had been a promise of feedback. I had even heard from others that the feedback was detailed and constructive. I opened the email with anticipation and found this:

"With a bit more showing and a lot less telling, and a bit of tightening here and there, this could be a nice read."

Not what I had expected.

Now, to be fair, any feedback, sincerely given, is good feedback, and the readers in this vetting process are volunteers. So, I'm grateful that they took the time to read my story, and for any feedback they have the time to give. However, what do I make of this? For the whole thing there are positives and negatives.

Negatives:

  • Rejection, the pain, the pain!
  • A kick in the ego.
  • Much less feedback than I would have hoped for. 
Positives:
  • At least one person read and like the story, I got past round one.
  • A kick in the ego.
  • A very quick turn around.
  • Some feedback I can work with.
  • There is hope for this story.
I am sure that this whole experience has helped me in my writing journey. The feedback was only one line, but it was one line I didn't have before. I believe I know where I need to show (and not tell) more and this knowledge will help to make the story stronger. As for the tightening, I have no idea, but I'll try and work it out. 

I know this will make me a better writer.

2 comments:

  1. Bad luck Rick, but if it's the magazine I'm thinking of you've had a great result getting to the second round (I've submitted one or two stories there and never got past the first!).

    You'll get 'em next time,

    -m

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    1. Thanks Mark, I'm sure you are right about the magazine.

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