Change in the Game

By Jessica_312 · May 24, 2011 · 486 · 9
  1. I sent out a round of queries, and this weekend received my (first ever) rejection. It was from my "dream agent" (sniffle), but at least I was offered a tiny glimmer of hope - a personalized rejection (exact words: "While I was intrigued by your premise, I felt the writing lacked the line-by-line tension necessary to keep me glued to every page." aka, Your idea is good, but your writing sucks - better luck next time!) It's my first ever rejection because it's the first ever query I'd sent, and I've been told that a personalized rejection is a good sign. I am keeping my fingers crossed that this bodes well for the future.

    Having been rejected, I guess I've officially joined ranks with all other authors who sought first time publication and heard the word "NO" over and over. I've earned my merit badge, and I suppose I'll be earning many more.

    My novel still isn't perfect. It's finished, and in fact, it is the FIRST full length novel I have ever finished in my life (patting myself on the back for finally finishing what I started - you lost, laziness and procrastination, you lost).

    But the more I look at my story, the more I read it over, the more I obsess and revise, revise, revise like a mad scientist. Originally, my story was an adult novel. Now, I feel my story works much better as a YA novel, and I am in the process of updating. (Of course, if by some miracle an agent replied back with a "YES" regarding my original version, I'd revert back - but I highly doubt the plausibility of that scenario).

    Along the journey to completing my novel and seeking first time publication, I've discovered a few realities about being a writer:

    1) You have to develop a thick skin.
    2) On the flip side, you have to also be receptive to criticism.
    3) Some days you will feel like your writing rivals the greats (Shakespeare has nothing on me!), other days you'll feel like a fifth grader with a sharpie could write more convincingly
    4) To continue that line of thought, some days you'll absolutely love your story, and other days you'll want to start a bonfire with it.
    4) Writer's block is a bitch.
    5) Love-hate relationship - some days you love writing, and other days you loathe it and have to drag yourself kicking and screaming to the keyboard.

    Yesterday, I loved writing. Today, I hate it. Tomorrow, I'll love it again.

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  1. Trish
    Yep... that about sums it up. Except I'm totally jealous of the 5th grader that writes better than you. Yours is way more sophisticated with his sharpie... my 5th grader writes with crayon and still eats glue to gross out the girls. He's a little awkward and weird.......
    Trish, May 24, 2011
  2. Jessica_312
    @ Trish LMAO! Thanks for visiting my blog, by the way. Mucho appreciated - and good to see you feel my pain :D
    Jessica_312, May 25, 2011
  3. teacherayala
    Totally true. I have the same love-hate relationship with my writing. And I also have a novel, not revised at all and most likely will need substantial rewriting. But even though it's most likely a piece of crap, I'm still happy that I did it.
    teacherayala, May 25, 2011
  4. Jessica_312
    @teacherayala Yep I'm in the same boat - some days I'll look at my writing and think, "Damn I'm good," And then I'll read the same passage a week or two later and think, "What the hell is that?!" Such is the crux LOL. But regardless it's definitely a great sense of accomplishment just to finish, something to be proud of :D Thanks for stopping by / commenting! :D
    Jessica_312, May 25, 2011
  5. Leonardo Pisano
    Jessica, I think all these agents and publishers have a database of nice-sounding sentences, polished over the years, that they send out because they have no time. Don't forget the market is shrinking, meaning even more pressure on us, poor beginning authors....

    Silly question probably, but to be clear: Did you have it read by critical reviewers? I intend to pick three different ones:
    1. Someone typical for your target audience
    2. Someone who is an author him/herself or editor - who is accurate on grammar and style and knows the trade
    3. Someone with a feel for the marketability

    I bet there are people around here for #2, and it would depend on your story's genre to pick the right one.
    Leonardo Pisano, May 25, 2011
  6. Jessica_312
    @Leonardo I've actually debated whether or not I should send it out to a professional editor, but that costs quite a bit of money. I have had several people read it, but being close family they may not be the best editors. Option 2 sounds like something I may have to do....
    Jessica_312, May 25, 2011
  7. Trish
    I would strongly suggest you not do the pro editor thing. It may be only my opinion, but learning to edit your own work to an acceptable standard is part of being a good writer. It takes time. You'll get better, if that's the issue. Family is not the greatest editor's, no, but you can find an intelligent beta reader to help point things out, and (if you don't want to post your actual novel) give yourself short writing exercises that are not important to you and post those then apply the tips you get to your novel...
    Trish, May 25, 2011
  8. Wrathnar the Unreasonable
    I had the same experience: sent my novel to the agent who seemed best for me, got rejected. He said he liked the novel, and that it was 'intelligent and well-written' but that he didn't feel confident that he could sell it. He then went on to give me about a 1000 words of advice about the publishing industry - the most educational e-mail I've ever received. It was about as encouraging a rejection as you could hope to receive. I also got some advice from published authors which I'll summarize for you here:

    1) Don't attempt a rewrite straight away, work on something else first.

    2) You shouldn't expect to get your first novel published first time - for most writers, their first novel is a learning exercise - you should take what you've learned from writing it and apply that to your second novel, and try to get that published.

    I belive that's good advice, and am now working on another novel, having taken on board the advice from the agent as well. Which was:

    1) Your debut novel has to be based on a fairly simple idea. "The average publisher has an attention span of about thirty seconds. If I can't sum up the novel's selling points in that time, I'll have lost him."

    2) Don't go for a slow build-up. A debut novel has to start with the action straight away.

    3) Be aware of your potential market. You need to be able to say (for instance) "People who read JK Rowling will buy this book."

    4) Make your debut novel easy to categorise. Genre-challenging fiction is fine for an established author, but a new author needs to be able to say which shelf the book will fit on in the book store.

    I hope you find this stuff helpful!
    Wrathnar the Unreasonable, Jul 9, 2011
  9. Jayyy1014
    :) Every writer gets rejected at least once (More than likely alot more than once though) but the thing is you gotta stick to it, keep writing, and accept criticism and keep revising/editing. :) Practice makes perfect.
    Jayyy1014, Jul 29, 2011
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