I submitted my work to an online magazine about a week and a half ago; since then the editor has written back to me several times, but she only mentioned my work once. Is this normal, for an editor to be this friendly? Should I assume my work piqued her interest, or should I assume she's just being friendly and take it as no more than that? thanks for any ideas,
She asked how I'd heard of her mag, and told me of other places I could socially network with them. I just keep bouncing the ball back.
I would assume for now , unless she's said something concrete about your writing ( like I love it - or we're publishing it ) that she's being friendly. Not that this is a bad thing. They might still be deciding on the work you submitted. I'd give it some time , but maybe keep in touch without seeming too anxious.
Editors are also people... Who knows, maybe something about the work struck a particular chord with her? Unless the communications become a bit strange or start to get personal, I would chalk them up to a curious editor who is very friendly and enthusiastic. It's also worth noting that some genres seem to attract certain types of people. She may be one of those that has little contact with anyone outside of an e-environment and might be a bit desperate for conversation.
Thanks for the replies. I figure it's a case of someone acting like a human being, rather than putting me through the 'form letter' hell that is so prevalent. Funny/sad that I question friendliness but would take a brusque/cold attitude/no-response as a matter of course. I sound like an overeager teenager though!
You know, there's a story in that, somewhere. Why not write it? Write about someone who finds suspicion in what we commonly assume as natural social human behavior, but is so absent in common everyday interactions. Sure, it has been done before. But, if you tune it to the genre the editor is working with and make a short out of it, she might find it worthy. After all, it appears that she can identify with it. What about a story involving someone with mild Aspbergers who has trouble interpreting social ques? Maybe an android that has no idea how to relate to "friendliness" and "good social manners", but later evolves enough to say "Thank you" and truly mean it? There's a story everywhere that something happens. Thankfully, stuff happens all the time so it's pretty hard to miss. Your own experience here could be good fuel for short-story. Don't let it go to waste!
That's a great idea, I do that more and more myself: glean story ideas from real-life, but I missed the boat this time. Writers are so smart!
And it never hurts a writer to shamelessly take advantage of any edge they can when it comes down to sucking up to an editor.
Morkonan has it. Lips should default to 'auto-pucker' when within a certain radius of an editor. Or even when thinking about one. The editor in this particular case may indeed merely be being friendly. But from what Madeleine says regarding the content of the emails, and with my sceptic android hat firmly planted on, it sounds more like the editor's trying to boost the numbers on the magazine's social network and in asking how you found out about the mag, which one worked. Sounds more like market research than anything, but I hope they go with your work, regardless.
