Rejectomancy

[LolaVelo]

My 175 day R just came in from Abyss & Abex, but... it was a "very nearly" with an excellent piece of advice from Ms. D, which I'm now going to go and try to incorporate into a revision. She's dead right about the issue, and I'm thrilled she liked it so much even with it. I'm relieved to finally hear from them; it had been driving me batty.

[mhaynes]

*waves* Hi, all. It's been a while.

Four rejections today.

35 days from BCS and Crossed Genres.
1 day from Electric Velocipede and Far Orbit.

Three of the four are back out the door already. The fourth will be in about ten minutes when SH opens for the day.

[gettingby]

66-day form rejection from The Idaho Review.

[Project Deadlight]

OD - The comment alone is a big deal. You're on their radar, sir!

Sad faces for all Rs. I have a hunch that Rs are more common this time of the year. Editors feeling more grumpy, slush piles at their highest... That's what I tell myself anyway.

[squeaky pram]

Condolences on all the recent rejections, especially mhaynes and your 4-in-a-day.

Originally Posted by O'Dandelo

50-day personal rejection from Glimmer Train. I knew it had made it past the initial read, so I admit I had my hopes up. Still, it was a long shot, and my first time submitting to them. So the nice personal note Susan added at the end should be something to be proud of, I suppose.

You should be very proud, OD! I'm mightily impressed (and not a little jealous... ). So far I've received no love from them. Is it a bad sign when your dreams are reduced to getting nice personals?

[J.W. Alden]

I've had forms from Strange Horizons and Cosmos this week. An 8-day and 48-day, respectively. Forward march.

[O'Dandelo]

Thanks, everyone. I'm trying to see the GT rejection as the silver lining it is.

Just got a nice 42-day personal R from L. Thomas at Apex. She'd had it for 40 days and it made it past her first read, but my bugle's still playing "Taps" in the end.

[Eliza C]

Nice to see you back, Michael. Sorry it was to report a tough rejection day.
Condolences to the folks with other R's lately. I'm currently in a bit of a lull but should be joining you soon.

[MichaelP]

2 day R from Clarkesworld... back out the door...

[renard79]

Commiserations on all the recent Rs!

2 day personal from Thrush Poetry Journal; they liked my voice, warmly asked for more work in two months and gave positive commentary on the same poem Beloit Poetry Journal liked. Back out the door!

[renard79]

OD and Lola - congrats on the comments, a big deal in both cases. Try again!

[squeaky pram]

88-day form R today from Five Points. Let the rejectalanche begin!

[Aggy B.]

7 day R from Waylines. Said: We thought the prose was strong, but we felt that the balance of story and conflict perhaps needs adjusting.

I feel I'm running out of markets for this one.

[Marzioli]

High tier from 3LBE.

[Aggy B.]

Two more Rs. One from Nightfall Magazine, one from Goldfish Grimm's Spicy Fiction Sushi.

[soapdish]

Originally Posted by squeaky pram

88-day form R today from Five Points. Let the rejectalanche begin!

Aww... (But I can't help but smile at the word rejectalanche! I hope it's *not* applicable here, though.)

Originally Posted by Aggy B.

7 day R from Waylines. Said: We thought the prose was strong, but we felt that the balance of story and conflict perhaps needs adjusting.

I feel I'm running out of markets for this one.

Argh! I hate that. Good feedback, though. Are you going to take it and tweak the story? Or are you going to let it go back out as is? I always wonder about this... Sometimes I get similar feedback and have to think really hard if I agree, or if it just wasn't right for *that* market.

[Marzioli]

Originally Posted by soapdish

Argh! I hate that. Good feedback, though. Are you going to take it and tweak the story?

I know this wasn't addressed to me, but I wanted to answer it anyway. I'm wondering if Way|ines just doesn't have some special preference for how conflict is treated. In three of the four subs I sent them, all of them said the conflict wasn't strong or consistent enough, despite liking other aspects. This despite the fact that other markets previously said almost the opposite, but focused on pointing out a "flaw" that Way|ines admired. You can't always be too sure what's preference and what's a legitimate concern.

[soapdish]

Originally Posted by Marzioli

I know this wasn't addressed to me, but I wanted to answer it anyway. I'm wondering if Way|ines just doesn't have some special preference for how conflict is treated. In three of the four subs I sent them, all of them said the conflict wasn't strong or consistent enough, despite liking other aspects. This despite the fact that other markets previously said almost the opposite, but focused on pointing out a "flaw" that Way|ines admired. You can't always be too sure what's preference and what's a legitimate concern.

No, that's perfect, Marzioli. I wasn't just addressing Aggy, or this particular pub either actually. To be clear, *I* hadn't gotten this feedback from them. I've never submitted there. I was really just wondering in general how many people had been in similar situations and how they handled it. Do they tweak a story based on the personal rejection feedback, or not? What goes into their decision to do it or not?

Hearing this from you, and from Aggy, has certainly made me more aware of THIS market's tastes, though. If I do sub to them (and I have one almost ready to go there actually) and I get rejected, I will feel a little better equipped with how to handle any editor's suggestions.

[renard79]

1 day personal from Chrome Baby. Said they appreciated my "strong talent" even though they weren't in love with this piece; as asked, I'll try again.

[fihr]

Originally Posted by soapdish

Do they tweak a story based on the personal rejection feedback, or not? What goes into their decision to do it or not?

I consider each bit of feedback, then tend to tweak if I ultimately agree with the editors comments. Sometimes they strike a chord straight away. For example, recently I received feedback about a problem I'd known about previously and thought I'd fixed. The feedback showed me I still had work to do. On the other hand, I've also received feedback which made me feel the slush reader had either skimmed the story or had a very odd way of looking at things that I didn't agree with. I didn't touch the story.

Also, if the editor's feedback is based upon what is a good fit for their publication, I'll bear that in mind for future stories I send them, but may not change my story as it could still be a good fit for a different market.

[V1c]

My Way(ward) recent reject said they found the protagonist arc compelling. But they said there were too many spelling errors, which got me. Haven't really had that one in recent memory. An editor friend went over it and saw some moments of my dyslexia that shone through, but that was more word order than outright spelling/typoes. Still, I got a new look at it. And once I fix those spots, out it will go.

[Eliza C]

I tend to review my stories more often than not when they come back from a market and usually make at least small changes based on my own inner editor. I almost always see something that can use polishing if it's been out for awhile and I'm looking at it fresh. As to changes based on editorial feedback - what Fihr said - sometimes/sometimes not.

[soapdish]

renard--that's a pretty positive note for them to make! Best of luck with the next story you shoot them.

Vc--good luck on the next round with that short now that it's had another round of polishing. On the plus side, at least they TOLD you why it didn't work for them. Sure helpful to a writer to know what they need to fix. How else are we supposed to improve, right?

Originally Posted by fihr

I consider each bit of feedback, then tend to tweak if I ultimately agree with the editors comments. Sometimes they strike a chord straight away. For example, recently I received feedback about a problem I'd known about previously and thought I'd fixed. The feedback showed me I still had work to do. On the other hand, I've also received feedback which made me feel the slush reader had either skimmed the story or had a very odd way of looking at things that I didn't agree with. I didn't touch the story.

Also, if the editor's feedback is based upon what is a good fit for their publication, I'll bear that in mind for future stories I send them, but may not change my story as it could still be a good fit for a different market.

That sounds like a sensible approach.

Originally Posted by Eliza C

I tend to review my stories more often than not when they come back from a market and usually make at least small changes based on my own inner editor. I almost always see something that can use polishing if it's been out for awhile and I'm looking at it fresh.

Oh man. I have a hard time with this, because sometimes I end up ripping it to shreds and redoing it. Or worse, *starting* to redo it but not ever finishing. Slippery slope for me. Although... I find that as I get more experienced, I do this less and less. Maybe one day I won't do it at all.

[Marzioli]

Got a 10-day from Read Short Fiction, 33-day from OSCIMS, and an 11-day from Apex.

[Aggy B.]

Originally Posted by soapdish

Argh! I hate that. Good feedback, though. Are you going to take it and tweak the story? Or are you going to let it go back out as is? I always wonder about this... Sometimes I get similar feedback and have to think really hard if I agree, or if it just wasn't right for *that* market.

It depends on the story and the market. In this case, I don't really have any ideas about how to "fix" the balance of conflict and story so I'll probably just leave it. (In other words, I don't really see the problem they do, so I can't "fix" it.)

On occasion a rejection points me toward good revisions. I still have work to do on my Sword & Sorceress attempt from last year based on the accurate feedback that the ending was kind of anti-climatic. I haven't revised yet because the solution is to turn a novelette into a novella. (I'd had that suspicion from the beginning, but there was an upper word limit so I cut a few things I probably shouldn't have.)

So... yeah. It just depends.