Feeling pretty worn down

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PrincessOfCats

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Welcome to my pity party, please help yourself to the angst. There's plenty for everyone.

So I've had two partials requested so far this month, and they've now both been rejected. I don't even know what that brings the tally of my rejections to. Four fulls and... six partials? Seven? There are a couple still out there, but I'm losing hope. If so many people have seen my work and said no, why would anyone say yes?

The most detailed rejection I got from any of these was someone who didn't like the fantasy elements of my YA fantasy (too many different races, and she thought the magic was too magic-y). Someone else said that I have great sensory detail but they didn't connect with the main character. Everyone else? Variants on 'No, not for me, liked it but not enough'.

I think I could handle it if I was getting clear reasons WHY, things I could go back and fix to make the novel stronger. But this... this is making me feel like my writing is so fundamentally flawed or wrong or bad or unmarketable or SOMETHING that it can't be fixed. That it's broken on the conceptual level.

I'm going to see this thing through because I'd regret it for the rest of my life if I gave up, but it feels awfully futile.
 

freelancemomma

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I bleed with every rejection, so I understand what you're going through. I think we often try to chase the why, but the why may be no more than a supply-and-demand issue or a numbers game. The fact that you're getting requests for partials and fulls means you're doing something right. Keep at it. You can also try submitting to smaller presses later (or simultaneously).

F.
 

Fuchsia Groan

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How many queries have you sent? If you have a good request rate (15-20%, say) and aren't seeing a clear pattern in the rejections, I would continue. It only takes one.

Or if you are seeing patterns, use that feedback to revise. We've got a thread on the "I didn't connect with the MC" issue over in the YA forum. It's a pretty common, near-generic reason for rejection, but if you hear it frequently, there may be ways to address the issue.

If so many people have seen my work and said no, why would anyone say yes?

Trust me, it can happen. Sometimes when you least expect it. I'd love to be one of those people whose books had a slew of agent offers as soon as they started querying, but that is not the norm.
 

LeoniedeWesseldorf

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Stay strong

At least you are getting requests! That sounds like a good sign. I have my first batch of 10 letters out, and I finally got one full but the rest --- crickets. It's only been a couple of weeks, but I want something to happen. Now I wince when I look at the first handful of queries I wrote...I had no idea what I was doing. Wish I could just scrape those undercooked pancakes up and redo. Remember that they're not rejection slips, they're 'tickets to the game,' or whatever that quote is. Remember why you love to write, and remember that you're not alone:)
 

Aerial

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Welcome to my pity party, please help yourself to the angst. There's plenty for everyone.

So I've had two partials requested so far this month, and they've now both been rejected. I don't even know what that brings the tally of my rejections to. Four fulls and... six partials? Seven? There are a couple still out there, but I'm losing hope. If so many people have seen my work and said no, why would anyone say yes?

The most detailed rejection I got from any of these was someone who didn't like the fantasy elements of my YA fantasy (too many different races, and she thought the magic was too magic-y). Someone else said that I have great sensory detail but they didn't connect with the main character. Everyone else? Variants on 'No, not for me, liked it but not enough'.

I think I could handle it if I was getting clear reasons WHY, things I could go back and fix to make the novel stronger. But this... this is making me feel like my writing is so fundamentally flawed or wrong or bad or unmarketable or SOMETHING that it can't be fixed. That it's broken on the conceptual level.

I'm going to see this thing through because I'd regret it for the rest of my life if I gave up, but it feels awfully futile.

I'm sorry it's so discouraging :-( The truth is that you're almost there. Agents are requesting partials and fulls, and all the rejections mean is that it's probably the next book that will sell rather than this one.

Even if you don't know what, specifically, to focus on, just writing the next book will make you a better writer. A much better writer, probably, because that's just how it works.

I know. Probably not what you wanted to hear, but I hope you're at least a little encouraged. You really are almost there :)

Aerial
 

PrincessOfCats

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How many queries have you sent? If you have a good request rate (15-20%, say) and aren't seeing a clear pattern in the rejections, I would continue. It only takes one.

Haha. I'm pretty sure I'm nowhere near 15-20%, but I'm also not above to submitting to very, very long shots.

The only pattern I've been getting in rejections has been super-generic reasons or no reasons at all. Lots of vague 'I didn't fall in love with it' and 'it wasn't for me' stuff. The first person who rejected one of my fulls said that the whole agency talked it over and decided that they didn't want to go with the novel. No reason why, just that they didn't. I thought about writing back, but I decided that if she had wanted to tell me, she would have, and I didn't want to burn any bridges by coming off as demanding.

If I had something concrete that was wrong with the book, I could at least try to fix it. I hate how powerless I feel -- there's literally nothing I can do except write another novel. Writing is not easy for me. I don't know why I do it, because it takes so much out of me, mentally and emotionally. 'Write another novel and hope that one succeeds where the last two failed' is a hard pill to swallow.

I mean... I will, eventually, whether I want to or not. I keep telling myself this isn't healthy and I should give it up (you have no idea how many times I've "given up" writing), but then one night it's midnight and I'm tapping away at the keyboard again and the whole mad process starts over again.

... I'm probably coming off as a bit of a mess. Sorry about that. I'm probably pretty firmly in 'crazy writer' territory.
 

grayworld

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Only in the single digits, rejection-wise? Consider me jealous :)

The writing game's a long, slow, slough. I have a sneaking suspicion you'll be fine if you keep on writing.
 
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Putputt

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Do you have beta readers? They could be very helpful. Mine are really great at pointing out things that I would never have caught on my own.
 

William Haskins

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best wishes and hang in there. every yourself every once in a while that it is the writing that it is the real accomplishment, that the publishing is the business, and you have far more control over the former than over the latter.
 

Jamesaritchie

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Having that many fulls and partials rejected means there probably is trouble with the writing, the story, or the characters. You should keep submitting until someone takes it on, or tells you how to fix it, or until you run out of agents, but you really need to find a way to sever your emotional attachment to this novel.

It's just one novel. I understand why writers put so much of themselves into one novel, but it's dangerous to do so. This sounds like your first novel, but whether it is or not, you just can't expect selling a novel to happen with the first. Or even the second or the third.

If all you focus isn't on writing another novel, you may never sell anything. When you finish a novel, you need to forget it. Keep it in submission, but detach yourself from it completely. It no longer matters, and there's nothing at all you can do to alter its fate. It's completely out of your control.

Concentrate completely on what you can control, which is how fast you get a new novel into submission.
 

Phaeal

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Since agents don't get paid for writing detailed critiques on material they don't mean to rep, we can't expect more than generic rejections. Hey, after a few dozen no-response responses, I started looking forward to the form Rs. ;)

It sounds like you have a strong concept which is coming across in your query package -- you're getting a healthy number of bites far as I can tell without knowing the total number of queries sent. The rejection comments you've gotten mean little -- that "didn't connect with character" is practically form letter language and is a highly subjective judgment to boot. The "magic-y magic" thing, also highly subjective as stands.

In the end, we have to learn to judge our work ourselves. Betas can help, but there's no substitute for writing and reading and thinking and analyzing and writing and reading some more.

Here's a secret: You don't have to be confident. You just have to look and sound and write a query letter like you are, which includes sending that sucker out until you run out of places to send it, at which time you lie in wait for new places to send it to. If you can see ways to improve the MS along the way, great! Do it!

281 agent rejections here before agent. Stubbornness can be a virtue. :D
 

Dennis E. Taylor

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I think I could handle it if I was getting clear reasons WHY, things I could go back and fix to make the novel stronger. But this... this is making me feel like my writing is so fundamentally flawed or wrong or bad or unmarketable or SOMETHING that it can't be fixed. That it's broken on the conceptual level.

I hope I'm not going to be burned at the stake by the locals for saying this, but take your first couple of chapters to Critique Circle. With all due respect to AW, the critiquing mechanism at CC helps to avoid the piling-on kind of critique that can leave you more confused.

I got a not-quite-form rejection that said something like "Great concept but I didn't love the writing enough", which is pretty clear IMO. Since I've gotten very positive feedback from my alphas and betas so far, I surmised that I've got some "trigger" characteristics that agents look for to save time (like too many adverbs).

Went to CC, and got some very good comments that caused me to re-write my opening chapters. I've now put my querying on hold and I'm going through the MS yet again, looking for more of the same.
 

Jamesaritchie

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.

I got a not-quite-form rejection that said something like "Great concept but I didn't love the writing enough", which is pretty clear IMO. Since I've gotten very positive feedback from my alphas and betas so far, I surmised that I've got some "trigger" characteristics that agents look for to save time (like too many adverbs).

.

I've seen that phrase in more rejections than I can count. It's almost always a form rejection, but it is often a "pick your form to match the manuscript". It means, The idea is good, but the execution just isn't up to par, so I think you took it right.
 

Jamesaritchie

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Since agents don't get paid for writing detailed critiques on material they don't mean to rep, we can't expect more than generic rejections. Hey, after a few dozen no-response responses, I started looking forward to the form Rs. ;)

It sounds like you have a strong concept which is coming across in your query package -- you're getting a healthy number of bites far as I can tell without knowing the total number of queries sent. The rejection comments you've gotten mean little -- that "didn't connect with character" is practically form letter language and is a highly subjective judgment to boot. The "magic-y magic" thing, also highly subjective as stands.

In the end, we have to learn to judge our work ourselves. Betas can help, but there's no substitute for writing and reading and thinking and analyzing and writing and reading some more.

Here's a secret: You don't have to be confident. You just have to look and sound and write a query letter like you are, which includes sending that sucker out until you run out of places to send it, at which time you lie in wait for new places to send it to. If you can see ways to improve the MS along the way, great! Do it!

281 agent rejections here before agent. Stubbornness can be a virtue. :D

Well, agents do get paid for finding good writers, and most I've known do give pretty detailed critiques, if they see promise in the writer, but not in the particular manuscript. The same is true of editors.

I think trying to judge our own writing is usually unworkable, and betas are even worse at it. Every horrible, nearly illiterate manuscript in a slush pile has gone through numerous beta reads, if you believe cover letters.

I think that when you get close enough to professional level, agents and editors do give great feedback because their jobs depend on finding new, promising writers. Until you reach this point, no feedback is very real feedback.
 

Fuchsia Groan

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I got great feedback from my CP. I don't think my agent would have picked up my ms. without the revisions spurred by that critique.

But you have to find the right person: someone who knows the expectations for your genre/category, has writing chops (although readers who aren't writers can sometimes be very perceptive), and will be honest. A brutal critique from someone who doesn't like or read your genre can be worse than unhelpful. All-rosy critiques aren't useful either. I suggest checking out a possible beta's own writing and experience via posts and SYW.

In more than 100 queries for three books, I've only ever received one detailed critique from a rejecting agent, though it was certainly a helpful one.
 

RaggedEdge

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In more than 100 queries for three books, I've only ever received one detailed critique from a rejecting agent, though it was certainly a helpful one.

Wow, good to know, Fuchsia. There ought to be an ongoing thread for just that statistic. I don't know, maybe there is?
 

Filigree

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First queried novel: 1 silver honorable mention from Writers of the Future. One third place win from Random House writing contest. 75 rejections from agents. No sale, book trunked for now.

Second queried novel: 5 rejections from agents, 5 rejections from publishers, 2 offers, 1 sale.

Third queried novel: went from 6.5K short story to 53K novel based on feedback from three rejecting editors, three beta readers, and my agent. I've learned so much from every critique, I'm grateful for each one.

This is a long process. Have faith in your skills and story, and keep trying.
 
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