Rejectomancy

Darkwing · Aug 7, 2012

Been a while since I popped in last, partly because my crickets have been happily chirping away, and partly because I haven't really been writing for the past two weeks . . . meh, it's Irish festival season, I was busy! Writing is hard when there are drunken parties to go to.

Anyway, just got a personal R from Fantasy and Science Fiction! I'm really excited about this one. I've gotten Rs in the past that I thought sounded vaguely personal, but decided to list them as form on Duotrope because they weren't very specific and just sounded like niceties. This one actually says that he thought there was "nice writing here" and that he liked the story's setting, but that "there isn't enough meat in this story to back it up."

Considering it's a story I wrote for a short story class in which the whole point was to experiment with writing stories in different styles of narrative time, I feel really good about this R. It's kinda restored my hope, and now I can send it out to the next mag without feeling like all my work must be terrible crap.

O'Dandelo · Aug 7, 2012

Darkwing said:
Been a while since I popped in last, partly because my crickets have been happily chirping away, and partly because I haven't really been writing for the past two weeks . . . meh, it's Irish festival season, I was busy! Writing is hard when there are drunken parties to go to.

Anyway, just got a personal R from Fantasy and Science Fiction! I'm really excited about this one. I've gotten Rs in the past that I thought sounded vaguely personal, but decided to list them as form on Duotrope because they weren't very specific and just sounded like niceties. This one actually says that he thought there was "nice writing here" and that he liked the story's setting, but that "there isn't enough meat in this story to back it up."

Considering it's a story I wrote for a short story class in which the whole point was to experiment with writing stories in different styles of narrative time, I feel really good about this R. It's kinda restored my hope, and now I can send it out to the next mag without feeling like all my work must be terrible crap.

Wow, congrats! You should copy and paste this into the Braggage thread!

Marzioli · Aug 7, 2012

Darkwing said:
Anyway, just got a personal R from Fantasy and Science Fiction!

Nice work! Who's it from?

Niccolo · Aug 7, 2012

Got my R from Lightspeed, as expected. Well now it's off to Plasma Frequency. Fingers crossed

Figmentum · Aug 7, 2012

An encouraging personal-R from The Again. They called my latest story "interesting, readable, and hints at something bigger." A good sign, I think. I was starting to wonder if the story was total garbage!

CL_Hilbert · Aug 7, 2012

That is a good sign, Figmentum! Woo! Good luck at the next place.

defcon6000 · Aug 7, 2012

34-day R from NewMyths.

Project Deadlight · Aug 8, 2012

Nothing for a week now on the short story front... I have 42 subs out and on my DT RSS feed there were only 7 reported for the entire of yesterday! You'd think holidays would give editors more time not less.

Darkwing · Aug 8, 2012

Marzioli said:
Nice work! Who's it from?

It was from the assistant editor, Stephen Mazur, who is the one I've gotten all my other rejections from in the past. But since this was the first one to actually offer criticism about the story, I'm pretty stoked.

Marzioli · Aug 8, 2012

Darkwing said:
It was from the assistant editor, Stephen Mazur, who is the one I've gotten all my other rejections from in the past. But since this was the first one to actually offer criticism about the story, I'm pretty stoked.

Yeah, totally understand. Mr. Mazur has only ever given me forms, so you definitely have a right to feel proud!

Marzioli · Aug 8, 2012

Got an R from Cosmos. The only silver lining is that it was the same old form I'm used to, which means my previous rejection might have been a higher tier:

Low: "Unfortunately your story has not been selected for publication."
High: "Unfortunately I didn't love it enough to want to purchase it.

Anyone know for sure?

O'Dandelo · Aug 8, 2012

Marzioli said:
Got an R from Cosmos. The only silver lining is that it was the same old form I'm used to, which means my previous rejection might have been a higher tier:

Low: "Unfortunately your story has not been selected for publication."
High: "Unfortunately I didn't love it enough to want to purchase it.

Anyone know for sure?

So the editor doesn't want to marry the story, just have a one-night stand. But that is better than "Ew, get lost, creep" when you offer to buy the initial drink.

fihr · Aug 8, 2012

Great hearing about some of the better R's here (Darkwing, Figmemtum). And Project Deadlight, I'm impressed with your 42 subs. Puts me to shame--I have to finish editing a bunch of stories and get them sent out. I keep rewriting. To everyone else: commiserations.

Marzioli · Aug 8, 2012

O'Dandelo said:
So the editor doesn't want to marry the story, just have a one-night stand. But that is better than "Ew, get lost, creep" when you offer to buy the initial drink.

Exactly. The editor didn't mind reading it for free, but damned if she'll pay for it! And in this way, and this way alone, hookers are better off than writers.

O'Dandelo · Aug 8, 2012

Marzioli said:
Exactly. The editor didn't mind reading it for free, but damned if she'll pay for it! And in this way, and this way alone, hookers are better off than writers.

Oh no, now I'll reflect on this every time I get a rejection!

defcon6000 · Aug 9, 2012

Received an R from fledgling market Misfit Quarterly, and I'm wondering if this is either a very flattering form R or a vague personal.

Thank you very much for submitting your work to The Misfit Quarterly - it was a privilege to be given the chance to see it. Your use of language is excellent, and you are clearly passionate about your writing. However, on this occasion, I'm afraid that the work you submitted wasn't quite right for us.

Did anyone else receive the same?

CL_Hilbert · Aug 9, 2012

defcon6000 said:
Received an R from fledgling market Misfit Quarterly, and I'm wondering if this is either a very flattering form R or a vague personal.

Did anyone else receive the same?

I think that's a personal.

Eliza C · Aug 9, 2012

defcon6000 said:
Received an R from fledgling market Misfit Quarterly, and I'm wondering if this is either a very flattering form R or a vague personal.

Definitely personal. No form R is going to say "your use of language is excellent" because that's most often not the case in slush piles.

defcon6000 · Aug 9, 2012

Heh, you'd be surprised. I've seen form R's that give some of the nicest compliments, or are very encouraging. In his instance, I have a nagging feeling that it's all for show.

Eliza C · Aug 9, 2012

10-day form R from F&SF.

I expected the R (though one can always hope) but last time I submitted to them (about 3 or 4 months ago) I got my first ever personal R from there, the higher tier "There's some nice writing here, but the story couldn't hold my interest." which I chose to interpret as a personal R. Was kind-of hoping for the same again, but oh well.

Off it goes to Lightspeed.

fihr · Aug 9, 2012

defcon6000 said:
Heh, you'd be surprised. I've seen form R's that give some of the nicest compliments, or are very encouraging. In his instance, I have a nagging feeling that it's all for show.

I agree with Eliza. A compliment about the language sounds specific to a story. Surely that couldn't be generic.

O'Dandelo · Aug 9, 2012

"Your use of language is excellent" sounds promising. Or their form Rs could suffer from the dreaded Washington Pastime Syndrome.

gettingby · Aug 9, 2012

129-day rejection from A Public Space. Probably the most encouraging personal rejection I have gotten. I don't usually get personals so this was a nice change.

Marzioli · Aug 10, 2012

O'Dandelo said:
"Your use of language is excellent" sounds promising. Or their form Rs could suffer from the dreaded Washington Pastime Syndrome.

To add to this, don't forget Fantastic Frontiers' "We think that you have much potential" form rejection. You never can tell with rejections unless you have a diverse sample to compare with.

gettingby · Aug 10, 2012

140-day rejection from The Gettysburg Review.

Rejectomancy

Darkwing

O'Dandelo

Marzioli

Could be worse!

Niccolo

Figmentum

Call me Fig

CL_Hilbert

defcon6000

Project Deadlight

Darkwing

Marzioli

Could be worse!

Marzioli

Could be worse!

O'Dandelo

fihr

Marzioli

Could be worse!

O'Dandelo

defcon6000

CL_Hilbert

Eliza C

We’ll see what happens from here…

defcon6000

Eliza C

We’ll see what happens from here…

fihr

O'Dandelo

gettingby

Marzioli

Could be worse!

gettingby