Rejectomancy

renard79

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Ha! Y'all are getting me past my funk tonight...

I wrote, though, so am soldiering on.

Have to have thick skin for this, eh? ^_^
 

soapdish

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:e2grouphu for everyone and their stories that have come back in the last 24 hrs. Dang, I hate to see this thread move so fast...

Best wishes on the resubs, everyone.
 

Eliza C

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Commiserations for the everyone in the last flood. Just a bunch of crickets in my backyard, but my rainy day is probably coming soon.
 

J.W. Alden

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This wouldn't work for me. Mine come home horsewhipped and bloody, wheeled in on a wagon pulled by a leper who shouts, "Pick up your dead!"

Well, now that I'm envisioning my rejections as a pile of corpses, the word rejectomancy has all new meaning.
 

Niccolo

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And here comes the latest R. This one's even measured in hours! 8-or-so-hour form from Absinthe Revival for a story with an admittedly odd premise. Can't blame 'em.
 

squeaky pram

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This wouldn't work for me. Mine come home horsewhipped and bloody, wheeled in on a wagon pulled by a leper who shouts, "Pick up your dead!"

Well, yes. This too. Way to kill my positive-thinking buzz, Marzioli! :tongue

Have to admit your experience sounds closer to home. Dern it.
 

Eliza C

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4-day form R from Read Short Fiction. (I think it's form - my first sub there, so not sure if "we read (story title) with interest but it doesn't meet our needs at this time" is their form or not.)
 
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renard79

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20 day form from Animal, a new literary magazine.

Going to work on poetry edits and resubs this wknd - my literary pieces need more polishing.
 

LolaVelo

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17 day personal R from Allegory today that bordered on mean. I've had nice personal Rs on this story, so part of me is bewildered, and the other part is p'd off. I know not everyone has to like what I write, but woah.
 

Marzioli

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17 day personal R from Allegory today that bordered on mean. I've had nice personal Rs on this story, so part of me is bewildered, and the other part is p'd off. I know not everyone has to like what I write, but woah.
That sucks. Makes it hard to develop thick skin when first readers are like that. What'd they say (optional/paraphrase acceptable)?
 

Xenospora

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17 day personal R from Allegory today that bordered on mean. I've had nice personal Rs on this story, so part of me is bewildered, and the other part is p'd off. I know not everyone has to like what I write, but woah.

If they thought it was worthless, wouldn't they just send a form though? There is that.
 

gettingby

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244-day form rejection from McSweeney's Quarterly Concern.
 

LolaVelo

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If they thought it was worthless, wouldn't they just send a form though? There is that.


I think that's why I find it bewildering; why the need at all? They could've just kicked it back with a form R.


Marzioli, out of pure paranoia, I don't want to quote it, but it was phrased as a take-down, which was a bit unnecessary. It was also so out of whack with previous crits, that it's a head scratcher. I've repackaged it and resubmitted it already, so onwards an upwards, eh?
 

alexshvartsman

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17 day personal R from Allegory today that bordered on mean. I've had nice personal Rs on this story, so part of me is bewildered, and the other part is p'd off. I know not everyone has to like what I write, but woah.

Sorry you had this happen.

I don't know much about Allegory, but having been in the position of sending out personal R's, it's sometimes difficult to walk the line between being nice and polite and offering what the editor/slush reader may *perceive* as useful feedback.

I'm absolutely certain that I pissed off at least one submitter, even though I never intended to.

Again, I don't know that this was the case here, but there's a good chance the person at the other end of that submission wasn't being mean intentionally.

Unless you submit to Untied Shoelaces. That guy is *grouchy* :)
 

Xenospora

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I think that's why I find it bewildering; why the need at all? They could've just kicked it back with a form R.


Marzioli, out of pure paranoia, I don't want to quote it, but it was phrased as a take-down, which was a bit unnecessary. It was also so out of whack with previous crits, that it's a head scratcher. I've repackaged it and resubmitted it already, so onwards an upwards, eh?

If it's out of whack with previous crits maybe you just hit a sore spot with that particular editor? Everyone has their pet peeves.

Good luck with the new submission!
 

fihr

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17 day personal R from Allegory today that bordered on mean. I've had nice personal Rs on this story, so part of me is bewildered, and the other part is p'd off. I know not everyone has to like what I write, but woah.

Sorry to hear that, LolaVelo. Glad you're moving on regardless. I also had a first reader comment on one of my short stories not long ago that was outright nasty. Doesn't happen often, and it's always a bit of a shock. There's a difference between criticism that's meant to help the author and unnecessary meanness, but we all get them from time to time.

Good on you for not letting it put you off. If we want to publish anything we have to have that kind of resilience.
 

Writelock

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My first w1/s1 rejection! (I just started. *waves at everyone*). Atleast there was a personal note in it telling me what he liked and didn't.
 

Sai

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My first w1/s1 rejection! (I just started. *waves at everyone*). Atleast there was a personal note in it telling me what he liked and didn't.

Welcome Neporsche! If you don't mind, it's helpful to say where you received the rejection from and how long it took.
Like this: 'Received a 101-day form rejection from Lamplight today.* Blargh.' (The 'Blargh' is optional). It helps us know which markets are responding to submissions and how quickly.

*True story.
 

Niccolo

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Welcome Neporsche! If you don't mind, it's helpful to say where you received the rejection from and how long it took.
Like this: 'Received a 101-day form rejection from Lamplight today.* Blargh.' (The 'Blargh' is optional). It helps us know which markets are responding to submissions and how quickly.

*True story.

Don't be afraid to toss out a blargh every now and then :)

Also welcome Neporsche! Hope Write 1/Sub 1 is good to you
 

Marzioli

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The Leper's wagon has returned! 6 day form R from Electric Velocipede! Wiped the story clean and sent it out.
 
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Eliza C

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39-day R from Belladonna's Anthology, Black Apples. Phooey (or should that be blargh?) - I evaded the first round of rejects there and had thought this story might be a good fit for them.