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| SFReader Forums > Writing > Gripe! > Rejection Woes: Story, or Storey? | Forum Quick Jump
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Boulden
Stablehand
      
Date Joined Jul 2005
Total Posts : 18
| Posted 10/18/2005 9:45 AM (GMT -5) |   | I received an interesting rejection this afternoon. It was polite, but vague. I usually welcome an editor's comments (I don't always agree), but this one was a little strange. He wrote that the major reason the story was rejected was because the manuscript was ridled with a myriad of typos and spelling errors. As an example he used the word, "story," as in three-story house, should be spelled "storey." My first thought is he is British--one of the problems of electronic submissions, you don't know where or who these folks are--but unfortunately that was the only example he really gave.
I looked my story over, but I didn't find one typo or misspelled word. I can imagine a list of reasons an editor doesn't buy a story (and I have experienced most of them), but could it really be one allegedly misspelled word? Strange. (I know, I know--I'm whining just a little.)
Has anyone else experienced a rejection that was more confusing than helpful? Share, please. On the other hand have you had an editor that, when rejecting a story, has given you solid advice that has actually improved your story?
Ben (just a little whine now and then)
P.S. Another thought: Have you ever had an experience where your grammar is questioned, but you have a solid (at least in your own mind) argument that it is correct? | | Back to Top | | |
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EdMcfadden
Neophyte
Date Joined Sep 2004
Total Posts : 103
| Posted 10/18/2005 9:59 AM (GMT -5) | | | Many aspects of grammar can be debated...the comma is a good example. | | Back to Top | | |
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peadarog
Acolyte
Date Joined Oct 2005
Total Posts : 303
| Posted 10/18/2005 10:57 AM (GMT -5) | | My "Handy Oxford Dictionary" gives two spellings for the word, one with an 'e' and one without. I think the editor picked a bad example there...
Peadar O Guilin
Available now:
"Twig" From Adventures of Sword and Sorcery #7
"The Bag" in Reckless abandon
"The Mourning Trees" in Black Gate #5
"Fairy Fort" in A Walk on the Darkside
"Hair" in www.feralfiction.com
Coming Soon:
"Hurdy-Gurdy" in Dark Arts
"Where Beauty Lies in Wait" in Black Gate | | Back to Top | | |
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Daniel
Carl Jung's Waterboy
Date Joined Aug 2003
Total Posts : 4515
| Posted 10/18/2005 11:16 AM (GMT -5) | | Has anyone else experienced a rejection that was more confusing than helpful?
***
Oh, yes, lots of them, actually. Once, I had a (satirical) story where people had their brains replanted in their, uh, rears, and then used "designer" holographs for heads. An editor told me that without a head, people couldn't see or have senses, to which I replied, "All you really need is a brain and sensory apparatus..." Which is true. Funny thing, the magazine, ironically enough, was "Neo-Opsis."
I once had an early fantasy story I wrote called "The White Ash" about an elven warrioress who climbs a giant ash tree to slay her father-turned-evil-magician and this was rejected by MZB's magazine -- very graciously by MZB herself, I believe, for being too "steeped in the ideas of science-fiction"!?
The strangest one I ever had was from an editor who told me he was rejecting a a story because it featured prostitutes in 19th century Japan -- he said something like "People didn't do that back then."
LOL
Daniel
www.pitchblackbooks.com | | Back to Top | | |
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Christopher_Heath
Eternal Champion
Date Joined Oct 2005
Total Posts : 1156
| Posted 10/18/2005 11:31 AM (GMT -5) | | That's pretty hilarious, Daniel! I think Flashing Swords and The Sword Review give good feedback with rejections. There are others, but those two come to mind at the moment.
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Christopher_Heath
Eternal Champion
Date Joined Oct 2005
Total Posts : 1156
| Posted 10/18/2005 11:35 AM (GMT -5) | | | Oh, once I did get a really insightful rejection from a well intentioned editor that made a laundry list of problems with the tale for me to correct. Problem was, I never submitted that piece. I let him know he needed to send it to the author of the story (or was it storey?). :) | | Back to Top | | |
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Boulden
Stablehand
Date Joined Jul 2005
Total Posts : 18
| Posted 10/18/2005 11:44 AM (GMT -5) | | Ed: Good point. I debate myself about comma usage. The more commas I have in a first draft is a sign that I was in "Oxford" mode. Gotta use that Oxford comma.
Peadar: That is exactly what I thought. I would love to have more to go on, but . . . no luck. I'll just wash my hands and debate about the proper usage of story / storey. Oy!
Daniel: You have me beat hands down. Not to mention you made me laugh. I wonder what, exactly, people did "back then?" Usually when I get feedback from an editor I wish they had just sent me a form letter, and vica-versa. Always. | | Back to Top | | |
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Dragon Angel
Lord Dragon
Date Joined Sep 2004
Total Posts : 1066
| Posted 10/18/2005 12:54 PM (GMT -5) | | I got a rejection from 4 editors on one story. Three said I got the physics wrong, and one said I got it right. Now that's a contradictory rejection! By the way, I got the physics right.
I checked Merriam-Webster and the American Heritage Dictionary. Both list "storey" as a variant of "story". I think this is a good example of why editors should be sure they are right before saying things like this. Otherwise they end up sounding foolish. (Not to mention rejecting storeyies for no particularly good reason)
read free fiction and poetry at http://www.geocities.com/davidolson22/index.html | | Back to Top | | |
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Boulden
Stablehand
Date Joined Jul 2005
Total Posts : 18
| Posted 10/18/2005 2:59 PM (GMT -5) | | Christopher: Opps! I hate it when that happens. Fortunately I have never had an editor send me the specs on a story I didn't write. Give it some time and it'll probably happen. (Cynical) If only they would send you a check for a story you didn't write. ;-)
David: I never get the physics right. I bet most editors don't either--as your story demonstrates. The first thing I did was check the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, and sighed with relief when it showed that "story" was acceptable usage. I think the most difficult part of writing is sending the darn stories out into the big world to get beat-up on. It's a learning experience that probably teaches us more than anything else: Don't trust anyone who doesn't get it. Or something like that.
Ben | | Back to Top | | |
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Raph
Stubborn Scholar
Date Joined Oct 2004
Total Posts : 260
| Posted 10/18/2005 8:26 PM (GMT -5) | | Ben,
I had a similar rejection to David's (in fact, I posted a gripe on it here). Mine had comments by two editors, one who said it was "well written and fast paced, but not right for our publication". The second editor said that the writing was "ameturish" and needed work. So I can definitely sympathize with you. Sometimes the editors' comments can create more confusion than they solve.
Mike O. | | Back to Top | | |
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Third Axe Publishing
Neophyte
Date Joined Jul 2005
Total Posts : 141
| Posted 10/18/2005 9:35 PM (GMT -5) | | Ben,
For what it's worth, here are my two cents. First, I mean no offense to any editors on this board as my comments are not directed to anyone in particular and are not a criticism of the necessary work you do. That said, I stopped listening to most arbitrary feedback a long time ago. Don't mistake that with I don't listen to any feedback. I have a couple of trustworthy editors with whom I work closely, and if someone tells me something that works, I'll use it.
However, when I was in grad school, we'd go into workshops, and there were always people, instructors included, who would just beat the hell out of every story that came in. The mentality seemed to be, "Let's find what's wrong with this" instead of "What is good about it?" So many people had so many different ideas about what you are "supposed" to do that I left grad school convinced that I just couldn't write. For a couple of years, I didn't write at all and considered myself a failure as a writer. Luckily, I came out the other side and rediscovered my voice.
Now, I don't claim to be perfect or to know everything about fiction, but in my heart of hearts, I know that I have a modicum of talent for telling stories. The thing that has helped me more than anything is to trust my own instincts about what constitutes dramatic tension. If someone gives me lame advice about how to "fix" a story such as change story to storey, I completely ignore that person's perspective. I may never land a piece in their zine, but that's not the end of the world. I can't stress enough how important it is for you to trust your own voice. That's how strong, innovative fiction comes to life, by rising above the din of mediocrity that plagues so many people in the literary world. Again, that is not aimed at anyone on this board.
Of course, I'm a novelist and not a short story writer, so don't listen to me on submitting to zines. I never had much success with that.
Please visit www.brotherhoodofdwarves.com
Third Axe Publishing - Bringing the "story" back into storytelling. | | Back to Top | | |
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Rob Santa
Sage
Date Joined Apr 2004
Total Posts : 1455
| Posted 10/19/2005 3:38 AM (GMT -5) | | I hate to be the one looking for the silver lining, but at the very least you got personal feedback from the editor. This type of rejections gives you the ability to agree or disagree with the editor's opinion based on his/her comments. In this case, the editor tells you that your manuscript is filled with typographical errors. As you have reviewed it and see that it doesn't, you can console yourself with the fact that the editor clearly made a mistake. Ah, well, move along to the next market.
But if your manuscript had been filled with errors, you would be able to fix them before sending it off to the next editor who would reject it for the same reason. This could have been a form rejection ("sorry, this story just didn't work for me") and you wouldn't know anything. Now you know something about this editor: even one typo can turn a good story into a rejection. That's valuable information.
Just playing Devil's Advocate here...any chance there's some truth to this? Perhaps the editor is refering to these types of errors where a spellchecker would never catch it because the errors make genuine words. Is there even the slightest possibility that there are other misspelled words like story/storey that aren't based on the editor's opinion of primary/secondary spellings?
I've said it before on this forum, and I'm sure he's sick of hearing me say it, but Chris Cevasco at Paradox gives the best rejections. A few paragraphs of hand-written notes suggesting changes that would improve (in his opinion, of course) the story...pure gold.
Rob Santa | | Back to Top | | |
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Kuroboshii
Shogun
Date Joined Apr 2004
Total Posts : 549
| Posted 10/19/2005 4:22 AM (GMT -5) | | I think my best rejections come from Flashing Swords--Howard's comments are always very insightful. Interzone has also sent me some great rejections--not really advice, just "There's nothing really wrong with this finely crafted tale, but it's not right for Interzone." I can deal with that [:)].
I think I've had pretty good luck with my rejections. There have been some frustrating ones--I got one from ASIM where a reader said that the story was a great read, but that the ending was "vaguely unsatisfying".
I also get some "Competantly written, but it didn't stand out from the pack" ones, including from Ideomancer. I actually like those--at least my writing is competant!
Sean T. M. Stiennon (AKA Suuran Songforge)
For information about me, see my author page at www.sfreader.com/authors/seanstiennon. | | Back to Top | | |
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Jeff Stehman
Sage
Date Joined Mar 2005
Total Posts : 1224
| Posted 10/19/2005 4:35 AM (GMT -5) | | | | |
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peadarog
Acolyte
Date Joined Oct 2005
Total Posts : 303
| Posted 10/19/2005 5:31 AM (GMT -5) | | I think Rob Santa has the right approach to this one. Typos do more than almost anything else to turn off an editor before she's even a page into the stor(e)y ;). In this case, I suspect there was more than one error and the editor picked a really, really bad example. It's time to learn what you can, square the shoulders and get marching again. I'm sure you already have.
Peadar O Guilin
Available now:
"Twig" From Adventures of Sword and Sorcery #7
"The Bag" in Reckless abandon
"The Mourning Trees" in Black Gate #5
"Fairy Fort" in A Walk on the Darkside
"Hair" in www.feralfiction.com
Coming Soon:
"Hurdy-Gurdy" in Dark Arts
"Where Beauty Lies in Wait" in Black Gate | | Back to Top | | |
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ScrewMoonshine
Adept
Date Joined Aug 2005
Total Posts : 871
| Posted 10/19/2005 11:33 AM (GMT -5) | | My submission experience is a bit limited(I've only sent stories to 7 different publications, 2 of which I just submitted to less than three weeks ago and so haven't gotten back to me), but Amazing Journeys Magazine has been the best so far for rejection comments. Helpful indeed in polishing up my story.
Haven't had any bewildering editor's comments yet...I'm frustrated more by form rejection letters, which is all I've gotten from 3 of those 5 publications. | | Back to Top | | |
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Boulden
Stablehand
Date Joined Jul 2005
Total Posts : 18
| Posted 10/19/2005 1:42 PM (GMT -5) | | I guess the frustrating part of this particular rejection was the generlized "many typos and spelling errors" in the ms (I have since been through the story line by line and found a scant, zero spelling errors) and the only example he gave was weak, at best, if not wrong altogether. I have to admit that it hurts the pride a little: I pride myself in sending out clean manuscripts. I usually revise twelve to twenty times before I even make a hint at showing it to other eyes. Then the ms goes through a few trusted "first readers."
Although I have been known to look at an ms that is "finished" and nearly cry when I see some tiny word misused or misspelled. Oy! Then I feel better when I see a typo in a New York publisher's finished product. It happens to us all. Over and over.
Jeff: It is a tiny publisher that is advertising for a horror anthology. I've had this particular story sitting around for about a year looking for an appropriate market--it is a horror story written in the style of noir--and thought, maybe, I had found it.
Rob: True enough. I recently received a rejection from "Shred of Evidence" that simply said, "I have to pass on this one." At least there was more info than that! | | Back to Top | | |
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erazmus
Master
Date Joined Jul 2005
Total Posts : 4539
| Posted 10/20/2005 8:50 AM (GMT -5) | | Sometimes "I'll have to pass" is the most honest thing an editor can say about why he doesn't want a story. In writing groups and other places I've read lots of stories I didn't care for without any real honest reason why. They didn't engage me or the languages wasn't moving me into the tale. Usually its a problem with 'voice' and if you want to confuse a writer, or start an argument in a crit group, start in on the topic of 'voice'.
I'd rather have a fairly generic "While your story was well written and your approach to the subject matter was certainly different, I'll have to pass on this one I'm afraid. It just isn't right for ______. Good luck in placing it elsewhere." than "This story read like it was a couple of chapters of a much longer piece." or "While you have obviously mastered the use of a spell-checker, the writing and language of this piece are just too rough."
Okay I made the last one up, out of a couple of different examples. I hate the detailed ones when they are right most especially, because it means I didn't do my job preparing the story. But I also get them when they are not right, when the manuscript I sent wasn't filled with typos, the story was indeed polished to the point I wanted it to be at. Where the point of the story or the references in it were right over the head of the editor or, often the case, the first reader who rjected it. Sometimes the reasons given in a rejection letter are pulled out of the air and don't actually belong to the story you sent. That just means that when the editor or assistant laid out all the rejected manuscripts into piles- rejected for spelling, rejected for inapropriate content, rejected for abomidable storytelling, whatever, your's got put into the wrong pile. It happenes and its no big. Some of the markets I submit to (not sell to, damn it, but submit to) get four hundred manuscripts in a week. I wouldn't want to deal with the responces to that tide of pulp paper piling up near the corner day in and day out. That I get a written letter at all from such markets, even if its obvious that they are not spot on about what we're talking about, is a good thing. It means I got past the pile that get a form letter with a check mark.
That's encouraging. Only two, maybe three big improvements to my work before I start either selling there or at least getting personal letters of rejection from the very busy editor himself.
Mike
Michael D. Turner
"Psyched Up" in _Turn the other Chick_-ed. E. Friesner-Baen books
www.baen.com
"Two Ravens" in Amazing Journeys Magazine coming Sept. 05
"An Incident at Black Tongue Tavern" in _Bash Down the Door and Slice Open the Badguy_ from Fantasist Enterprises | | Back to Top | | |
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