Eight rejections later...
I don't get it. I have been rejected by people who say they want exactly what I have sent them. Still the same old email comes through. 'It's not right for us.' (but it's what they say they are looking for?!)
I believe I'm getting rejected solely by my first 3 chapters. You literally cannot tell what is in store by the first three chapters. These agents are too quick to reject. Too triggerhappy to shoot you down. But I will not change my chapters, they have purpose, so what if they are not exciting enough. Character developement is important. I will continue to plough through, I just wonder, why.
Why reject something so quickly without finding out more.
Action is overrated and derivative. By the stress of agents and publishers breathing down our necks that something HAS to be exciting immediately, there has been so many books that start with a chase scene it is almost a cliche.
My story doesn't start happy either. But then, who's going to want to read a happy book? Not I.
It is sad to think that these people are depriving the world of future art. I am firstly a reader and do wonder, if I have been turned down for my own work that I love, then, surely, we must be missing out on so much more. It's a shame.
What do you do if you are being rejected constantly? What's next? And what if it keeps happening? I cannot improve my story. It is well written and exactly how I want it. I just feel someone else's personal opinion is getting in the way of my ambition.
Sorry, Cuppa!
What i¡I really MEANT was:
You are perhaps, nay PROBABLY! the most gifted writer since Voltaire. Your grasp of concepts are sublime. Your plot structures are a treasure. Your prose is more moving than poetry and makes the very angels weep. With joy, of course.
I honestly believe that the Nobel Literature Prize Committee shouldn't even wait for your book to be PRINTED, let alone hit the shops: they should award you the Prize RIGHT NOW!
Any literary agent who ever rejected your work should be tarred and feathered... then laughed out of town.
Mothers will name their children after you! "Where do you think YOU're going, Cuppa Tea Wiggins?!" will ring out across the land. The land??? The GLOBE!
On arts programs the question will be asked: "Is this the future of fiction?"
The answer, alas, is "No, alas! For there is only ONE Cupopa Tea, alas!"
Alas!
There now: is THAT better?
OK, Cuppa!
I rather guessed from your opening post (OP) that you're not the type to handle honest advice from well-meaning fellow-writers and professionals in the publishing field (agents, editors, publishers), but I gave you the benefit of the doubt and answered you as honestly as possible. And several people - especially Jimmy and Lorraine - have wasted (as far as YOU're concerned) a lot of time and thought to do the same. The only thing that keeps all this from being a waste of time is that OTHERS can benefit from reading this thread.
Aside from a bit of gentle joking BETWEEN Lorraine and Jimmy (NOT aimed at you, but they both enjoy a joke.... and you should read Jimmy when he REALLY gets going!) EVERY OTHER WORD on this thread has been a sincere, honest one, in an attempt to help YOU to refocus your view of those rejection slips.
Since they are of NO help to you (and that's YOUR fault: not ours), I can only hope that they will help others.
As sincere as I get,
Emilie
My goodness. I thought these threads were for writers to discuss aspects of the field, to encourage and help each other? I guess I was wrong, silly me, I should have realised, people aren't nice anymore. It's just like every other form of social media, attack each other and insult each other.