Tag: On Publication (N)

Another week, another rejection letter, but boy-oh-boy, what a rejection.
     ‘Twas lovely. Absolutely lovely.
     With comments like:

‘An odd story that seemingly violates the rules of plot, but works nonetheless. I will be thinking about this one for a while.’

     and

‘Strangely, I don’t find this story depressing, which I would have expected given its content. (Although the thought of this story going up against mine for the national short story award _is_ depressing, for me.)’

Which, as I am sure you can see, really is yet another case of my submitting work to a market that wasn’t quite right. They liked it, but couldn’t find a place to publish it.
     Judging the market is still something I must master; I’ve had a fair few rejections now which were ‘We really liked it, but it isn;t quite right for us’ and I really, really, really should be reading more widely. My other writing project is somewhat preventing me from doing that, however; come March next year, though, all will change (well, hopefully).
     Hmm… I think the ‘problems judging the market’ comment is my most repeated issue…

So one of the markets I sent a story to has died without fanfare, whilst another has resurrected only after deleting its backlog of submissions…
     But I’ve increased my total of stories searching for a home by an additional one.
     Yay me!
     I’m not going to mention the emotional rollercoaster that is my life. I would have to talk about the sequel to the story posted below (well, the thematic sequel on which the original was based…) and my father finding a wench mere moments after the separation from my Mother.
     You don’t want (nor need) to hear any of the fact. Wait until it becomes fiction. I like to share the fiction.

‘Little Boy Lost,’ a horror piece I wrote at the very end of last year, has been rejected by the good people at ‘Flesh and Blood.’ Overall they felt it was a nicely written story with a good idea, but that it did not feel right for the magazine.
     Bless them.
     Now usually polite rejections hide true motivations, but I’ve been rejected by ‘Flesh and Blood’ before, and know their style. This rejection, despite the lack of an accompanying trolley load of monies and a plainitive note asking me to write for them for ever more, is actually a step forward. They liked the work, they just didn’t think it was suited to their magazine.
     Which, in truth, I should have realised. There is an article to be written on the singular horror that is trying to read a cross section of short genre fiction. I haven’t read the umpteen hundred ‘zines out there that are publishing in the horror genre, and I thus I can pretty much guarantee that I am missing out on the most suitable markets for what I write. More on this at another time.
     Positive rejections still hurt; that they liked the story is one thing, that you were stupid enough to send it to an inappropiate market is another (I’ve had quite a number, recently, of postive rejections). But the important aspect is that they encourage more work, and give you some reason to love the story.
     It is very easy to reject your own work when others see no merit in it.
     Anyway, since I have little shame and want money I’m going to submit the story elsewhere. I’ve got a pretty good idea of where, as well.
     And there are always the host of unwritten stories to sell.
     I could grow to like this, you know.