The Rejection Archives: Rejection #84 (Personal)
Time to dive back into the Rejectomancy vault and fish out another rejection from my collection of nos and not for us’s. We’re gonna stick with the same theme as last week, and I’ll show you another detailed personal rejection. Here it is:
Rejection Number: 84
Story Sent: 12/20/2015
Rejection Received: 1/31/2016
Rejection Type: Personal Rejection
Thanks for letting us see [Story Title]. I regret to say that it’s just not right for [Publisher].
It’s a solid piece, with some good characters and good tension. Unfortunately, by the end, I’m afraid it just didn’t “grab” me the way it might have. I’ve been sitting here thinking why not, and it occurs to me that I never really connected with [main character]. Maybe if it had been first-person instead of third-person. That’s not a request for a rewrite (I don’t make too many of those). It’s just a thought.
In any event, I’m sorry. Best of luck with this one in other markets.
Last week I showed you a personal rejection from an editor where I largely rejected the feedback (mostly because I thought it came down to an issue of personal taste). This rejection, however, got me thinking, because the editor highlighted something that does pop up in my work–main characters that are difficult to connect with. The editor’s suggestion of making this a first-person POV instead of third-person turned out to be what the story needed. I made that change, which allowed me to dig deeper into the MC’s thoughts, motivations, and personality. Now, that wouldn’t work for every story, but this one in particular benefited from the closer POV. This is a great example of a helpful rejection, and I’m grateful to this editor for taking the time to point out what they thought needed to change in the story.
I’m still shopping this piece, but I’m confident it’s a better story than it was, and I think it’ll find a home soon.
Thoughts about this rejection? Tell me about it in the comments.
If you’d like to read the other posts in this series, check out the links below:
One Comment on “The Rejection Archives: Rejection #84 (Personal)”
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If I had a nickle for every time my work didn’t “grab” someone….
Great to hear about how this went, and how it ultimately resulted in a better story! I hope it gets accepted soon 🙂