The Daily NO – Rejection #478

Today on The Daily NO, we’re going to look at the first rejection I received for a story that would go on to collect a record-setting (for me) 25 rejections before I sold it. This is definitely a case of sticking with a story you believe in, even when the NOs start really piling up.

Okay, let’s take a look.

---

Rejection #7

• Story: “When Stars Fall”
• Length: Short Story
• Genre: Science Fiction
• Publisher: Diabolical Plots
• Publisher Tier: Pro
• Submitted: 8/10/21
• Further Consideration Letter: 8/15/21
• Rejected: 9/5/21
• Type: Personal rejection with feedback.

---

Thank you for allowing us to read your story, When Stars Fall, submitted to the General Submission Window submission window on 8/10/2021.

Thank you for being patient while we held your story, but we did not choose it for the lineup.  Any story in the hold pile was one that we would have been happy to publish, but we didn’t have the resources to publish all of the stories that we liked and we have to make some hard choices.  We hope you find a publisher for it, and that you will submit again in the next submission window.

While we don’t always offer comments on stories, this time we did.  The following comments are meant to be helpful; if you disagree with the comments, then you should feel free to disregard.

[Editor] said: I appreciated the clear character motivations and the dinosaur hunting action.  Though I like epistolary formats I did wonder if that was the best choice here where the journal is presumably going to be destroyed very soon after.  Readers generally liked the action and the ideas here.

Some readers had some plausibility questions about it.  In the lack of survival gear, the oddity of having to continue hunting them with modern science it would probably be synthesized once found (though that could be handwaved away), and wondering how they prevent “butterfly effects” causing major changes to the future.

Readers said, in part:
* Whoa, this one was extremely good. I felt connected to the character and a little sadness at what his motivations were, but also loved the world building. The prose came alive to me and made me really absorbed in it. Excellent story.

---

As rejections go, they don’t get much better than this, and I would expect nothing less from a market as professional and well respected (deservedly so) as Diabolical Plots. The rejection starts out with the usual boilerplate business, informing me that though they liked the story, they’re not able to publish it. Then the editor goes on to talk about a few issues he and some of the readers had with the story, as well as imparting some of the things the readers liked about the piece. Everything is delivered in a constructive, helpful way, all with the preface of “if you don’t agree, please feel free to disregard.” I know that doesn’t seem like much, but I do appreciate it when editors couch their comments in the frame of opinion, even if that opinion is a very well informed one, as it absolutely is here. The last bit where the editor includes what is essentially just praise for the story is just a damn classy thing to do, and it both softened the blow of the rejection and sent me away feeling like I would eventually find this piece a home.

My grade for this rejection. Five stars. A+. No notes.

I did take some of the feedback here to heart and made revisions to the story. Specifically, I addressed the lack of survival gear, the potential butterfly effects of time travel, and how the journal would survive. These changes definitely improved the piece, and I think helped eventually sell it.

This rejection, with all its praise and constructive feedback, gave me the confidence to keep submitting the story. It continued to rack up personal rejections like this from pro markets, but that just further fueled my persistence. I sold it to Abyss & Apex Magazine last month, and though it took me almost four years to find this story a home, I’m glad I kept with it.

The lesson here is simple. If you believe in a story and it’s getting the kind of rejections you see above, stick with it, maybe a make a few revisions, and keep firing it out there. There’s a very good chance an acceptance is around the corner . . . or you know, a few corners. 😉

---

Thoughts on this rejection? Tell me about it in the comments.