Faerie Blood takes first blood

[annathepiper]

YAY! I got a REJECTION LETTER! Faster than I'd hoped--but oh well. It's a form letter, but it also has handwritten on it "too wordy". So that's actual feedback of a sort, albeit extremely terse feedback. Apparently, at Tor, succintness is a virtue. ;)

OH WELL. Guess it's time to find out where I can send three chapters and a synopsis next--the second draft isn't ready yet to send the entire thing off to Baen.

Comments

[mizkit.livejournal.com]

Well, piffle on rejection letters, but hey, quick turnaround is good! And so is even the smallest bit of personalized feedback. Yay! *hugs!*

[annathepiper]

I am taking a bit of consolation from that tiny scrap of personal feedback, yeah. "Overly wordy" is way better than "well, to be blunt, your book sucks". ;) (We just figured out, Dara and I, that that is what they actually wrote--it was kind of hard to make out with the sloppy handwriting. But well hey. I can kind of buy that for feedback; I mean, I've had years of people boggling at my verbose poses on MUSHes!)

Dara reminds me that that little bit of personal feedback means that, even if I didn't make it past reader #1 (whoever that might have been), this indicates somebody saw something there worth commenting on.

[seimaisin.livejournal.com]

Hey, that just means it's time to figure out a creative way to display rejection letters. At group the other night, we were debating the aesthetics of wallpaper. Or perhaps a big bullseye and a set of darts. ;)

But, seriously, a handwritten note is a good thing. So, boo to rejection, but a small, quiet yay for personalization. Just wait until next time!

[annathepiper]

I doubt I'll get terribly creative with my rejection letters... though I may just do what I'm sure is an old classic of keeping a file of them and then burning the lot of them once I get something published. ;) I think that'll be very satisfying!

*chants the Personalization is Good mantra*

Gotta ponder what to do about the feedback I got, too.

[shadowhwk.livejournal.com]

Hey, rejection and personalized for your first letter? Congratulations!

Welcome to official writerdom.

[wrog]

no, no, fast rejection is good because you're now free to send it on to the next outfit. And all you need is one (1) yes.

What you don't want is some bozo sitting on it for a year while they make up their mind...

[jessicac.livejournal.com]

Save the rejection letters. When the book is published and sells big, send copies of the letters back to the rejectors with a signed copy of your book and a printout of the money the publishing company has made on it...

[me-fein.livejournal.com]

WOOOHOOO! First rejection letter - and quick! :) Better than no response at all. Brave girl! Rock on with yo' bad writin' self! ;)

I've actually been discussing Book 2 of my story and getting ready for Nano '04. Although more posting about that in my own journal.... :-D

[annathepiper]

Marf--I was kind of hoping it'd take a little longer, actually, as a sign of making it farther up the food chain. ;P :) But. I do take a bit of comfort in getting that little bit of feedback!

And marf! Nanowrimo! I haven't had time yet to decide what story I want to do, though I WILL be doing one. Just a question of which! I'll be right there feeling the pain with you. :)

[annathepiper]

*giggle* Nah, that seems a little too confrontational.

Now, a nice web page, on the other hand, with choice quotes from the rejection letters... ^_-

[annathepiper]

Ah, but you see, I was kind of hoping for a bit slower answer because #1, the second draft of FB isn't done yet, so I'm not ready to send the whole thing off to Baen; this will require me to think of where else I want to send it instead. #2, I was also kind of hoping that if I could go a little longer without a rejection letter that might be indicative of making it past the first-tier readers. Sigh. :)

But aside from that, you're quite right--being able to move on with the Plan is a good thing!

[annathepiper]

I stand corrected--we doublechecked the letter and it actually said "overly wordy", just scribbled in at the bottom of the form letter. That's it, though. Not TOO personalized. ;) But it's a start!

I feel like the rookie soldier who just took her first bullet graze in a war. ;P :)

[cafiorello.livejournal.com]

Good for you! Just to have the guts to write it and send it out puts you in an elite minority. Keep up the good work.
Cathy

Way to go!

[cats-haven.livejournal.com]

Go to hear that you got a response period! Too wordy can mean many things, but at least it is something. Makes me wonder what one would say about my own attempts. heh

Either way, congratulations. I did read the snippets you had on your site, and I like it.

Re: Way to go!

[annathepiper]

Yeah, the "overly wordy" thing is leading me to think I may need to make a sweep through the book just to take a good hard look at my word choices. I do know from experience MUSHing that I do have a tendency to verbosity; perhaps I will also put out a call to Faerie Blood's beta readers and ask for a hand with that. :)

Thank you kindly, though! The trick, I think, is going to be taking the advice to heart and constructively doing something about it while not letting it get in the way of my attempts to get the other story written--because Lament of the Dove IS a big draw on my creative braincells!

[annathepiper]

*giggles sheepishly* All I can think of right now is Saruman in the movie edition of Fellowship of the Ring bellowing to Gandalf, "You have chosen the way of PAIN!"

Now I get to be Gandalf and draft a little bitty bug to take my call for help--er, uh, my manuscript out again!

Or something like that.

:)

[poetry-lady.livejournal.com]

Hey, anything other than strictly form of "Thank you for your submission. Your manuscript is not a good fit for us." is supposed to be a good sign.

I'm in awe of your drive to do this!

[annathepiper]

Yeah, any kind of feedback is supposed to be good... and as negative feedback goes, I would prefer "overly wordy" rather than "your idea is horribly trite and cliched, and your characters are one-dimensional cardboard. Plus, we saw this entire plotline on a Buffy rerun last week". ;)

Gawrsh. *scuffs a foot* Thanks babe. :) Awe makes me blush!