Pondering the Writing Game: Rejections and things you should and should not do in response to them.

Ponderings on Writing

I may have related this story here at the Pondering Tree or perhaps it was as the first version over at Journalspace. If I did it at Journalspace it is most likely lost forever, in which case I should probably tell the story again.

You probably should not openly state that the quality of a certain publication would be greatly improved if its’ editor stepped out in front of a speeding bus. Especially if this editor rejected your story.

Rejections are strange things. On the surface they are easy enough to understand. “We don’t want your story.” But they can be so much more, to the point where reading them and comparing stories is akin to reading the tea leaves. In Terri Lowry’s Creative Writing course we actually spend time talking about rejection letters and their stages of evolution. I should probably talk about that first.

When you send your first stories off you will most likely receive either no response back or a form letter. The form letter will be pretty clear. Depending on the publisher, the form letter may contain guidelines, frequent errors and the like. This is what I received in 2001 when I sent my first stories off to John Joseph Adams, the Editorial Assistant at The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction.

Over time, and with some luck, you will evolve as a writer. Editors will begin to leave little comments or notes on your rejections. Gardner Dozois at Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine was known for doing this. What gave me hope is that I received these handwritten slips in very short order, by 2003.

This is a sign that the editor is paying attention and sees some potential. It is also meant to encourage you. It does not mean resubmit that story. I’ll get to resubmissions here in a bit.

If you are persistent, you will eventually receive a full letter in response to your submission. This letter will most likely be typed or these days e-mailed to you. It will contain a critique of your story, what the editor liked, what worked, what the editor did not like and why the editor isn’t going to buy this story. Again, this is a sign of progress. You are getting closer. The editor is taking valuable time to advise you and mentor you. Gardner Dozois sent me such a letter in response to my story Tranquility Lost, which can be found and read for free at Bewildering Stories.

At this point of the game, two things can happen. The Editor in question considers you to be pro-material. You are on the brink of breaking through, right on the edge. It can go either way with your next submission.

The best case scenario is a straight acceptance. I received my first one in 2007 from Andy Cox and his Fiction Committee at Interzone Magazine. This acceptance will talk about why they like the story and what they are prepared to do in order to acquire the story for their publication.

The next best case scenario can be (but isn’t always, I’ll get to that) the rewrite request.

The rewrite request looks like the personal rejection letter. It contains positives and negatives. It also contains advice and suggestions on how to fix the story. Finally, last but not least, this letter will contain an invitation to resubmit your story after you have made the revisions.

Depending on the editor and the quality of advice, you have two choices at this point.

1. Follow the advice and hope for the best.
2. Disregard and send the story to the next market on the list.

I say it depends on the editor because editors, just like writers, have reputations. Some editors have reputations for being supportive, straight up, honest and fair. Other editors have a reputation for being fickle, unclear, or in some cases they have other agendas driving their mission which have nothing whatsoever to do with your career or your story.

In most cases, I would advise this. If you agree AND TRUST the editor in question, as I trusted (and still trust) Gardner Dozois, then rewrite the story and resubmit it.

On the other hand, if you disagree and DO NOT TRUST the editor in question, then you really need to ask yourself if this trip is necessary. Again, there are no guarantees.

Case in point. Most regular readers know this but Gardner Dozois retired (sometimes I’m inclined to think he was forced out by a controversy that brewed up over a particular story but I have absolutely no proof of this) as Editor of Asimov’s. This affected me personally because I rewrote a story for his consideration and it missed his retirement date by one week or so. In fact, fellow writer Lou Antonelli was the last writer purchased by Gardner, he made it by that one week margin.

The new editor, who I won’t name here for a lot of reasons, took over. They took their sweet time getting back to me while I waited on pins and needles for a response, any response, on my story.

The new editor sent another rewrite request. Unlike Gardner’s, it was muddled, unclear and in my mind, contrary to what I was trying to achieve with the story. In fact, at the time, it read very much like a veiled rejection letter. However, I was prodded, both by people in the community and people here in my personal life, to rewrite my story and resubmit it.

I tried to get clarification on the required changes. I received nothing. I had nothing to go on with this new editor, no track record or anything else. All I had was word of mouth from various people who had met her personally. I wasn’t reassured by what I heard but when a goal seems to be SO CLOSE, you decide to push forward.

I rewrote (actually, I butchered) my story.

And I sent it off.

And then it was rejected. If it says anything at all about this new editor, the rejection was partially written by her predecessor and it was a half hearted one at that.

As I said, rejections are funny things. I’ve received maybe fifty to sixty rejections over my career to date. Given that many writers receive hundreds of rejections before they achieve their first professional sales, I have done pretty well. None of those other rejections make me angry. They are part of the business, part of the deal. You just roll with them. You weren’t the flavor of the month.

And most of the rejections since my first sales have been personal ones which indicate, “So close, Murphy but not quite.”

Now here is what you should not do as a writer.

For nearly two years I kept my anger bottled up, something I am not very good at. My friends and family will tell you that the longer I try to suppress my anger, the stronger, the more virulent, the more powerful it will become. However, I kept it pretty well in check for awhile.

Until my first sale in 2007. The reviews came in and contrary to what I expected, they were all positive.

The common belief, one that I held until those reviews started coming in, is that my success at Interzone with Tearing Down Tuesday should have negated the anger, the growing ball of something that transcends anger to a point where the emotion I experience doesn’t even have a proper name.

Instead, success served to reinforce and fuel that anger. My feeling today is that Maternal Soldier is every bit as good as Tearing Down Tuesday and The Limb Knitter. Yet I can’t sell it to save my life.

With the second sale in 2008, more positive reviews plus lots of reader comments at Apex and again, my anger grew.

At the same time that Interzone purchased Tuesday, Asimov’s rejected a story set in the same universe, featuring similar themes. For the record, they aren’t the same story but they do feature a post singularity world.

The current editor at Asimov’s rejected it. Readers aren’t familiar enough with the singularity to know what I was talking about.

Which was really the final straw, I thought. The same magazine that published Charles Stross and his singularity stories wasn’t going to publish this? Especially when Interzone was willing go do down that road?

I remember reading that reject in my dock office at 1000 Walnut on a very cold, snowy day with a mug of tea in hand thinking, “Are you fucking kidding me?”

The message of that reject was pretty clear to me. Gardner’s replacement wasn’t going to buy anything I wrote, no matter what it was.

Eventually, sooner or later, my anger will vent. If you are an aspiring writer or even a small writers, you’ve got to learn how to manage this. Anger scares the living daylights out of folks who do not live in the Blue Collar World.

My anger vented in a series of postings at the magazine’s forum. I basically stated, in many different forms, that I thought the magazine would be greatly improved if the current editor was hit by a speeding bus.

I didn’t threaten this person directly. That is against the law. However, it is not against the law to openly wish for bad things to happen to people. It is just bad manners and perhaps more importantly, bad for your writing career.

Why?

Well, the editorial community is pretty small and they do talk to each other. More to the point they read the forum comments left by readers and writers. What happened is probably common knowledge.

Now, to date, I have no evidence at hand that indicates that my behavior has resulted in the rejection of my stories. No evidence at all. It is possible that it is a factor, in fact it is probable in some cases that it is a factor. Editors don’t want to be associated with nutters and the like.

However, I’m realistic enough to believe that the rejections I have received pertain more to the same things which caused many of my stories to get rejected. The story doesn’t match the editor’s tastes, or the anthology, they have some quirk or flaw that isn’t worth fixing, that sort of thing. It is, again, part of the game.

I should probably make one additional point.

Folks would probably forget what I did eventually, especially if I didn’t remind anyone about it like I am doing right now. But the thing they won’t forget is this.

I am unrepentant. I do still hope for the eventual replacement of the current editor at Asimov’s. By speeding bus, by retirement, by medical emergency or through getting forced out, it matters not to me. I harbor no good will toward this person who I feel is cowardly, dishonest, unclear and incredibly fickle.

My lack of repentance probably doesn’t help my case.

There are things I could be doing with my career. I’ve been advised more than once to give up on short stories and move off into novels. I’ve got some options I am looking at and I will probably see about that. I’ve been advised to give up on science fiction and try my hand at mainstream literature. I’ve been advised to give up on writing fiction and concentrate on my career as a college history instructor. Given that within a year I will have finally realized a full return on my investment as a historian, I can see that point.

For now, however, I will endeavor to keep writing fiction. I’ll write what I want to write.

And we’ll see how it goes.

So it goes.

Respects,
Steven Francis Murphy
Author of The Limb Knitter and Tearing Down Tuesday
North Kansas City, Missouri

A Bright Shiny New Sunday.

New Readers

Seems I have new readers. Ah, such is the danger of hotlinking to my blog.

Anyway, I’m Steve Murphy. Here is a list of labels that apply.

1. Honorably Discharged Veteran, US Army
2. Unrepentant Veteran of the Persian Gulf War
3. Published Writer (two stories to date, both with honorable mentions)
4. Research Consultant
5. Historian
6. College History Instructor
7. Missourian (while I don’t like the state per se, I’m unrepentant about my Midwestern roots as well).
8. Decidedly NOT politically correct.
9. Definitely NOT a liberal.

Just a few things. If you are looking for examples of my writing, you can find both of them at Apex Online Magazine. Tearing Down Tuesday originally appeared in Interzone Magazine, Issue 210 back in June 2007. Apex picked her up for republication. The Limb Knitter appeared in Apex Online back in September 2008 and was recently converted into a podcast at Paul Cole’s Beam Me Up Podcast. You can buy a print edition of The Limb Knitter when she appears in Descended from Darkness: Apex Magazine Volume One. Just click the link over to the right.

Finally, I usually do not discuss it much, I am the research consultant to John Birmingham. I have two novels to my credit on that front, Final Impact and Without Warning.

Umm, I know a thing or two about science fiction. Some detractors do not care much for that.

So, welcome to the Pondering Tree. Assholes really aren’t tolerated and if you’re all about political correctness then you are probably in the wrong place. But otherwise, folks are pretty well tolerated around here.

Research Project Number – 04

While Trinity was sleeping last night I completed one chapter and got half way through another. This leaves me with two and a half chapters in the hopper to polish up.

For the benefit of the new readers, just what am I doing? My primary job is to work on the military, historical and tactical issues in this project. However, over the course of time, my role has evolved. I will make editorial changes, add details (especially if I have been to a particular place but the client has not) as well as modify dialogue to a degree. The relationship I have with my client is one akin to the apprentice working under a master. I’m very fortunate to have this relationship and as such I generally tend not to toot my horn about it. These RPN updates are more for the client’s benefit and my own than the general reader who might drop by.

But my basic job is to make sure everything is dress right dress. And when in doubt (which happens) and I can’t find answer(that happens to) I blur things just enough so that most readers won’t be able to tell the difference.

Details can be a double edged sword, I find.

Other Fronts

Pretty lazy day yesterday. Trinity and I went to see the latest Transformers movie with her ex-husband (who seems nice enough). The film was okay I suppose. An enjoyable way to spend a cloudy Fourth of July.

We had dinner at the Pod and a quiet night after.

So it goes.

Respects,
Steven Francis Murphy
Author of The Limb Knitter and Tearing Down Tuesday
North Kansas City, Missouri

Pimpin’ Descended from Darkness: Apex Magazine Volume One

In December of this year, Apex Book Company will publish an anthology containing my short story, The Limb Knitter. The anthology is Descended from Darkness: Apex Magazine Volume One and it contains a number of notable stories from the print and online versions of Apex Digest and Apex Online Magazine.

You know the sales pitch is coming, right?

Why buy?

Reason One: Apex has been supportive of my fiction. Jason Sizemore and his crew purchased The Limb Knitter when other publications passed on it. The story did pretty well to judge by the comments thread and it also did well on the review front. If you ask me, that means Jason and his folks are pretty good judges of fiction.

Reason Two: Apex is a professional paying market. They pay five cents a word which means I was well compensated for a story that is available to you online for free.

Reason Three: The purchase of this anthology will support the continuation of Apex Online Magazine as a going concern.

Reason Four: The cover rocks. Have you seen the cover art?

Reason Five: Apex not only purchased The Limb Knitter, they also republished Tearing Down Tuesday.

Reason Six: You can have a print copy of a story that received an honorable mention in The Year’s Best Science Fiction: 26th Edition.

Reason Seven: You can get a great collection of Apex Stories besides my own.

But the best reason of all?

Well, if you click on the link below this sentence, you’ll give me a tip of sorts. I get a small cut of the profit from each purchase generated by this link.

http://www.apexbookstore.com/products/murphy-descended-from-darkness

Or let us look at it like this.

If you ever wanted to buy me a beer or a box of tea bags to support me in my endeavors, this would be a good way to help out.

So, go order your copy today. Chop chop. Support the starving writer.

Respects,
Steven Francis Murphy
Author of The Limb Knitter and Tearing Down Tuesday
North Kansas City, Missouri