Reject! Reject! Reject!

[Geoff_N]

BTW, Geoff, do you participate in the flash challenge here?

Go on, Sharon (Why Shay all of a sudden? LOL), make me feel even more guilty. I should contribute more, I know. Too darned busy poking around at BeWrite, constructing writing diagrams of my next novel, revising current WIP, editing other people's work blah de blah.  I have scribbled a flash inspired by a simple phrase in another writer's piece. She'd written how a word spoken by her lover seemed to hover between them, uncertain whether to reach across the table. (Abstractions such as that make me buzz - and I reach for the nearest pencil even if some stuffy editors call it self-indulgent narrative intrusion!).

So the long answer, Sharon, is no. Maybe next time. You?

Geoff

[Dan]

Geoff - just to take this off topic - you said you went to the writer's con in Winchester last year - how was that? I was thinking of going this year, but decided against it (I might goto Fantasy Con instead...).

What you reckon about conventions - useful or no?
Bringing it back to the original post - surely meeting and greeting editors, publishers, published authors may give you a big hand up getting published?

[Geoff_N]

Geoff - just to take this off topic - you said you went to the writer's con in Winchester last year - how was that? I was thinking of going this year, but decided against it (I might goto Fantasy Con instead...).

What you reckon about conventions - useful or no?
Bringing it back to the original post - surely meeting and greeting editors, publishers, published authors may give you a big hand up getting published?

Dan, it's the main reason I go. And I might go to Fantasy Con too - again.  At Winchester its a bit of a meeting of friends after so many years - we swap reject notes    But I have an all-day SF/F course with an established author, JC Grimwood. So that must be worth the money on its own. Let me know if you definitely going to Fantasy Con?

Geoff

[Ed]

(Why Shay all of a sudden? LOL

Dunno if you've noticed, Geoff - but we've got two Sharons, now.  Hence one has opted to call herself 'Shay' 

[Ed]

Re changing your MC to an American character to be more publishable - that's really annoying.  Everything seems to be getting Americanised lately - even more than ever.  Soon Americans will feel at home wherever they go, because everything will be the same, the world over.  There's even a McDonalds in Tianamin Square now, isn't there? (sp?)

Not content with Hollywood re-writing the history books, now they're starting on the fiction, too?

Where will it end?   France would be my bet....

[sharon]

BTW, Geoff, do you participate in the flash challenge here?

Go on, Sharon (Why Shay all of a sudden? LOL), make me feel even more guilty. I should contribute more, I know. Too darned busy poking around at BeWrite, constructing writing diagrams of my next novel, revising current WIP, editing other people's work blah de blah.  I have scribbled a flash inspired by a simple phrase in another writer's piece. She'd written how a word spoken by her lover seemed to hover between them, uncertain whether to reach across the table. (Abstractions such as that make me buzz - and I reach for the nearest pencil even if some stuffy editors call it self-indulgent narrative intrusion!).

So the long answer, Sharon, is no. Maybe next time. You?

Geoff

Blunt already answered about the name.  Thanks Blunt.

Yah, making you feel a wee bit guilty was the whole intention, Geoff    I want ye to post in our Doom Flash Challenge #66...ah, but being so busy I know it must be difficult to post in every challenge.  I'm on three other forums (I'm a critter on each of them), don't do editing for others but I do have a couple friends in the UK that I critique novels/short stories for and they do the same for me.  It's amazing when you think about it.  Writers I've met all multi-task on a grand scale--it's the way of life for them and they'd be lost without all these different tasks. 

Let the stuffy editors call it what they like!  It's your inspiration and your story after all.   Good luck with your next novel and all your work, Geoff.

Me?  Oh, yah!  I jump into these little flash challenges every chance I get.  Never miss an opportunity to pull out me hair and bang me head against the desk    If ye can get around to it, work the word "sliver" into something under 300 words and post it, if not, I'll catch ye next time round...

Shay

[sharon]

Re changing your MC to an American character to be more publishable - that's really annoying.  Everything seems to be getting Americanised lately - even more than ever.  Soon Americans will feel at home wherever they go, because everything will be the same, the world over.  There's even a McDonalds in Tianamin Square now, isn't there? (sp?)

Not content with Hollywood re-writing the history books, now they're starting on the fiction, too?

Where will it end?   France would be my bet....

...or the ninth circle of hell (the one they americanized, of course  )

[SharonBell]

Re changing your MC to an American character to be more publishable - that's really annoying.  Everything seems to be getting Americanised lately - even more than ever.  Soon Americans will feel at home wherever they go, because everything will be the same, the world over.  There's even a McDonalds in Tianamin Square now, isn't there? (sp?)

Not content with Hollywood re-writing the history books, now they're starting on the fiction, too?

Where will it end?   France would be my bet....

God, I hope it ends soon! I love to travel, and why travel if it's all the same? We're in Victoria, and seeking out those special dining spots that the locals call their own and went to a Canadian play last evening (wonderful!). I know we're kissing cousins here, but it's different country, for heaven's sake and I like it that way. It's creepy to see the same stores everywhere in the mall in Victoria as in Maryland--except the Hudson Bay Store, of course...

[littlelaniec]

Aagh, can't believe I just wrote a post and hit the wrong button, deleting it!

Anyway, what I said was, in the past, I received enough rejects I could paper my wall. Only once, did I actually receive a reason, other than 'not in the market for' from an editor. She said: 'The heroine was too whimpy, whiney and indecisive'. OUCH! And, the thing was, it wasn't even written as a constructive criticsm but like a bi*** on PMS!! I wrote back and 'thanked her' for her imput. Of course, she never respnded.

Six years ago, I entered a contest, writing a short Star Trek story. All stories excepted got published in a Trek short stories book. I entered a few of them. Never received the decency of any rejection or acceptance. That very fall, on Voyager, WAS MY STORY!!! They even had the same title: JUNIOR Q. The difference was, my junior was four years old, their's was 16. My husband and friends said I should have done something, but I'm always afraid to make any noise like that for fear I'd get black listed as an author with publishers.

This is why now, I prefer self-publishing. The author has control of their work. The only set back is, the author has to do a lot of leg work to promote their work. And, my legs aren't working well of late.

Lanie

Lanie's Gothic Tales
http://laniesgothictales.wtcsites.com

[Ed]

I think it's a shame that aspiring writers don't get more feedback from the markets they submit to.  I know there are time constraints that make it impractical for editors to go into great detail, but surely to god it would only take them a few seconds to write a line of constructive criticism.  Even straight out criticism is better than no feedback at all. 

A while ago, I read 'On Writing' by Steven King and, in it, he says the criticism he received from editors was the most valuable learning tool he ever had.  But he also said the notes only began to come back after he'd submitted multiple times.  I guess the editors wanted to make sure he was more than a chancer with a single story to tell - somebody worth spending the time on.

We're in the position now where there are probably too many markets for fiction and many of the amateur editors haven't got any more of a clue than the writers who sub to them, which could lead to a downward spiral in overall publishing quality, but then it could also go the other way, too.  Interesting times.