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theunmappedstar · 7 months

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will still NEVER be over the fact that kotlc was rejected by so many publishers solely because sophie is a girl. they were convinced the series would never take off because no one would be interested in reading about a female hero.

and this isn’t speculation - shannon admitted on a tour stop i attended that this specific rejection was said to her face. they blatantly admitted that they would not accept, much less offer, a book deal with shannon because her main character is a woman. a fictional main character being female can determine whether or not you get your book published - and that is crazy.

#and not to say it’s anything surrounding those specific publishers attitudes or opinions #it’s just the fact that they are running a business and therefore have to reject people bc having series w female protagonists aren’t—#—guaranteed to make them any profit #kotlc #shannon messenger

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beaft · 9 months

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genuinely curious how does anybody get employed. is it this hard for everyone or am i just uniquely bad at it. everyone talks about "climbing the ladder" meanwhile i am here on the ground staring up at the bottom rung of the ladder that is hanging approximately 20 feet above my head

#i am trying to break into the world of publishing and it is literally fucking impossible even though i have TWO DEGREES IN THE FIELD #i don't even qualify for the juniorest of junior roles #i bet i could apply for the job of 'make coffee for the man who cleans the windows at the publishing house' and i'd still get rejected #nothing against the man who cleans the windows at the publishing house. it's a noble job. i'd do that too if they let me

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sweatermuppet · 2 months

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new years resolution was to get 10 publications this year (any number of poems, just 10 different acceptances) & now it is starting to feel like if or when i get those 10 done, ill be free. like i don't feel ambitious or proud or excited anymore—im trying to get to 10 so i can stop

#got rejected again today. publisher ive been wanting to get accepted with for years :'/#not giving up but i feel tired

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bookshelf-in-progress · 3 days

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"The Princess in the Storm", my flash fiction retelling of "The Princess and the Pea", has been published by Spark Flash Fiction. It's one of my favorite retellings I've written--I had a lot of fun with this fairy tale and these characters in a very short space.

You can read it at the above link, and, if you care to do so, you can vote for me, on the chance that I can get an Amazon gift card out of it.

#the bookshelf progresses #fairy tale retellings #the princess and the pea #when i saw this theme i was obligated to submit something #i submitted three somethings #almost didn't submit this one because i didn't think it had enough romance to fit a romance-centered publication #but it was my favorite so i thought even if it gets rejected they'll get the fun of reading it #it turns out that submitting a story you love is a good way to get published! who knew?#also i'm laughing forever at the cover image #i was like 'i wonder which of the many of the vivid images from this fairy tale they will choose to illustrate with a stock photo?'#'a storm? a castle? piles of colorful blankets?'#nope! pure white bedding!#it's hilarious

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novlr · 14 days

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wronghands1 · 1 year

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#publishing #writing #books #songs #lyrics #literature #authors #rejection #the beatles #critic #music #wrong hands #john atkinson #webcomic #humor #publishers

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worflesbian · 1 month

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im about to fall asleep but first of all are there any deanna scholars who can tell me what her qualifications are namely does she have a PhD or would it be in character for her to pursue one? cause I feel like what with her not wearing uniform til tng s7 she's not really counted among the science blues but psychology is a science right? so she's a scientist? part of me feels like she was relegated out of the scientist role due to sexism but then also part of me feels like focusing on being a practicing counselor rather than research scientist is like a career choice that rejects elitism and could be an important character point. also judging by how Ezri was written there's a precedent for trek writers having a tenuous grasp of what a counselor actually does sometimes so.

#does this character reject societal notions of what success should look like (published papers etc). in favour of working directly with peop #or did the writers think a woman should help people with their feelings without showing her do things like write a thesis on how feelings w #if anyone has information. lore. beta canon. please let me know!#ghitlhpu'wij #deanna

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highabovethecloudssomewhere · 2 months

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sorry for going AWOL and for the lack of content guys I sort of went insane and wrote a book

#I wrote 75000 words in January and have been doing cleanup ever since #cloud rambles #it is technically the fourth (final) draft but two of the drafts didn’t reach 20k and the third draft was a 55k screenplay #hopefully I’ll be able to send it to agents next year #after the beta trial #we’ll see #if I get rejected 100 times I’m switching to self publishing #it currently sits at 90000 words

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dollsome-does-tumblr · 6 months

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so, the most recent novel i managed to actually finish writing, three long years ago, was the book of my absolute lifelong dreams and most of the time i just leave it sitting on my computer and pretend it doesn't exist because i feel too tenderly about it and i'm too proud of it and it's agony to me. these feelings are, for whatever reason, unbearable hell. but like once a year i work up the courage to reread it, and every time i'm like, "god DAMN! who wrote this?? this is exactly what i've wanted to read my whole life!!!!!!! it's simply delightful!" and then i remember that oh yeah, it's me!

#i feel like i should vow to try to query this thing like 50 times just because i love it so much and i owe it to my own love of it #and then when i get rejected because it's 155k and that's insane (but it NEEDS TO BE!) i can at least say i tried #i don't get what it says about me that i wrote the book of my dreams and now i'm too embarrassed so i pretend it doesn't exist #instead of trying to get it published #as it is apparently my lifelong goal to be a published novelist #why is my brain wired this way!??!?!?!?!#i think i'm just too scared that everyone else will hate it and it will hurt my feelings too much because it's so me #it is truly and completely my sweet little baby #and it has the same word count as jane austen's emma which i only discovered after i finished writing it #fate!!!!!!!#dollsome's deep thoughts #it's my birthday so i'm allowing myself this really self-indulgent post #getting older and still never being a (non-self-) published novelist: the story of me

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zu-zup · 3 months

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Makin progress!!!

#im on like page 90 out of uhhh #around 160? iirc #should i be working on this rn? probably not. i have other shit #but.#i recently got a motivation boost to do this so might as well take advantage of my undue confidence djjxjkdk #also im waitin on any news from the publishers....guys... cross ur fingers for me theyll either reject or accept me but #i feel like ill find out which one it is soon #my art #do czterech razy sztuka #fourth time's the charm

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compacflt · 1 year

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my apologies if this is too simple or juvenile or personal a question but HOW did you become such a proficient writer? and do you have any tips or pointers to keep in mind? i know you must do a lot of reading and a lot of writing, but your skill is just incredible to me. your prose!! your cadence!! when we get around to talking about it is genuinely one of the best things i've ever read and i'd eat it if i could!!!

this ask was so sweet thank you!! rly made my day when i needed a boost. Hope you don’t mind i took a couple days to think about it cause no one’s ever asked me for writing advice before

idk how i became a “proficient” writer bc I really don’t write that much. something about my fic gave me brainworms and i went into overdrive but that’s…not my usual MO. which is why it’s weird for me too. admittedly i am studying english/creative writing as my second major at uni, but i haven’t learned anything in any of my classes you couldn’t learn by just reading and writing on your own. honestly i should’ve stuck with my IR major instead, i find structured cw classes a complete waste of time. but here are some little tips i thought of that would’ve helped ME:

This is more a “do as I say not as I do” because I’m really bad at habits like this, but keep a diary. You can write about the big events (went to the store, did homework, got laid etc.) but that’s boring—focus on the details (watched someone at west side market throw a glass bottle of olives at a rat, broke a pen and permanently stained my dorm desk and won’t get my deposit back which pissed me off because I move out in a week, this guy’s breath smelled like lemon pledge and it made me wonder if he drank window cleaner before kissing me etc.). Real life is really interesting! How can you write about interesting real life in an interesting way? It’s a good way to practice. You don’t have to do a big reflection at the end of the day or anything. It’s okay to jot down something you saw & then immediately forget about it. It’s the act of figuring out how to translate life into words that’s important

If you type, learn how to type FAST. This is just my experience, but I think typing faster makes your cadence, clause length, dialogue, IDEAS flow better/more naturally. We think in words/sentences, not letters.

This is a super lame tip that’ll make you roll your eyes, but read poetry. Poetry is all about how words/ideas/images sound and interact with each other. Don’t get hung up on one poet—im not really recommending any for precisely this reason—read poetry you love (for me, Ada Limón, Jack Kerouac, Frank O’Hara, ghazals etc) AND read poetry you hate (for me, Rupi Kaur, Emily Dickinson, Whitman, etc)! Read all genres you can get your hands on. (I think there are like “great poetry anthologies” you can find for free online if u don’t know where to start. Also you can’t go wrong with subscribing to/reading a variety magazine like the NYer. It’s pretentious but it exposes you to all kinds of weird topics, ways of writing about them, etc.) Figure out how certain combinations of words and punctuations make you FEEL, and why, and why the writer chose (or not) to make you feel that way. Figure out which literary sounds you like and which ones you don’t. For me, i figured out that I REALLY like alliteration, comma splices, zeugmas, the rule of three, and

“he’s [verb]ing again… yeah compacflt’s characters are [verb]ing again… big shocker”

If you have an idea for a piece, figure out what it is you really want to get out of it—to say something? to experiment with a different style? to see your fav characters do something? to have fun?—and then figure out how, on a technical level, you should write to match that goal (this is where the poetry training comes in handy). If you’re just writing to have fun, don’t listen to any writing advice (incl. mine), because most of it is bullshit and over-generalized and will make you feel bad about yourself. Just take the advice that you think will work for what YOURE trying to write.

But if you’re writing to explore some political idea, then you should think about HOW to best write about that idea. What would be a convincing story/allegory/scene to engage with this idea vs. not convincing. I talk on this blog all the time about how disappointed I am that my very-adult-grown-up attempt to deal with the dynamic of “immovable internalized homophobia vs unstoppable falling in love anyway” is rendered a little childish/immature by some pretty unconvincing plot points like the characters buying a house together—I really should have considered how that plot point would interact with the characterizations I’d built already (hint: poorly). You can think of writing as kind of a military structure if that helps—you have strategy on the overarching campaign (plot/character growth/allegory/theme) level, the battle (scene that advances the above) level, and the tactical (sentence-level construction/syntax/wording) level. They all have to work together. If a scene is failing to properly engage with the idea you’re trying to convey, you’re losing a battle that will weaken the overarching campaign. Same thing if you choose a weird word in a sentence/write in a style or tone that’s weirdly out of place with your idea—it makes your engagement with the theme/idea less convincing. just try to be purposeful and consider your strategy on all levels of your work as you’re writing it!! At the very least it’ll make editing easier lol.

But then again when I read my own writing from just a couple months ago I cringe out of my skin, so like—just also accept that it’s a process and we’re all just making it up as we go along. Be proud of being embarrassed of your old work, because it means you’re growing. Own that shit. When I finished writing WWGATTAI i thought it was the best thing I’d ever written, and maybe it was. But since the day I finished working on it, it’s the worst thing I’ve written since then. That’s a great feeling. Not to be like writing grindset obviously bc it’s supposed to be fun—but if what you want is to get better at writing, the strategy is to WRITE a whole bunch of shit, and then own your embarrassment about how much you’ve grown since you started. And know you’re still always growing and learning. there should never be any “goals” where skills are concerned 👍🏽

#fake it till u make it #the good part about fiction is all you’re really doing is makin shit up #no rules!!!#fiction is just trying to sell a lie right #so it’s all on a sliding scale of convincability (at least that’s how i judge fiction)#and figuring out how to convince people of your lie is where the art is #anyway.#not top gun #asks #writing tips #idk how to tag this #also i love ao3 because trying to get published traditionally genuinely made me hate writing/MY writing #i have indeed had the cliche 100+ form rejection letters experience #unfortunately writing is also one of those things where you can see it as a competition so easily #(admittedly a small part of why i don’t read other TG fics—i don’t wanna read people doing it better than me😭)#BUT you tailor your experience to have a healthy life. it’s not a competition if you don’t make it one. put yourself first

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ebookporn · 2 months

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There Is No Point in My Being Other Than Honest with You: On Toni Morrison’s Rejection Letters

by Melina Moe

“I FOUND IT extremely honest, forthright, and moving in ways I had not expected it to be,” Toni Morrison wrote to an aspiring novelist in 1977, “but it is a shuddering book and one that offers no escape for any reader whatsoever.” Still, Morrison, then a senior editor at Random House, liked the manuscript so much that, before responding, she passed it around the office to drum up support. The verdict was “intelligent,” but also “very ‘down,’ depressing, spiritually abrasive.” Whatever the merits of the writing, Morrison’s colleagues predicted, the potent mix of dissatisfaction, anger, and mournfulness would limit the book’s commercial appeal—and Morrison reluctantly agreed. “You don’t want to escape and I don’t want to escape,” her letter concludes, “but perhaps the public does and perhaps we are in the business of helping them do that.”

During her 16 years at Random House, Morrison wrote hundreds of rejection letters. Usually typed on pink, yellow, or white carbonless copy paper, and occasionally bearing Random House’s old logo and letterhead, these are now filed among her correspondence in the Random House archives at Columbia University’s Rare Book & Manuscript Library. While many of the letters were mailed to New York, Boston, and even Rome, others were sent to writers in more obscure places; some are addressed to “general delivery” in various small towns across the United States.