The Slush Pile

I have a drawer full of rejection letters for my short stories and manuscripts.  I never throw any of them away.  Some of them are personal notes, some are form letters, some contain advice and some don't.  But the one thing they all have in common is NO.  We don't want your story because . . .

I'm tired of it. 

Hell, I'm a pretty good writer.  I'm better than a lot of people who do get published.  If I didn't know that, there'd be no point in continuing to submit.  The fact of the matter is that most of my stories are just sitting here . . . I'm running out of energy . . . I'm not interested in collecting more rejection letters. 

Here's an interesting blog post that I found (through Tate Hallaway's blog) from someone responsible for sending those rejections out.  I've received a couple from her as a matter of fact.  She confirms the common knowledge that editors don't get beyond the first paragraph most of the time.  It's a few seconds we have to catch the attention of an editor, hold it, introduce the major characters, and set up the plot and conflict.  That's not a lot of time.

For example:

The Greyhound bus’s rumble brought Gwen’s head up from her hammering. She peered out from the sweltering blacksmith shop into the cool October sunshine where the hillsides clung to the red of the New Hampshire fall. Something at the bus caught her eye.
 
A turn of the head, a lift of the chin, a cutting movement of the hand.
 
Lancelot.

--From “Lady of Ashuelot,” by Karen L. Abrahamson, Realms of Fantasy, April 2006

Within three paragraphs I know this is a piece of Arthuriana, and the Greyhound bus lets me know this is taking place in modern times, which while not unheard of is somewhat unconventional for this sub-genre. Gwen working in a blacksmith shop is also unusual for this iconic princess, and all sorts of sensory details add to the New Hampshire setting.

Of course I’m going to keep reading. I know this is different, so I now I want to see what the author plans to do.

I agree that it's compelling.  But it's hard to deliver all that information in a few sentences.  It's hard to do that, write well, and put in the feeling and atmosphere that one is expected to put in.

Here's another:

       

The dragon is dying.
        The city feels it in bones of stone and iron, in scabby concrete skin. The otherkind feel it, a weight in their blood. Even Simon feels it, mortal as he is. The city waits.
The dragon will die, of age or violence, and another will take its place. Someone will eat the dragon’s heart, and take its power. A lot of people are interested in the dragon’s demise.
Some are less patient than others.
Simon crouches in a narrow alley that smells of blood and piss and damp brick. Dark clouds scrape their bellies over the rooftops overhead, heavy with unshed rain and ash from fires that raged the night before. He tastes char with every breath.
A sacrifice. Everyone knows you have to bleed the dragon, or burn.
Simon’s already burned; now he sheds blood.

--From “Snake Charmer,” by Amanda Downum, Realms of Fantasy, October 2006

 The choice of present tense here conveys tension. If the dragon was dying I’d feel as if I could kick back and read along in a leisurely fashion. But when the dragon is dying for an opening line, and when that line comprises the entire opening paragraph for a beast as mythic and powerful as a dragon it makes me sit up a little straighter. Clearly this is important. Over the next few paragraphs the author builds on that tension, further drawing me in with some interesting phrases, such as “scabby concrete skin,” dark clouds that “scrape their bellies,” then building on the belly idea by writing “heavy with unshed rain,” like a pregnant woman ready to go into labor. Some skillful stylistic touches, but she doesn’t get carried away with this, understanding that doing so will draw unnecessary attention to the present tense narration, which happens all too often when authors opt (usually foolishly) for this tense. But between the tension, the tense, the style, and the situation (what are the otherkind and why are does someone want to eat the dragon’s heart?), she’s walking a tightrope in these first few paragraphs. Since she doesn’t fall, I’m perfectly happy to admire.

       

I've just got to get better.  It's like beating your head against the wall . . . all for a couple cents a word.

- rick, discouraged

Comments

[a rose is a rose]

promise me you will NEVER give up. just promise me

[Cele]

Rick, I can tell you two important things about trying and getting published.

1) A great hooking first line is essential.

2) Getting someone to buy your book is a crap shoot that all hangs on what side of the bed some idiot in New York got up on. But make sure you have that great first sentence.

I wish you luck. Your efforts here are always capitivating, compelling, and tense.

[a rose is a rose]

i don't want to cast aspirsions on YOUR blogger's comments section BUT i tried to comment five or six times yesterday and it told me each and every time, i was a SPAMMER

at any rate, all i really wanted to say is

PROMISE ME you will NEVER give up. just promise me

[mabel]

"The dragon is dying"? Seriously? That's an opening line in a book/text? That's worse than the supposedly worst of all opening lines, "It was a dark and stormy night." To be honest, I stopped reading right after that line.

It's true that a good opening line is essential. It's what draws the reader in, obviously, but it's not all that keeps us there. I've read some great opening lines in my time only to then be disappointed by the content in between the beginning and the end. And there are some books that start out sluggishly, but end up being brilliant.

All that to say, don't give up. Part of making it to the top of the heap is being consistent in quality and persistent in submissions. You'll make it!

[julieann henneman]

I hear you. You know I do. I've got my nails filed to scratch your back...send me your stuff and let's have a look-see.
ja

[John]

I know I'm not a writer, but both of those examples feel terribly contrived to me. Sort of like school teachers "teaching to the test".
You've got talent and writing is in your blood. Just keep rolling with it and see where it will take you.

[Douglas Cohen]

Ahem. I'm a "he," not a "she." Mabel, sorry you don't like that opening line, but besides being published in Realms of Fantasy, the story has earned Honorable Mentions and been reprinted in a # of Year's Best anthologies. Clearly it's doing something right.

Douglas Cohen
--Assistant Editor, Realms of Fantasy

[CV Rick]

Yeah, sorry Douglas. I confused you with the former rejector for Realms . . . the one who let a cat piss all over one of my manuscripts and couldn't even send me back my rejection in my SASE because it'd been destroyed by that self-same cat piss. I apologize for confusing you with the cat-piss lady.

[Douglas Cohen]

Yours was the cat-piss manuscript? LOL! (not at you, just at so randomly meeting you). I learned about that strange mishap through some rather random circumstances. Carina hasn't been with the magazine for a while. I've been assistant editor at Realms since May '05. And no worries about giving me a sex change. :) Good luck with your writing.

[CV Rick]

Thanks,

I haven't sent anything to Realms since that incident.