Received another rejection

[CalRazor]

I received another rejection today, this time from Amazon Studios. After sending them my children's series idea, I figured it would stand more of a chance since all they required was a "mini-bible" that contained a series overview/character profiles, and I didn't think I was that great of a script writer to pull off natural sounding and snappy dialogue.

Obviously, I had the classic mixture of pessimism and creeping optimism, and within four days they rejected it. I've been crushed ever since. Not sure why it's bothering me so much. Probably because I'm lucky enough to be supported by my parents who really believe in my writing abilities, so I feel the pressure is on to be a success, however mild. Anyway, just needed to vent and get that out there. At least I got to work on my novel today, and rejection wasn't able to dampen my productivity.

[Cathy C]

Rejections are tough, but they're part and parcel of a writer's life. Saying that, sometimes they're not so easy to shrug off.

Don't give up. Keep on writing. Who knows, maybe the next submission will The One!

[Jo Bannister]

Pressure is good for writers.  It makes us focus on what's important.  Rejections are part of the process.

That being said, why on earth are you submitting material when you yourself don't think you're a good enough script-writer to pull it off?  You're doomed to failure, and you've no one to blame for that but you.

Find a genre that you think you're good at.  You'll probably still get rejections, but at least you're in with the same chance as everybody else.  And don't rely on your parents for too long.  However much they believe in you, it's you that has to believe in your abilities, and you'll only do that once you start flirting with success.

[Lin]

Oh, I don't think you ever get used to rejections, they just make you work harder.  I usually try to discover if any of the feedback was the same and if so I fix it as best I can.  I think it's what makes a good writer. 

I had a really lovely rejection last week from Harper Impulse.  They absolutely loved the story, thought all the characters were great except one and on those grounds they rejected the book.   However, after having had the novel for eight weeks, I felt happy that they had at least read it and in the feedback, it was all positive stuff. This makes a change from all the curt replies you often get. 

I wish you every success and if you need help, we are here.

Lin

 

[CalRazor]

Oh, I don't think you ever get used to rejections, they just make you work harder.  I usually try to discover if any of the feedback was the same and if so I fix it as best I can.  I think it's what makes a good writer. 

I had a really lovely rejection last week from Harper Impulse.  They absolutely loved the story, thought all the characters were great except one and on those grounds they rejected the book.   However, after having had the novel for eight weeks, I felt happy that they had at least read it and in the feedback, it was all positive stuff. This makes a change from all the curt replies you often get. 

I wish you every success and if you need help, we are here.

Lin

Sorry to hear about your rejection! Yeah, it's tough when a rejection hinges on a relatively small thing. And, like you said, rejection can be a positive experience. I recently had a rejection where the editor replied with "your short story was a little too weird for us." It wasn't a rejection that came with the initial email. I had to ask for it. Her response seemed invaluable to me because of the honesty and the fact that she didn't have to do reply at all. Not only that, but I realized I had to be a little bit more discriminating in the places that I chose to submit to.

Pressure is good for writers.  It makes us focus on what's important.  Rejections are part of the process.

That being said, why on earth are you submitting material when you yourself don't think you're a good enough script-writer to pull it off?  You're doomed to failure, and you've no one to blame for that but you.

Find a genre that you think you're good at.  You'll probably still get rejections, but at least you're in with the same chance as everybody else.  And don't rely on your parents for too long.  However much they believe in you, it's you that has to believe in your abilities, and you'll only do that once you start flirting with success.

Yeah, I don't disagree. Rejections are part of the writer's landscape. Not much you can do about that.

As far as why I submitted it, well, again I had enough confidence with the concept of a mini bible to motivation myself enough to write the thing and send it out. But yeah, it's probably best find a genre you're good at. I guess I'm a little confused in that regard. I do think I have a good eye for realizing worlds and populating them with interesting characters in the context of a tv show, but it's hard to say if I can meet the professional standard. I'm also attracted to novel writing, and am in the process of writing one. Sort of a "caught between two worlds dilemma." Not sure which one I should focus on.

This might sound a little strange, but I've always been a little intimidated by what seems to me to be the complex formatting of tv scripts (since I've heard of people being rejected because they didn't "nail" the formatting).

[CalRazor]

Er, is there a button that allows you to edit your posts? I think I used the word "rejection" like 800 times.

[Artemis Quark]

Er, is there a button that allows you to edit your posts? I think I used the word "rejection" like 800 times.

You can edit your posts after reaching Junior status (50 posts). In the meantime, use the Preview button to read your post one last time before posting it.

AQ

[Gyppo]

Rejection won't kill you ;-)  It may make you feel like killing someone else, but that's not really advisable either.  Unless you kill them in a spectacularly horrible way and earn yourself solitary confinement ;-)

A lot of writers make the mistake of sending their work to an unsuitable market.  Only a complete dork would send porn to The Christian Herald, but many writers are nearly as silly.  If a publisher normally sells blood 'n' guts military thrillers they won't be interested in your gentle romance, no matter how well written it might be.  If Jane Austen was writing today Pride and Prejudice would be bounced back virtually unread by Paladin Press.

Some writers get the fond idea that publishers are looking for 'something different'.  In fact most publishers know exactly what they want because they've made their name and their money by selling that same thing over and over again.

What they want is 'the same but different', which isn't so easy for we poor writers to define.

Publishing folklore says twenty-two publishers turned down Frederick Forsyth's Day of the Jackal before it was accepted and became a best seller.  If all you think about is sales figures you may think there must be twenty two publishing houses kicking themselves.  In fact one of the men who turned it down takes great delight, to this day, in saying he did the right thing, because it wasn't suitable for their list.

One could well argue that Freddy didn't research his target market properly.

Publishers know what they're good at.  They know what their sales force are good at selling.  They get rich by playing to their strengths, not by wild gambles.

Gyppo

[G. London]

When Matt Damon went to Hollywood for the first time he said he would give himself 1,000 rejections before hanging it up.

 Just saying that mental toughness is part of the game, because the game is brutal.

An agent or publisher will know substandard work, and how sharp or professional a writer is in about sixty seconds.

Unless your parents are part of the publishing world,  their opinion on your work is not going to help you.  You need to build a professional network of trusted people that can tell you the objective truth on the quality of your work.  That is what will help you.

Your work should be vetted by your network long before it is submitted to anyone.

The good news is that in the internet age there is an abundance of riches available on craft.  Writer's Digest has dozens of books on every craft discipline imaginable.  There are professional blogs on every genre out there.

[DGSquared]

Er, is there a button that allows you to edit your posts? I think I used the word "rejection" like 800 times.

You can edit your posts after reaching Junior status (50 posts). In the meantime, use the Preview button to read your post one last time before posting it.

AQ

Cal, you need to stick around to get to 50. It happens quickly.

~Deb

[HPvD]

Some years ago I worked in telesales making Phone calls to sell
products to Businesess.

One way to look at it that I sometimes used, was to make a possible
assumption about a number of companies you need to address
before you get a sale.

For example when you say something like:

'I expect to need to address at least 25 companies to get a sale'
than when you have a 'NO' you can keep your motivation,
thinking, 'This is my first 'NO', I only need to have 24 more NO's'
before I will get a YES.

Talking about sales we have two online webstores,
with lot's of (Christmas) products you can say - NO - to
something that might have a therapeutic effect...?