The Foot Firmly Crushed
For an aspiring writer, the one thing worse than waiting is not waiting any more because you’ve received a rejection.
I’ve been compulsively checking my emails since Tuesday half hoping/half dreading to see a response from Louise. And at 1:15 I checked and found one:
Dear Simon
Thank you. I’m sorry I took a while to respond. I represent a small and focused list and my reading days are few. You have the trappings of an interesting story with potential, but it needs work, and I can’t take on the editing process as overall I didn’t fall in love. The storytelling is quite traditional in tone and narrative, and I’m afraid the dialogue doesn’t ring true. I’m sorry, but I am unable to grasp the world you create, and this is so vitally important. You hint at what you’re trying to achieve, but I don’t follow why Sam’s sister and Grandma think they are someone else. To suddenly have grandma “your majesty,” feels contrived, much like the bizarre moment with an old man and a petal; it just forces the plot along. I realise you have been working on this novel for some time, and the market has moved on. It’s difficult to keep up with the current commercial big-sellers, and yet these are what set the bar.
I hate to be a disappointment but of course I am but one subjective view. Another agent might very well have a different opinion. I am sadly not the right agent.
With very best wishes
Louise
It’s not what I’d hoped… I have been imagining her reading the book avidly, chuckling at the funny bits, sobbing uncontrollably at the sad bits and smiling wryly at the wry bits. Occasionally she’d look up from her kindle and shake her head at the fact that this new author had spent so long in the wilderness. I imagined her imagining just how ridiculously successful this novel would be, a defining moment in her career, a world changing publication… Perhaps I was getting ahead of myself.
It’s easy to be bitter, to disagree with what she’s saying, and dismiss her, in her own kind words, subjective opinion. But I won’t be bitter and I’ll take the criticism on the chin. And “grow” stronger.
Today I’m going to print out the first three chapters and send them off to three agencies. I shall go through my previous rejections and find which ones seemed most receptive to my previous advances with Entering The Weave and cross reference that with their response time. I also need to write a snappy synopsis to go with my submission and an engaging covering letter.
So, now that this cathartic rant is over, to work.