Over at BookEnds, Blagent Jessica is pondering why some rejected writers respond in anger to her rejections. This site really cracks me up. I love the characterization of writers as either newbies or frustrated/end-of-rope authors, or arrogant writers. I particularly like the idea that the sharing of angry reactions to rejection letters might "add an astonished smile to my day."
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Your Rejection Made Me Snap
Over at BookEnds, Blagent Jessica is pondering why some rejected writers respond in anger to her rejections. This site really cracks me up. I love the characterization of writers as either newbies or frustrated/end-of-rope authors, or arrogant writers. I particularly like the idea that the sharing of angry reactions to rejection letters might "add an astonished smile to my day."
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25 comments:
I took a look at what Jessica DOES like -- the fiction she publishes -- and we have nothing in common. I don't respect her taste.
Saying you're an editor or an agent doesn't mean you have any ability in perceiving what is of worth.
The hard part for a writer is finding an editor who has the same sensibility as you do.
Maybe the top tier of agents/editors are on the same wave length as I am, but they are inaccessible.
Meanwhile, formulaic junk gets published, and who selects this stuff?
I took a look at what Jessica DOES like -- the fiction she publishes -- and we have nothing in common. I don't respect her taste.
Saying you're an editor or an agent doesn't mean you have any ability in perceiving what is of worth.
Not that Jessica's blog post had anything to so with what she likes or with her taste. You're just latching in to her list to declare that, gee, Jessica (and all other non-top tier agents) "are a bunch of idiots..." just as Jessica noted some people do.
So, W,R, other than new writers, arrogant writers, and frustrated writers, what other sorts of writers have the sort of flip outs Jessica is talking about (and you enable)?
How about SFF writers who make cameos to literary blogs to inflate themselves up with unjustifiable self-importance?
Yeah, it's funny how agents get a few shits and giggles out of our pain.
How about SFF writers who make cameos to literary blogs to inflate themselves up with unjustifiable self-importance?
Ooooh, literary, yes. So VERY different and so much, what is it? Better? Ha.
It's not any harder to publish in literary magazines. I've done it three times this year so far.
NM: Your next novel should be about a guy who,instead of a head, has this enormous button, and how horrible it is, because whenever he leaves the house other people push it. Talk to your agent. You might even be able to pitch it as a memoir of sorts.
Anonymous at 2 AM (whose post I deleted): Please re-post an edited version of your comment avoiding blunt, offensive language. This is a family blog. If you have any questions, read rules 3 & 4 from the side bar.
Your next novel should be about a guy who,instead of a head, has this enormous button, and how horrible it is, because whenever he leaves the house other people push it.
I accept your admission that in fact you have no idea what you're talking about when it comes to either SFF or professional behavior in the face of rejection.
Thanks for sharing.
W,R: nice hypocrisy. Since when is "stupid fat fucks" "family friendly", even with a demure asterick?
Yes, indeedy, that's the problem with censorship. It is pure hypocrisy. That's why you should all just police your own ids, and I wouldn't have to get involved.
But, anyway, since I am in the position of judging, I found that a phrase concerning sticking a certain anatomical part in a certain ambiguous apparatus sounded (unintentionally perhaps) a bit like rape, so I deleted it. Whereas, everyone reading this blog is going to assume that he or she is NOT an SFF. But the criteria is entirely random and subjective and indeed hypocritical....kind of like literary rejection/acceptance.
NM: Do you always wake up on the hostile side of the bed? Just wondering, rhetorically, of course.
what are these 3 stories you got published, NM, care to share some links? (yes, i'm assuming these are webzine creds)
here, let me answer that for you and save you time...
why should i bother linking my stories for you anonytard buffoons. if you had any brain cells you could easily find them yourselves since i'm so famous and awesome that my stories have definitely not been published in any obscure-as-hell web zines.
Actually, two of them were published in the last two issues of subTERRAIN, nos. 51 and 52. Obscure? Perhaps, but it is also a paying magazine that has been around for twenty years and which I've found on several newsstands (Fog City News here in SF; at the Union Square Barnes and Noble in Manhattan.)
The third was online; it is in the latest issue of Per Contra, which doesn't strike me as very obscure a webzine. It is dedicated to international work, one of its stories is a finalist for the Million Writers Award (with a cash prize) and Per Contra itself is a paying venue (7¢ a word).
It is pretty funny though, that some anonymous person is taking me to task for hiding information, especially when all this info is publicly available. (I have a very Googlable surname at the very least.)
How about you, ace? Got a name?
reverse psychology, works every time.
-ace
Plot twist: The more you press the button on the man's head, the bigger the button gets, and thus the bigger the head too.
"Reverse psychology"? More like projection.
Just because you are either unpublished or so poorly published you won't reveal your identity or show your stuff doesn't mean that real writers feel that way as well.
What does Nick Mamatas (NM) have up his butt?
"Real writers"? Give me a break.
BTW, NM might sleep, but is probably too busy coming over here acting arrogant and making other writers feel bad.
Here's a question, WR: Wouldn't you rather be anonymous but a decent fellow, than named and a douche bag?
Seriously, dudes. Quit with the nasty name calling, will you?
But these NM threads are the most ineteresting. On this one, he seems to have come out swinging, but there is a pretty good give and take. I have a soft spot for NM that I can't quite explain...
Plot twist: the button head gets bigger too when you stroke it, not just press it.
As we move from fantasy into another genre altogether...
To add my two cents: it seems NM has achieved a lot more than his detractors – unless, they would like to prove otherwise.
What makes you think it's just unpublished writers who drop by this blog? You shouldn't assume because you make an ass out of u and me.
It looks like Nico's livejournal fan base has followed him to LROD, like fleas on a rat. His detractors/tormentors have the sense to keep their real names to themselves. In that, as well as in the publishing world (we are published authors here), they have achieved more than him.
Also, you might want to review your Psych 101 notes, Nico. That was a classic reverse psychology set up, not projection. Getting you to cough up the 3 creds by mocking your refusal. Very efficient anon 5:35.
What is the central conflict in this story of the button? People start getting tired of pushing the button because it's too easy, and also the button becomes so huge and disgusting that they don't want to touch it either. And then button head's life has no point unless he can somehow make the button smaller and harder to push.
Finale: He is cornered by a pack of enormous wolves who all want to press his button head, but will NM manage to draw his special sword and, conquering his attackers, reduce his head size and win the woman with nipples hard as bullets?
Geez, I thought button was a sexual innuendo. My plot was all porno, but I'm smutty that way.
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