Hello, writers. So when I mentioned last week that I'm planning to spend this winter in a house without an internet connection, you maybe got that I'm looking forward to that. (At least if we can figure out a way to make Write On! work.) The internet gets in the way of writing.
I'm perfectly capable of sitting down at the computer in the morning, getting online, and looking up to see the sun has set. This happens not just occasionally, but frequently.
Right now, the internet is the biggest of the things that keeps me from writing.
Neil Gaiman said that anything that helps you write is probably good, and anything that keeps you from writing is probably bad. You only have to think about this for five seconds to see that it's terrible life advice. But in writing, at least, it's good to be aware of what helps you and what doesn't.
Here's a thing that's helped me a lot, and that I think helps writers generally:
Rejection.
This is a big one. We all need rejection to learn. If the publishing business wasn't competitive, we wouldn't have to raise our game. Admittedly, form rejections are dismal. Back when I first started getting rejected, in the early Pleistocene, a typical form rejection was
We regret to inform you that your material does not suit our present needs. We hope you will be successful in placing it elsewhere.
Nowadays a typical form rejection reads
I'm afraid I didn't fall in love with the story to the extent that I would need to in order to be an advocate for it here at [publisher].
Form rejections help us in only one way. They make us realize we have to write something that stands out from the pack.
(By the way, editors and agents don't like to use the word rejection any more. They call it “passing”, which sounds like a euphemism for death. Writers still call it rejection.)
Next after form rejections come the rejections-with-a-nugget-of-information. Here's an example of one of those:
I'm afraid existential vampire slapstick comedy just isn't selling right now.
The above, by the way, is a
very common reason for rejection. Sometimes there's nothing wrong with the story or the writing. It's just that it's not what's selling. So if the publisher publishes it, they might lose money. Publishing is a business, after all.
Then comes the Holy Grail of rejections: The actual specific information about why they're rejecting your story:
While you have an interesting setting and some fascinating facts about Bronze Age vampirism (perhaps almost too many fascinating facts?) I had trouble connecting with Lulu as a character. Perhaps it was because all of the dialogue was written in Proto-Indo-European. Although I admire your ability to sustain this for 1,473 pages, I'm afraid I found it somewhat distancing.
This stuff is gold. Not only does it mean you've made major progress (only about 2% of rejections include this sort of information) but it's also useful for learning.
The final stage of rejection is almost an anti-climax after the Specific Information stage. It's this one.
While I'm afraid Grave Misdemeanors: A Picaresque Vampire Miscellany didn't work for me, I hope that you will query me again with your next project.
Bingo. Someone in publishing thinks you've got what it takes. Despair no more, but write on!
(By the way, when you send them the next thing you write, more often than not they end up not taking it. But that doesn't matter in the long run. If one editor or agent thinks you've got it, others will probably also notice.)
Anyway, so rejection helps me write. Has helped me write. Continues to help me write.
There's probably a point where one no longer gets rejected. But it probably comes long after the point where anything with your name on it is a guaranteed #1 bestseller. Most working authors get rejected, I think, more often than they get accepted.
What helps you write? What doesn't help you write? Think about one of each for tonight's challenge:
A Callow Youth and his/her Stout Companion are trapped in a high tower. There's a window through which they can climb, if they feel like falling 120 feet onto sharp rocks. The only other exit is the spiral staircase, up which is coming
[something that keeps you from writing]
They are at the point of being destroyed by this nefarious force, when they are rescued by
[something that helps you write]
If the above doesn't work for you, feel free to write the opening scene of
Grave Misdemeanors: A Picaresque Vampire Miscellany.
Write On! will be a regular weekly diary (Thurs 8 pm ET) until it isn't.
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