Top 10 Rejections at The Colored Lens - Part l
If you are reading this, you're probably sick of sitting in the publishing shadows , stacking up the rejection slips and wondering when an editor will see you for the talented writer you truly are.
Perhaps you are doing the rounds in the short fiction markets and not getting a lot of joy, or perhaps you haven't yet plucked up the courage to submit your first story.
If your situation is in any way similar to these, this article has been written with you in mind, to give you some idea of what goes on in the inside track.
Let's just be clear: this is no guarantee you'll be published. Selling your writing is a little like being a street corner drug dealer -- you can hustle your wares to all who pass by, but not everyone will be into your shit.
However, it could also be that you are missing some important components in your stories that you just can't see on your own. And the problem with most fiction markets is that they simply don't have the time to give you the feedback that you so desperately crave, so that you have a shot at fixing the weaker parts and allowing the strengths to shine in the way they deserve.
So here we are - part one of a three part article on our most common reasons for rejection at the mag.
Originally, I was going to list off a quick top ten and have done with it in a short post, but once I put it to The Colored Lens team for discussion, I realised this was going to be a far more in-depth subject than first thought, hence the reason for chopping it up.
#1 Under-Revision.
This is absolutely top of the pile. But under-revision is such a broad scope, so let me narrow it down:
Poor presentation, grammar and punctuation skills.
Yes, this is the daddy. There may be a belief out there that an editor will see past imperfect presentation and recognise the rough gem of a story underneath, but this isn’t true. Why? Because we’ll be so busy tripping over all the scruffiness we can’t see the story, or the characters.
Writing is about communicating clearly and effectively not convoluting your meaning. Harsh? Maybe. But it’s the nature of the beast. You’re a writer. This is supposed to be your skill set. Use paragraph breaks, make sure you use the correct tenses and subject-verb agreements. And – purleeese – use correct punctuation, especially when using dialogue. We don’t mind a few tyos – typos – nor a few errant commas, or deliberate stylistic choices (as long they work). However, all-round bad presentation of the above skills will not garner much reading time.
Most people have a grammar checker on their word processing software that can pick up basic errors, and if not, or you want something that will do a better job, there are online grammar checkers available. Like this one here.
Learn to be your own editor.
Focus.
If your story lacks direction, or has so many road signs we don’t know which one we’re supposed to follow, and when we do it leads nowhere, it will come across as messy. Also, that you didn’t pay enough attention to all the plots you threaded in. Make sure if you start a sub plot – be that an emotional, a mystery, or even a thematic one - you see it through from beginning, through the middle, to the end. Don’t start something and leave it flapping in the breeze, and don’t introduce a plot element right near the end that had barely a prior mention.
Consistency.
Don’t inadvertently contradict yourself. Simple.
Unintentional ambiguities.
These are just the most common editing flaws, but most reasons for rejection can come under the heading of ‘under-revised’. Don’t let your supercool concept be shooed away because you didn’t give it the attention it deserved. Go; revise one more time. Maybe even two. And get someone else to read it before you sub.
#2 Endings.
Oh endings. So often do we talk about flat endings, or endings that just didn’t work. The onus seems to fall so heavily on strong beginnings that poor old endings often get overlooked. This can be for a multitude of reasons, but common problematics are:
Surprise endings that had no foreshadowing.
Characters who have no motivation for their actions. More so if they brought about the final denouement. Foreshadowing usually helps here.
Not caring enough about the characters to care what happens to them at the end (this one is probably top).
Chocolate-box endings (as in, nicely wrapped up in pretty gold paper and placed in perfectly symmetrical moulded boxes and everyone is happyyyyy.)
A climax and resolution that comes about without any or enough struggle for the characters – Don’t make things too easy! Make it difficult for your hero/ine to escape the monster. Make it so we don’t know if they will escape. And be sure the drama of the story rises with the climax.
A brief climax. This is even more infuriating if the story is several thousand words long, but it happens. Please don’t make us read thousands of words only to treat the climax as an unimportant event deserving minimalist attention. Your climax is what the whole story is building towards. Make it big, or profound. It can be subtle, but make it matter.
#3 Pacing
Or rambling, more to the point. Many stories we receive don’t make the cut because, although we like a lot about them, they are 1k or 2k too long. Cut out the fat, tighten the pacing, and we’re good to go.
Conversely, stories that move too fast get chucked out of the boxing ring too. They run the risk of suffering plot or character underdevelopment. And yes, therein lays the conundrum for the writer: balance.
Does any of the above ring true in your writing? Come on - be honest! And come back next Monday for part II.
Also...
This Friday my scalpel will be poised in the fiction dissection lab - a series where I will be studying the techniques and nuances of The Girl With a Pearl Earring. Even if the story is not for you there's so much for writers to learn from this book!
