Top 10 Rejections at The Colored Lens - Part ll
If you're wondering why your short story or novel got rejected, you may find some answers in this article. You can read part one here
#4 Growth or transition
This is overlooked so often. We get a story, it’s leading somewhere, there’s definitely a plot, but by the end we’re all… and? So what? The character learned nothing, did nothing of any true significance in response to events, and nor did anyone else.
Transition doesn’t necessarily have to happen within the main character — they could learn nothing — but if it doesn’t, it should happen either within the other characters or their society, or within the reader. A new understanding that frames the story in a different light, for example. We should gain deeper insight to either our real world or the story world. There has to be some kind of change in order for the story to resonate and earn its value.
#5 Authenticity.
Any contrived situations, motivations, dialogue, or characters will scream their presence on the page. Don’t shoehorn. It makes our bunions play up, causing us to wince. Wincing is never good, especially if it’s your writing on the receiving end.
Authenticity also includes preaching. It’s okay for your characters to have opinions on morals, current affairs, politics, etc., but if your story is merely a cover for you to corner us and jab your finger in our faces just to tell us all that’s wrong with the world, or a particular corner of it, it will sound insincere, ranty, and very off-putting. If there is an underlying message in your words, let it filter through your story organically, through the portrayed actions and themes. Don’t lecture us.
#6 Nothing happens.
Yes, this happens (ha-ha – get it?). Even if your submission has a plethora of beautiful, descriptive language and your world building is to be applauded, if your story is devoid of plot we’ll likely pass. That’s not to say we wouldn’t ever publish a vignette (never say never), but most submissions that have no plot are not conscious, nor successful, attempts at vignettes.
#7 Relationships.
Make sure they are well developed. Flimsy relationships come under some of the other reasons listed in this article – depth, authenticity and endings, but it deserves a mention of its own.
A romance needs to be natural, organic. Couples who fall in love because they have simply been placed in a room together by the author don’t ring true. Women who are in thrall to a man, and therefore engage ‘romantically’ with them, because they are under a spell, robotically programmed to adore him or are in any way obliged, forced or taken advantage of does not translate as romantic. More like icky. Even more so if the person receiving the benefits of the forced relationship is okay with it and doesn’t realise it’s morally corrupt. And the same goes for men in thrall to women too. Or any other genders for that matter.
But it’s not just about the ick-factor, this is also about characterisation. If your MC doesn’t engage in their on-stage romance in a convincing way, it only reflects a blind spot on his character. Whomever your protagonist falls in love with shines a light on that protagonist too. To not know why the MC loves who s/he loves denies your character a facet of his or her personality.
However, let’s not leave it only at sexual relationships. ANY relationship in a story needs to be believable.
Come back next Monday for the last post in this series on rejections. And if you missed the first part of my fiction dissection series, you can read it here
