Saturday, March 28, 2009

Why isn't it you?

Warning: whining ahead for the next 150 words.

Has anyone ever broke up with you using the words, "I think you're great, but..." ? Annoying, isn't it? If you're so great, why are you getting dumped?

This week I haven't been dumped (well, there's nobody to be dumped by), but I did get a rejection letter, and it went along exactly the same "You're really wonderful, but..." lines. I can't count the number of rejections I've had with exactly the same sentiments. I think my rejections have offered up more praise than my reviews. I'm a wonderful writer, it's a great story, I'm very talented, you really enjoyed reading it. But.

But.

It's a bit like that Ivor Novello song (yes, I've been watching Gosford Park again). "You've got the lips for me, the hips for me, the feet for me and the beat for me, so tell me why, why isn't it you?"

Well, anyway. Back to books that actually might get bought by someone! {insert name here} finally has an actual name, so I suppose that's progress. Well, he sort of does. I've decided that the Mer don't have names so much as descriptions or titles. When my heroine addresses him as Captain Swann, he's going to tell her that's a bit like being called Major Major.

The story has nearly seven and a half thousand words, although how many of them I'll actually be keeping, I'm not sure. I'm not entirely happy with the tone of it, for one thing: it's missing something that After The Fall had. I've been watching all the commentaries on Dr. Horrible's Sing-along Blog, for inspiration, but maybe I'm looking in the wrong place. I wrote ATF all doped up on misery and intensity from The Devil's Whore, so maybe I need to put that in the DVD player.

It's still called Empire 2, although my list of potential titles is getting longer (is that a good thing? Too much choice?). Maybe I could keep that title. Like with Blur.

4 comments:

  1. It can't be just you, because I get those sort of rejections as well. Took me ages with one publisher to work out that what they actually didn't like was my sense of humour. Why couldn't they just say so?

    Glad Nameless Mer is sorted.

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  2. I've gotten those. I agree, they're worse than the "Thanks, but no." Hang in there. It has to get better. (That's been my motto for the past 2 weeks since my 17 yr old cat died...it'll get better.)

    Hugs,
    Nancy

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  3. Well, all I got with this one was that she really enjoyed the book, but 'just didn't love it'. Helpful. Thanks. Honestly, sometimes I think I'd rather hear that it's terrible.

    NMancy, I'm so sorry about your cat. Having been there all too often, I know how rotten it is: but it will get better, I promise! Do you have/will you get another cat? I found nothing cheered me up when I lost three elderly cats in a row so much as a couple of kittens!

    Hmm...is it reasonable to justify another couple of kittens to get over a rejection letter?

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  4. Actually, I've started looking in the newspapers for kittens for sale. I feel like I should wait a certain amount of time, you know like a mourning period, but the house is so quiet without her. This cat used to greet me at the door like a dog! I had her and her sister, her sister died last year and she died this year, so yes, I definitely need some young blood in the house. I'm really thinking about getting 2 again. And yes, kittens definitely justify rejection letters. LOL!

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