"The Edge of the Sea" got rejected because an editor thought you still had to keep your powder dry.
That looks like a reference to gunpowder. If your powder was wet, no boom, no shootyness. It wasn't until the last...oh...thirty or so years? that you can shoot a gun underwater. Even with the latest guns, it's still not entirely recommended that you do it, but if you do, then clean your gun out thoroughly afterward.
But I researched what real forest rangers do, and how their job works. I've got a degree in biology.
OMG STOP WHORING OUT YOUR DEGREE, WOMAN! IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH ANYTHING THAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT HERE!
I keep reading the, "I've got a degree in biology!" like Pinocchio in Shrek saying, "I'm a REAL boy!"
RE: rejection on the last two lines? Suck it up, lady. That's your own problem. I can understand the want to keep it the way you have it, but don't whine about editors when it's still ultimately your choice for the thing not being published. One of my fellow editing team members had one of the most awesome poems I've read in a while yanked out of the recent anthology because she refused to have the spacing changed on the work because it didn't fit in with the rest of the house style. I can understand the need to keep it the way it was intended, but just remember, it's your call to refuse the changes and thus miss out on the publication opportunity.
From an editing side of things - OMFG, she sounds like a nightmare to deal with. I know that for the editing team that I've been working with at my old uni, we keep getting submissions from authors that really shouldn't even try. The best we can do is just say, "No, sorry - this isn't what we're looking for - however, you can try other avenues of publication and feel free to submit again next year!" I know I've had to tell an author to their face in the nicest possible way that while the story they sent us was good, it wasn't what we were looking to publish. The anthology is about creative poetry and prose, not submitting your school assignments.
I've read some truly eyebleedingly awful things and it's...no. If it doesn't work for what you're trying to put out, then it won't work. QED. Please send us more appropriate material or some different stuff.
One year, we got a creepy ass story about a teacher with little kids. And I mean a really creepy, "omg I feel so grimy having read that" - everyone agreed that it should be set on fire, it pissed off a couple of parents in the committee, including one that was studying to be a teacher. Sure, the story evoked a strong emotional response, but that didn't mean it was very good. It went straight into the rejection pile and the less said about it, the better.
Another gem was one of the worst vampire stories I've ever read. Something about a girl drinking coffee and she wakes up undead and suddenly it's the best thing ever, but it's all drowned with internal monologue of infodumpiness that would make Anita proud.
Course, after slogging through all that, when you find a story that is genuinely well-crafted and you find yourself smiling before you reach the bottom of the first page? Priceless.
LKH would quiver with PH34R if I were her editor.
From an author's POV - holy crap, lady. My mantra is "I am not a writer for the glory, I am a writer for the rejection" because I thrive off of concrit and would rather get torn a new one. I strive to be better rather than dwelling on the past.
Also, if anyone asks me why I write, my only response is, "I just want to write shit that I think is cool," rather than wankify it with "to make sense of things,"
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2006-10-20 04:51 pm (UTC)That looks like a reference to gunpowder. If your powder was wet, no boom, no shootyness. It wasn't until the last...oh...thirty or so years? that you can shoot a gun underwater. Even with the latest guns, it's still not entirely recommended that you do it, but if you do, then clean your gun out thoroughly afterward.
But I researched what real forest rangers do, and how their job works. I've got a degree in biology.
OMG STOP WHORING OUT YOUR DEGREE, WOMAN! IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH ANYTHING THAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT HERE!
I keep reading the, "I've got a degree in biology!" like Pinocchio in Shrek saying, "I'm a REAL boy!"
RE: rejection on the last two lines? Suck it up, lady. That's your own problem. I can understand the want to keep it the way you have it, but don't whine about editors when it's still ultimately your choice for the thing not being published. One of my fellow editing team members had one of the most awesome poems I've read in a while yanked out of the recent anthology because she refused to have the spacing changed on the work because it didn't fit in with the rest of the house style. I can understand the need to keep it the way it was intended, but just remember, it's your call to refuse the changes and thus miss out on the publication opportunity.
From an editing side of things - OMFG, she sounds like a nightmare to deal with. I know that for the editing team that I've been working with at my old uni, we keep getting submissions from authors that really shouldn't even try. The best we can do is just say, "No, sorry - this isn't what we're looking for - however, you can try other avenues of publication and feel free to submit again next year!" I know I've had to tell an author to their face in the nicest possible way that while the story they sent us was good, it wasn't what we were looking to publish. The anthology is about creative poetry and prose, not submitting your school assignments.
I've read some truly eyebleedingly awful things and it's...no. If it doesn't work for what you're trying to put out, then it won't work. QED. Please send us more appropriate material or some different stuff.
One year, we got a creepy ass story about a teacher with little kids. And I mean a really creepy, "omg I feel so grimy having read that" - everyone agreed that it should be set on fire, it pissed off a couple of parents in the committee, including one that was studying to be a teacher. Sure, the story evoked a strong emotional response, but that didn't mean it was very good. It went straight into the rejection pile and the less said about it, the better.
Another gem was one of the worst vampire stories I've ever read. Something about a girl drinking coffee and she wakes up undead and suddenly it's the best thing ever, but it's all drowned with internal monologue of infodumpiness that would make Anita proud.
Course, after slogging through all that, when you find a story that is genuinely well-crafted and you find yourself smiling before you reach the bottom of the first page? Priceless.
LKH would quiver with PH34R if I were her editor.
From an author's POV - holy crap, lady. My mantra is "I am not a writer for the glory, I am a writer for the rejection" because I thrive off of concrit and would rather get torn a new one. I strive to be better rather than dwelling on the past.
Also, if anyone asks me why I write, my only response is, "I just want to write shit that I think is cool," rather than wankify it with "to make sense of things,"
I want to set fire to something right now.