Linkage

Nancy Kress compares writing preferences to eating habits. hmm, I think I lean more towards the seasonal gorger. I eat that way too, really. Interesting, she might be on to something here. Everyone else?

Joe Nassise on Storytellers Unplugged has started a series on story beginnings; this time he talks about establishing sympathy witht the lead. This is overall a handy site, I quite like it, although my interest in the articles wax and wane.

Janet Reid – ten tips on query letters. And on what works in queries.

Good question – author promotion: what works for you and what doesn’t?

Writer Beware: what slice of the book pie does internet sales take? Very informative, definitely a huge surge in the amount of sales via the internet the last couple years, but I agree with them that the net will never entirely replace physical stores (and I would hope they don’t). Maybe just me, but I just don’t see the need for the two to be in competition. Both a bookstore in RL and online, just makes so much more available to the reader/ consumer.

Backstory is not all bad things all the time. 

Great article by James van Pelt at The Fix. Man, that image at the end of the Chevy Chase movie he mentions – I can sooooo identify with that one! It’s true, though, sometimes you do need to get out of the house to get the juice flowing. I hate driving, but have to admit that few things work as well for me as being on drives. Probably the mindless tedium of the Free State, getting stuck in peak traffic or whatever, but those are usually the times when my story brain is at its best. Might have to start thinking in investing in a recorder….and learning to deal with funny looks from people in other cars as I talk aloud to myself.

Jay Lake on rejections. There’s a couple of links to older posts he wrote about it, including a fascinating quick breakdown on how his rejection “levels” changed over time. So, for those who get despondent about how long they’re taking to get anywhere, somebody like Jay (Or James above) are both good examples that literature is not ruled only by the young and the quick. Some writers do take time to mature. Depends on whether you’re a beer or a wine, I guess *joke*.

In any case, have to admit, I’m not overly fond of the word rejection either. Inasmuch as we try to tell ourselves it’s not personal, it happens to everyone, it’s part of the gig, you have to learn to deal with it – it’s hard sometimes. It gets you down. Of course, you can quit. No one ever stops you from quitting. There is every reason to quit. There’s no reason at all to carry on and to keep trying. Writers are nuts…

Point is (and Eric Marin has a post about it too), rejections do happen to everyone and they aren’t personal*, and more than likely they are based on subjective preferences. It comes down to that nebulous phrase “well written” that no one can ever agree on what precisely it means.

*well…they could be, but it’s best to assume they’re not, I reckon. My advice (and I get huffy a lot when it comes to getting rejected) is that when your first instinct is that the rejection is personal (and the likelihood of this will increase with feedback as opposed to form slips) also first assume your reaction to it is your own huffy barrier being breached. And, if you genuinely believe an editor is making rejections personal and insulting you? Don’t submit there. Simple as that. It might be a bit more difficult in the novel fields, but in short fiction markets and anthos come and go at such a rate that there’s no sense in subbing to an editor you feel has personal issues, whether with you or the world at large. Sure, it’s one less market. But there’ll be another one along to replace it shortly enough. Short fiction it’s just possible that markets need writers more than writers need markets. But like I said, assume it’s your own huffy barrier in play first.