nuanc
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Location: Cape Breton, Nova Scotia
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 Post your least favorite rejection letters here!
I got this right before Christmas.
I'd sent the story to them about 18 months before and had assumed I'd never hear from them. My story was included with this and it came in the SASE I'd sent.
This is what they wrote.
Dear Writer,
This is not a rejection letter. Your submission is publishable. At this time, because of our backlog of accepted work, we have felt it necessary to return many good manuscripts because we do not have the financial resources to publish everything that we have found suitable. [Not such a bad start... except for the impersonal "Dear Writer."] Another reason is the hope we will stay in the good graces of writers by letting you know the situation and create and sustain continuing relationships with aspiring writers. [How'd you like to critique that sentence?]
We are an independent press, not connected to any university, and receive very small state grants. We have applied to the National Endowment of the Arts several times but as yet received no funds. We will keep trying. Please do not take us off your list of publishing possiblities. [O-kay...]
A recent grant from Georgia Council for the Arts will allow us to develop our dream of publishing Snake Nation Journal. This will be a step forward and allow many more writers to be published. It will be a quarterly magazine and have at least a 5,000 print run.
[Now for the purpose of this "not a rejection letter"] You can help make this new publication possible. Please subscribe and donate with the enclosed reply envelope. We are a 501c(3) non-profit organization.
If writers do not support us, who will?
Jean Arambula
Editor
I DO undestand the plight of literary mags and journals. I do not have any problem with supporting ones I think are good. I DO have a problem with them using my SASE and my ignored story for their fund raising!!!
~nanc
---
READING: Not Wanted on the Voyage, Timothy Findlay
WRITING: a love story (planning stage)
PROPPING UP: Being Practically Creative
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1/19/2005, 10:59 am
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Uncle Mac
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Re: Post your least favorite rejection letters here!
That stinks! I wouldn't want to send my story to them. I'm certain their are better publishers out there.
---
Jay M. Hurd
Author - Ascension: Book One of The Alliance Chronicles
ISBN# 1-4137-3709-9
http://ascension.pfrpg.org
Working on: Avenging Angel & The Migichinan Sourcebook
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1/19/2005, 11:19 am
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AlesiaJo
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Re: Post your least favorite rejection letters here!
I can't believe they didn't realize how rude that was of them. Or that they didn't care. You were so right to be offended.
AlesiaJo
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Reading: On Writing (again)
Rewriting: Dream Journal
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1/20/2005, 4:11 pm
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SFGirl
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Re: Post your least favorite rejection letters here!
I can't find my least favorite rejection letter anymore, but I remember one line pretty well: "The suspension of disbelief does not mean that it should be hanged by the neck until dead."
The sting only went out of that one when I found out that it was one of many form letters this editor used. Now I actually find it kind of funny. 
Sherry
---
Reading: Best of F&SF 50th Edition
Writing: editing "Summer of The Widows"
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1/20/2005, 9:53 pm
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YolandaS
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Re: Post your least favorite rejection letters here!
OK, this is a GREAT thread!
My worst rejection - asides from the one's that simply say: 'we're going to pass on this story' - was the first time I actually summoned up the courage to submit one of my little tales to someone. It was to a horror market here in Australia, during the time when I first moved out of home... I suppose it was a time for a LOT of courage.
So anyway, I've still got it somewhere and even though my writing back then - about 10 years ago - was much worse. It was very amateur-ish and lacked the experience and practice I have today, but that's how we become better writers, right? By starting from somewhere.
Anyway, sorry I'm raving.
The editor said to me that my Berteer influence was too noticeable and that I would have to find my own voice! OK, fine, I was just starting out. And if he said that my voice sounded very much like Stephen King or Clive Barker, then I would totally understand! But BERTEER?
Could someone tell me who Berteer is, and how I can be influenced by someone I don't even have a clue about?
So please, if anyone knows who this is - please let me know!
So there you have it. My worst rejection letter acussed me of using the voice of a writer - at least I think it must be a writer - that I've never heard of! Even now it's still a mystery to me...
---
"If you don't have time to read, you don't have the time or the tools to write." Stephen King.
-----------------
Writing:
Reading:
Editing: a novel, Blaze
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2/10/2005, 10:17 pm
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nuanc
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Re: Post your least favorite rejection letters here!
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READING: Not Wanted on the Voyage, Timothy Findlay
WRITING: a love story (planning stage)
PROPPING UP: Being Practically Creative
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2/11/2005, 7:41 am
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SFGirl
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Re: Post your least favorite rejection letters here!
I got a rejection today and the editor's comments really annoyed me. In reading the story they made assumptions about the workings of an alien technology (which I invented) which seem to be totally unfounded, and complained about references to the MC's internal conflict being missing in the earlier part of the story--but they aren't missing, it's mentioned several times!
Ironically, the (form) letter on which the comments are written starts out, "Rest assured that we have given it a thorough reading." Not thorough enough, apparently, to pick up on something that every other previous reader, both amateur and professional, seemed to have no trouble seeing.
I'm quite disappointed in this response, not so much because it's a rejection as for the useless and seemingly inappropriate comments. I thought highly of this market, but now I'm not so sure. Not to mention the fact that they've had the thing for seven months!
Sherry
---
Reading: Eastern Standard Tribe by Cory Doctorow
Writing: short story: Of Snow-Jewelled Hills and Ice
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3/24/2005, 7:25 pm
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Firlefanz
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Re: Post your least favorite rejection letters here!
That's simply unfair - they haven't done their job right. You are right to be angry about this.
*hugs*
--- - Firlefanz
Reading: "Verkaufende auf Risa" by Gundhild Dreher
Writing: "Winter Song" - short story
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3/25/2005, 3:05 am
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YolandaS
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Re: Post your least favorite rejection letters here!
I agree, after so long that's the best they could come up with? I don't know what some markets are thinking! I totally sympathise with you Sherry, I've had something similar said to me several times and its actually worse than a straight we didn't like this story rejection, at least that way you know they've actually read the story!
Last edited by YolandaS, 3/25/2005, 6:33 am
---
"If you don't have time to read, you don't have the time or the tools to write." Stephen King.
-----------------
Writing:
Reading:
Editing: a novel, Blaze
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3/25/2005, 6:32 am
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SFGirl
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Re: Post your least favorite rejection letters here!
Grrrr. I'm griping again about a rejection with what I feel are stupid comments. Now granted, I'm not in the best mood today, but still...
In this fantasy/murder-mystery, the opening scene describes the finding of the body in the woods, by the main character, a young female wizard's apprentice. She describes what she finds, how she deals with it, and then has a little cry--she knew and liked the victim. It's not a long, drawn-out crying session, it's dealt with thus: "Then I gathered my skirts, sat down beside the old peddler and gave myself up to tears." End of scene. This is on page 2. There's no other crying in the story.
So, scribbled on the bottom of the form rejection is this: "Tears are often overused in stories. Using them so early is usually a risky venture."
Huh? This is a new one on me--no crying, even if it's a natural reaction. And did he really read to the end of this 7500-word story and finding no other tears reject it on this basis alone? Hardly seems credible. But if not, why in the world would it be mentioned? Or did he just stop when he got to the tears? Was that the deal-breaker? Tears on page two--no need to read further?
Comments like this just drive me insane. I know it's supposed to be wonderful to get personal comments instead of just the form rejection, but if they're this nonsensical, I'd rather not have 'em.
Sorry, I was going to rant on my blog but I got carried away here first.
Ah, well, it's already off to another market.
Sherry
---
Reading: The Grand Tour by Patricia Wrede and Caroline Stevermer
Rewriting: One's Aspect To The Sun
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5/16/2005, 9:26 pm
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