Woe! Woe! Darkness has come upon me!
Well, it's not quite as bad as all that. My short story, Precious Possession, which I wrote for the Dreamspinner Press Midsummer's Nightmare anthology, has been rejected. It's my first rejection as an m/m author.
I'm a little sad, because I actually really love the story and think it's unusual and deserves to be published. But that's the reason why anthologies are prestigious and gain so much attention, of course - there are big, well known names in there which draw in a lot of readers, and that means that the editors can be super discriminating. There's no feedback, so I don't know if the problem was length, or my interpretation of the theme or just the fact that the hero gets possessed by a female ghost during sex (I have a sneaking feeling it might be that last one - there's a certain squink factor to it).
So my run of acceptances has now come to an end. Despite the fact that I knew it had to happen eventually, and despite being very used to rejection, it still always knocks your confidence a little. You find yourself looking at your WIP and wondering 'Will this one get rejected too?'. It makes you a little more cautious, perhaps, and that's not always a good thing where writing is concerned. But maybe it makes you a little bit more of a perfectionist too, which is always good for your work.
This rejection means my progress now stands at: One novella placed with Dreamspinner Press, awaiting editing. One novelette and one novella with Torquere Press, both awaiting editing. One completed short story needing a home.
There was a notice on the Torquere author's noticeboard the other day that they're up to date on their sip submissions and are looking for new stuff, so I think I might reformat the file (one of the hardest things about submitting for epublishers is how they all have their own quirky requirements on format - DSP like double spaced with line indents, TQ like single spaced with carriage breaks after paragraphs) and send it to them. Can't hurt.
In the meantime, though I'm going to London next week to talk to my print publisher about my new book for them, I'm still avoiding working on it. Instead I'm playing with a new m/m novella with a futuristic theme. What can I say? A character presented himself to me, and I could not resist. He's...unique.
More about that one later.
Alexi
ReplyDeleteI'm really sorry about the rejection. It happens to the best authors but it still bites when it happens to you. Clare London did a post on rejection several months ago which might make you feel better :) - here's the link
http://www.reviewsbyjessewave.com/?p=8924
I think you're right that the character being possessed by a female ghost was probably one of the sticking points for DSP rejecting the book. I reviewed a book by Rick R.Reed over a year ago which I was very hesitant to read because it had a similar theme. It turned out to be his best work (Orientation), but to be honest I wouldn't have read or reviewed the book had it been another author.
Many M/M readers don't want females in their gay romances unless they are friends with one of the characters.
I hope you're successful getting another publisher to accept your book.
Thanks, Wave. I'll live. I am used to my work being rejected - I'm actually surprised it took this long. I expected it the very first time I submitted an m/m story.
ReplyDeleteIt honestly didn't cross my mind that the female ghost would be a problem because it's not really an issue that she's female...even though I realise that sounds weird and impossible. I guess you'd have to read the story to see how it's handled and what I mean. Hopefully another publisher will accept it, and then you'll have the chance.