Ah, rejection. It hurts. Rejection reminds us that our “thing” just isn’t “the thing” for everyone else. It forces us to confront our weaknesses, or where our vision differs from that of other people. It forces us to choose: resent the rejection, or tweak and grow. And it’s a fact of life for the writer seeking publication.
So, What Is A Rejection?
Rejection can be a tricky thing, psychologically speaking. In any context, from creative to employment to romantic, rejection is a blow that is perceived on a personal psychological level. It is, to some degree, a message that “you are not enough,” or “you aren’t right for us.” It is hard to not take a rejection on a personal level, and to process it as this rejection of us personally. I can’t emphasize enough that a rejection, in the vastest possible majority of contexts, is NOT in fact a rejection of YOU as a PERSON. In nearly every case, a rejection is a lot more superficial than the way that we are wired to absorb it. It is a rejection of what is brought to the table this time, not a rejection of the bearer.
For the purpose of this article, we’re talking about a very specific kind of rejection; the rejection of your creative work by a publication or other distribution entity.
Decision, not Judgment
To put it very simply, a rejection is no more or less than a decision on this piece, this time. In my own experience, the vast majority of rejection emails don’t contain enough detail to give them any more weight than that.
A decision is not necessarily a judgment. When a publication takes a “pass” on your work, all that it means is that this isn’t the time or the place for the piece. It isn’t a judgment on your writing ability, necessarily. It isn’t a judgment on your story’s conceptual merit. And it absolutely is not a judgment on you, your future as a creative, or your value as a person. This is absolutely critical to remember. All that your rejection letter means, unless it is personalized otherwise, is that it isn’t a good fit for the publication’s needs this time.
The Lessons of a Rejection
Rejection letters come in two flavors. Form letters, and personalized responses. Each has something to teach you as a writer.
Form Rejection Letters
“By the time I was fourteen the nail in my wall would no longer support the weight of the rejection slips impaled upon it. I replaced the nail with a spike and went on writing.”
Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
The form letter is the most commonly sent and received. This is the basic “thank you but no thank you.” As a writer on the receiving end, the practical use of these kinds of rejections is limited. The only feedback that these kinds of rejections provide is that this isn’t the time or the place. There’s not a whole lot to pick out of that kind of rejection to take back to the desk and adapt off of. You might be tempted to think that these kinds of rejections are useless. Where is the lesson in a “thank you but no thank you?”
The lesson hidden in the form letter is grit. These kinds of rejections are the opportunities to exercise perspective and grow an additional layer of skin. These skills are critical to any writer. It doesn’t matter what you write, fiction or non, short or long, poetry or prose. There is going to be a lot of rejection between you and your creative dream. Guaranteed.
A form rejection is always going to be a disappointment, but the best advice that I can give is to twist that disappointment into a positive. This is one rejection closer to an acceptance. This is teaching you how to take the punch and keep creating. And lesson that is absolutely crucial.
Personalized Rejection Letters
Personalized rejections are rare and precious birds. These are more detailed than the form letters, with specific feedback on your work that you can take back to the keyboard. The editor took the time to share ideas that would make the piece a better fit for that publication. Sometimes they even include a brief “atta-boy” comment, or a note that your piece was very close to making the cut.
This is still a rejection, but, at least for me, tends to carry a lot less sting. Constructive feedback is always easier to work with and move forward from than a form letter.
Editors and publishing staff are incredibly busy, with deep stacks of submissions to read through and make decisions on. That your piece caught enough of their attention to take the time to personalize the rejection is high praise. If you’re getting these, you really are on the right track.
What To Do After Your Piece Is Rejected
So, you just checked your email, and there’s yet another letter in there from a publisher saying that they’re passing this time. What do you do now? What tangible actions can you take?
“What seem to us as bitter trials are often blessings in disguise.”
Oscar Wilde
First, and especially if your temperament tends to take these messages more personally, take a deep breath. Have some chocolate, take a moment. Rejection hurts, and it’s okay to let your system do its thing for a minute.
They keyword there is “minute.” Wallowing in negativity isn’t good for forward motion, which is what needs to come out of this kind of news.
The next step is to review the piece that was rejected. Did you get a form letter? You may have to do some detective work to figure out the factors that weighed into the editor’s decision.
- Was your piece in alignment with the basic rules of the submission? The right genre and flavor for the publication? Formatted according to the submission guidelines? Too long or too short for the submission call? A good fit for any requested themes? This is the “easy” stuff, simple explanations and fumbles that teach you how to nail the submission process itself.
- Next is a harder question. Does your piece need editing? What kind?
- Structural editing is aimed to improve the overall structure of your piece. Does your story work, in a practical sense? Does it have a beginning, middle, and end? Is there conflict and resolution? Do we care about your characters? Relate to them?
- Copy editing looks for errors in spelling, grammar and usage, consistency of tense, etc.
- Line editing looks at the style and flow of your prose. In short – can you say this better?
The Value of Feedback
I also highly encourage you to seek pre-submission feedback on your work. Check out writers’ groups on Facebook, and also Twitter and other online forums. Willing friends and family are ok, but when it comes to teasing out the real room for improvement there’s nothing quite like the detached view of a comparative stranger who has a little less at stake in sparing your feelings with their review of your work.
Now, Jump Back In There
After you’ve leveled up your manuscript, it’s time to go out and get that next rejection letter!
This part of the writer’s life is the hardest, in my experience so far. The process is long, and little apparent thanks for the effort that you’ve poured into the work that you’ve submitted. And you can absolutely expect to spend a very long time working through the motions before you start reliably seeing even personalized rejection letters, much less an acceptance. The best advice that I can give to the writer living through the trials of placing a piece in a publication is to dig in, trust the process, and keep going.
If you enjoyed this article, check out one of my earliest blog posts where I explore the definition of an aspiring writer. And, as always, you can meet up with me on Twitter, Instagram, or by signing up to my monthly newsletter!
In the meantime, write on!
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