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Interpreting a Rejection 6/6/2008 9:58:05 AM
Finding positive information among the bad. Fiction is supposed to be written so true to life that the reader suspends disbelief and becomes engrossed in the story - feels it, lives it while reading.
I received a rejection of a short story that was both positive and negative. The first paragraph of the rejection was this:
We are sorry to tell you that we are not accepting your story "Mashed Potatoes" for inclusion in our anthology. We recognize that you, like many of the people who submitted, are writing about experiences very close to your heart. We thank you for so generously sharing these experiences with us. We are the richer for it.
The negative aspect, of course, was the rejection itself.
The positive was that they seem to think this story was real and about me or someone close to me when they say "...very close to your heart." This story is only close to my heart because it is a product of my imagination and writing ability. It is fiction and seems so real that the editors did suspend belief and ended up thinking it was real.
My writing is great. The story just didn't fit with the caliber of prose they accept for their books.
After many years of writing, I've learned not to be disheartened by rejections, but to find some good in them when comments are included.
