Showing posts with label being a writer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label being a writer. Show all posts

Monday, March 25, 2019

6 Tips for Handling Rejection


If you’re an author, unless you’re the most brilliant author in the history of the universe (and perhaps even then), you are going to get rejected. Disappointing? Yes, but not the end of the world. Here is some advice on how to deal with it.

Don’t Take It Personally

Rejection happens. It is an absolute fact of life, not only in writing but in everything we do. Nobody is going to like what you have to say or the way you say it every single time. Some people may never like it. But others will. You just have to find the right person.

One of the most difficult pieces of rejection to get is when an agent or editor tells you they liked—or even loved—your writing, but they still don’t accept it. They’ll explain that it just isn’t the right fit for them, or not what they want right now, or too similar to something else they have already accepted.

While those may seem like brush offs, chances are what they are saying is 100% percent true. Agents and editors won’t tell you they liked your story if they didn’t. They don’t have time to waste on that. A positive rejection means you are very close to success. You just have to keep trying.

Consider Criticism with an Open Mind

If you are lucky enough to receive specific criticism, don’t get offended, and don’t ignore it. The person who sent you those comments took time out of their extremely busy schedule because they felt your writing was good enough to merit it.

Look carefully at what the rejection says. Don’t take it as an attack on you or your work, but as a suggestion, just like you would from a critique partner or beta reader. Consider it with an open mind. And then decide if you agree. If you do agree, make some changes. If you don’t agree, don’t. The next editor or agent may like your story exactly the way it is now.

Take a Short Break

Take a few minutes, a few hours, even a few days to do anything other than writing, or stewing over the latest rejection. Go for a walk. Go out to dinner with friends or your family. Take in the latest moving or binge watch past episodes of your favorite show. Get out of the house for the weekend and go somewhere.

Take a little bit of time to recharge your batteries, and to let the sting of rejection fade. Then take a deep breath, and dive right back in. If the rejection included a personal note, reread it and see if it’s worth addressing. If not, move on. Identify your next set of targets, and set out another round of queries.

A short break can help a lot, but keep it short. It is far too easy for a few days off to turn into weeks, months, even years. Don’t let that happen.

Write Something New

You may think the story or book that just got rejected is the best thing you have ever written. And it may be. But that doesn’t mean it is the best thing you will ever write.

Always have another project in progress, or waiting to be started. You should already be writing something new while you’re waiting to hear back on your last set of queries anyway. Use the power and energy of creation, of crafting an even better story, to help get you past the disappointment of rejection.

Don’t be afraid to send different works out to the same agents and editors, either. The first story might not have resonated with them, but they may absolutely adore the second.

Silence Your Biggest Critic

Even the most brilliant, egotistical, bombastic blowhard harbors self-doubt. For those of us mere mortals, we live our lives surrounded by doubt on every side. Receiving a rejection is just one more excuse for us to think the least of ourselves and our abilities.

Don’t fall into that trap. Take your self-doubt, slap it around a little bit, and kick it to the wayside. It isn’t doing you any good. A rejection does not mean you are a bad writer—some of the best and most prolific writers racked up hundreds of rejections before making their first sale.

And even famous, extensively published authors get rejected. Jane Yolen, award-winning author of more than 370 books for children, still receives rejections. Here’s what she has to say about it:1

Some rejections I curse the editor for being dense, uncaring, lying, or incompetent. Some I curse publishing in general, its emphasis on bestsellerdom, its attention to bottom line, its incapacity for surprise. Occasionally I curse myself: I’m not good enough for the idea. I was too facile. I sent it to the wrong editor. I am too demanding, not demanding enough. 
But I did the only thing possible, given a rejection. I turned right around and sent the little picture books off again, by email, to someone else.

A Rejection is a Win

It may not seem like it, but being rejected is not the worst thing that could happen to you as a writer. Not receiving rejections is.

If you never receive a rejection, it almost certainly means you never submitted your work in the first place. You never sent a query. You never even tried.

The only sure way to guarantee that you will never be published is to never try. Accept rejections for what they are: proof that you are trying, and will keep trying, until you succeed.

C. Wombat

Taken from Jane Yolen’s For Writers: Frequently Asked Questions.


Monday, February 25, 2019

5 Ways of Knowing That You Are a Writer


There are many writers in this world, and many others who want to be writers. There are even more who think it might be fun to be a writer, but have never given it any serious thought.

But what makes a writer? How do you know if you are one? Or if you even have what it takes?

Here are five characteristics that most writers have in common.


You Read All the Time

Writers don’t just pop up out of nowhere. Every single one of them was a reader first.

In most cases (but certainly not all), writers tend to be those kids who were the first to start reading. The ones who read anything and everything they could get their hands on. The ones who were reading books that their parents, teachers, and friends told them were too hard for them.

Imagine trying to go out on the field and play baseball when you’ve never watched a single game. That’s like trying to write without reading. You have to know the rules. You have to understand the flow of the game. To write, you have to read.

If you’re a voracious reader, you’ve already taken the first steps towards being a writer.

Can you be a writer without constantly reading? Yes, but it might be quite a bit harder, and you'll probably make more mistakes that could be avoided just by reading more.


You Read Actively

It’s a sad fact that many teens, and even more adults, don’t read anything they don’t have to. And even if they do read, a lot of people—probably even the majority—read just for fun. They only see what’s on the surface.

But writers dig deeper when they read. They examine the structure of the story. They revel in the descriptions. They don’t just read the dialogue, they hear it. They try to predict what’s going to happen next.

There’s nothing at all wrong with reading just for pleasure. Every writer does it, many of them every single day.

But if you find yourself looking past the words, if you envision yourself in the story and how it might play out differently, then you’ve definitely got the makings of a writer.


You Collect Ideas

Just about every writing conference, panel session, or author talk I’ve ever been too, one of the questions that gets asked is, “Where do you get your ideas?”

And the answer is the same every single time: everywhere.

Writers don’t invent their stories out of thin air. They look closely at the world around them. They observe events. They watch people. They listen. And they find ideas.

But here’s the important part: they not only find ideas everywhere they look—they write them down.

One of the biggest, most important things you can do as a writer is to keep your eyes open for story ideas, and write them down! Keep an idea journal. Carry it with you whenever you can. When you can’t, at least carry some note cards or scratch paper.

Ideas are everywhere, but they’re incredibly fleeting. You might think you’ll remember that absolutely wonderful idea forever, but what if you don’t? Jot it down right away, any way you can, and add it to your idea journal when you get a chance.

Good writers never have to struggle to come up with ideas. Just by watching the world around them, they find far more ideas than they can ever use.


You Connect Ideas

So, what do you do with all of those ideas you’ve collected? All those characters, settings, turns of phrase, puns, events?

By themselves, individual ideas aren’t that useful. But once you put them together, that’s when you have a story.

Writers will often begin a story by taking two or three (or more) of their ideas and mashing them together. I felt like writing a zombie story, but not just the same old zombie story. While thinking about what to write, I watched some birds splashing around in a birdbath. I asked myself what zombies and birdbaths have in common, then sat down and wrote my story.

If you find yourself connecting ideas, asking yourself “what if this happened” and “how would this person react to this event,” you’re ready to write.


You Write

What is the one thing that every single writer has in common?

They write.

You can want to be a writer. You can daydream about book tours and movie deals. You can fantasize about hoards of fans screaming for the release of your next novel. I’ve spent far more time that I’d care to admit doing all of those things.

But until you start writing, you’re not a writer, and never will be.

All of the other characteristics are important, but this one is vital. If you want to be a writer, you have to write. Every day, if possible. You have to want to write. Many writers will tell you they find it painful not to write. If that’s you, you’re in good company.

So, what’s the best way of knowing if you’re a writer? You write.

Start today. Start now. Create something amazing.

C. Wombat