Post-Rejection Analysis

Sometimes you get a rejection that makes you erase the play board and start over. 

I drank too much coffee yesterday and was awake too late, thereby putting myself at risk of the dreaded unexpected late-night e-mail rejection.  It was one of those rejections that's hard to set aside, because it was personalized and it came from a place I'm already familiar with: obvious writing talent and not a commercially viable project.

I know this about the book I've been querying.  It's too big, too convoluted, a bit too smart to be straight genre, but I love the book.  I want people to read the book, but I'm not without a certain amount of pragmatism.  After eleven rejections, knowing what I know, I'm putting this one on indefinite hiatus.  It's time to move on.

The next book I'm querying is distinctly more commercial, so at least I don't have that hurdle, but that whole issue is weighing on me pretty heavily as I try to decide what project to work on next.  I always have about half a dozen things waiting in the wings, but as I work on a decision, I thought I'd ask my Voxy neighbors what kind of things you're interested in reading these days.  What sorts of stories, issues, people are you interested in?

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IG
Wow, Redz - you're taking requests? This is my lucky day. I'd love to read your take on darkly comic and post-apocalyptic, maybe set in the U.S. but occurring 100 or so years in the future. Multiple narrators ok, but at least one should be really hawt and wryly heroic. I know it sounds totally canned, but it's all about execution -- I know you'd do something special with it.

Sorry to hear about the late e-mail.
Redzilla
Hmmm...I've got a project that kind of fits that bill. Thanks, IG. How would you feel about a jaded 40-something Indian bombardier prisoner of war with Bollywood good looks.
IG
Oooh, niiiice. That would totally work for me.
Runnergirl
I have to admit to liking chick lit, but get frustrated that they all seem to be about girl being with mr wrong, and realising mr right is under her nose the whole time... or yummy mummies, usually humourous though.

What about 30 somethings married couples, trying to get through balancing work and home life? Actually - that's probably not that humourous, or interesting..
DKN
I wanna read "Slut"!!

Are these agents or publishers you're submitting to?
Redzilla
Agents. Except for straight genre, you can't really sub direct to publishers anymore.

RG: What about semi-chick lit in which the girl realizes she's not with Mr. Wrong, but that she's Ms. Wrong? 'Cause I got a project like that ;o)
crankypants

I don't know that I have specific general interests--wait, that doesn't make sense---

anyway, I am a slow reader as we know, and I kind of go by author or specific subject that I might be interested in and lately it's been more non-fiction that I have been interested in. I am kind of a retard when it comes to finding good reads, I rely mostly on recommendations, authors I already know, classics, or just finding the subject matter/bio subject. Movies and music are easier for me to 'discover' on my own. So--I don't think I'm actually answering your question, but I think a good writer can interest me on the history of dirt.

You have such a wide knowledge/interest base, though, I think that is a good thing for you. Send one of your sci fi things to Terry Gilliam or something like that! ;-)

DKN
Yeah, that's what I figured. Meh.
Toe-Knee
Um... do you think it would be possible for your story to be told in graphic novel form? Why I mention it is because comics come in smaller chunks and therefore are allowed to have more complex stories. It's a genre that heralded for the revolutionary stories it tells and I think if you could find an artist to work with who you're comfortable with (Hey, doesn't Hubbicula do art?) Then you might have something that's more "commercially viable". And your story would get out there.
Redzilla
No, it's not really something that would easily translate into a graphic novel. They have such different parameters for character development and story line--in fact I always feel like comics have much less complex stories because of those limitations. Oh, and Hubbicula doesn't do art. Nor does he read my writing ;o)
Runnergirl
Ooh, I like the sound of that actually!

Does it have to be fiction - because I once wrote to Marie-Claire (and never got a reply!) asking them to do an article on the women hidden under the Burka, and how they felt about being hidden and what went on underneath... it would be good as a book too... but would require sooo much research, I know!
Redzilla
Yeah, it's gotta be fiction. I read a decent amount of non-fiction, but I've never felt any kind of urge to write it. And I'm not going to Classifiedistan to do research ;o) Hubbicula assures me it's a scary shithole.
Drude
[this is good]
Humor is a must... that dry sarcasm of yours... will be excellent in whichever story.
So, I just read two Khaled Hosseini (sp?) books (kite runner and splendid suns) - and apart from the burkas and other fascinating culture-shocking stuffs... there was something I really liked. The characters had such a REAL development in their relationship with parents, friends, partners and kids... where most books just have one main problem or one main relationship and it can be as interesting as it can, but it's too tidy for me. These characters had much more complete setting and development.
(Did that make sense?)
Oh, and I like IG's suggestion.
Toe-Knee
Well I'm not sure what you mean by parameters of character development. But it seems like if a novel isn't going to work and you really want the story told then perhaps you should really look objectively at other venues. I figured I'd just throw the suggestion out there in any case.
Redzilla
Well, I guess from my perspective the problem is that the novel does work, but it's a hard sell. I'm not convinced a graphic novel would work.
Toe-Knee
Well that's the chewy bit there. Maybe I could recommend Fell by Warren Ellis, or It's a Bird by Steven T. Seagle to show the more atypical side of graphic novels. At this point I'm not trying to sell you on any particular direction, just throwing crap at a wall to see if it sticks. Also... have you considered looking around for a publicist to consult? I'm sure you could find some magical spin-doctor on the tubes who would sell your book for you if you sacrifice several chickens, a three-legged goat and promise your first born to the giant spaghetti monster...
Redzilla
I wanted to like Warren Ellis but didn't. I haven't see the Seagle--I'll check that out. I'm not scared of sacrificing chickens, goats and firstborn, but my mortgage payment? Unlikely ;o)
electric firefly
Yes, please. :)

Sorry to hear about the rejection. From what I have read here, you are an immensely talented writer. I suspect I would read your work even if I didn't like the genre you were writing. I actually really love historical fiction and tend to lean towards things involving horrible dictators, prisons, that sort of thing. Perhaps I should seek counseling.
Redzilla
You'd probably like my historical fiction project about Civil War-era serial killers in Kansas. Crap--am I all over the board or what?
Valerae
Do these agents not know that you already have a built-in fan base??? Sorry about the news. :-(

You know I'd read any of your stuff. I would *love* to read your feel good abortion story. That's got to be edgy enough for the publishers, right?
Redzilla
Well, you're on my list, just as soon as I get Slut finished. The one I'm getting ready to query is the one you've read in fact.
Red Pen
I suspect I would enjoy anything you wrote. My preference is for stories with strong, multidimensional characters and a backdrop of history or at least a vivid sense of place. I'm frustrated that these agents are standing in the way of making your work available.
mystico_tala
I don't know anything about the kinds of books you write. I'm currently enjoying some WWII era books. I picked up a book the other day, written in the Cold War time period about this guy who goes through a time warp and ends up in Soviet Russia in 2058 or something like that. Obviously written before the fall of the USSR. Made me wonder what the world would have been like if Hitler hadn't been defeated, what international relations would be like, the power structure, the lack of advancement, the social movements. I thought it would make an interesting book. Might take a bit of research though. Of course, a lot of older dystopian and post-apocalyptic sort of have that Nazi feel or dimension to them. Ohh, or a time travel book where some dude goes back, does something stupid, comes back to the present time to find that the Nazi's weren't defeated.
Like I said, probably totally out of your genre, I was just brainstorming.
electric firefly
Yes, I probably would LOVE it. I would also love to read the feel-good abortion story.
IG
A feel-good abortion story? OK, what have I missed? That sounds awesome and weird. In a good way.
Redzilla
Oh, the "feel good abortion" story all transpired over at Cranky's when we were talking about Juno. Cranky said she wished someone would write a quirky feel good story about abortion and I said, "I'm working on it." It's based on an amalgam of small town Kansas girls I knew and met while I was doing pregnancy counseling at Planned Parenthood. A lot of girls who came in there on a collision course with fucked up lives and went away happy. You know, girls for whom abortion was a positive thing--who learned and grew from the experience.
Mr.Nice
you should try poetry by Federico García Lorca, and films by Luis Bunuel. Spanish culture and history has been high on my agenda lately.
try Belle de jour, El and L'Âge d'Or by Bunuel. and anything by Lorca.
Brown Suga'
The feel good abortion story sounds good. SOmething edgy with dark humor would work beautifully.

Oh, and a "jaded 40-something Indian bombardier prisoner of war with Bollywood good looks"? Awesome!!! LOL.
Other Lisa
Well, as a person who has read the aforementioned "long but not commercially viable" book, I am almost as frustrated as you, Red.

There was an article on...er...Writer's Digest somebody linked to the other day about "Coping With 'Too Many Ideas' Syndrome" - it's pretty funny. Read it here (though at the moment the service is down).

My favorite recommendation in this was:

"Award-winning screenwriter Cynthia Whitcomb, who has sold 70 screenplays and seen 29 come to the screen, puts on a chef's hat instead. Her advice: "Think of your ideas like pots on the stove in the kitchen of your creative mind. Lift the lids and look inside. One of them is always closest to being soup. Write that one first.""
Redzilla
I would like to like that bit of advice, but honestly, the soup analogy gets me nowhere. They are none of them "close to being soup." ;0) I don't even get what that means, unless it's meant to say, "closest to being usable" or "done" or something, and then yeah, I'm a long way out from having soup.
Other Lisa
For whatever reason I get it. it's the thing that's most developed in some way. That my subconscious has been working on, simmering on a back burner.
Redzilla
See? That description works for me better than the analogy. I think I can work with that question. Thanks!
brownamazon
I would TOTALLY read a feel-good abortion story.
Lately I've been reading a lot of history and scholarly biography.
Otherwise, I'd like, for once, to read a book about Southeast Asians in North America that doesn't involve any of the following: domineering, disappointed mothers, emotionally repressed, professorial fathers, wise old grandmothers who dispense advice and food, arranged marriage, dutiful daughter, wild-child sister who gets disowned, dutiful son who marries the quiet girl from his parents' village only to have an affair with a white medical student. Oh wait--since every Jumpha Lahiri short story contains at least three of those themes, I guess I'll have to write it myself.
Barry
[this is good]

Hmmmmm.... I'mma have to consider this one.... (twirls villainous mustache in full Snidely Whiplash mode)

Mathilde

You know, I loved Interpreter of Maladies, but I thought it to be a thematic book. Then it kinda went on and on and on.

Redz, I'll think about it, but I'm a big proponent of something, well... less literary (since that's all I've been reading lately) but clever. Like... that show Reaper on TV. Some foolish situation but the characters take themselves seriously.

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