My creative writing teacher puts his rejection letters around the room to remind his students that 'with rejection, comes growth'.
Editors and all them have a job to do, and sometimes it feels like my work is being mutilated and watered down too much. I hate seeing pen marks on my work, but I always have to bring myself back to the idea that with rejection, comes growth.
With rejection, it's a lot like feeding a picky eater. You put things out there, and some things won't get touched. On others, you'll get a nibble, and some, you'll find devoured! The world is full of people with different personalities, interests and dislikes. The more rejection we receive on a particular literary work doesn't always have to mean that it's just not good enough. If you talked to James Patterson, you'd realize that one of the
most famous thriller writers in America was rejected countless times, and it took tens of re-workings and resendings to finally get some of his most famous titles published! Same with Audrey Niffenegger, the author of The Time Traveler's Wife. She continued to be rejected until novelist, Scott Turow put it on television. Now it's an international bestseller and has been made into a movie with two of the biggest names in Hollywood!
Once, when I was 11-years-old, I wrote a story with a plot that I thought was horrible. Even though most that read it, loved it, I destroyed it. Two years later, I found Liam Neeson as the lead role of the hit blockbuster, Taken. This movie had almost been identical to the plot that had been in my story. Neeson himself said that when he read the script, he thought the movie didn't stand a chance of making it to the big screen... and nearly three years after it's big screen appearance, it's sequel was created... becoming one of the most anticipated films of 2013.
Don't underestimate your power! Don't tear things up after one, two, three, or even fifty rejections. Keep pushing it through. Welcome it back, do some changes, send it in... over and over and over. You might be the next Patterson or find your book in the movies.
With rejection, it's a lot like feeding a picky eater. You put things out there, and some things won't get touched. On others, you'll get a nibble, and some, you'll find devoured! The world is full of people with different personalities, interests and dislikes. The more rejection we receive on a particular literary work doesn't always have to mean that it's just not good enough. If you talked to James Patterson, you'd realize that one of the
most famous thriller writers in America was rejected countless times, and it took tens of re-workings and resendings to finally get some of his most famous titles published! Same with Audrey Niffenegger, the author of The Time Traveler's Wife. She continued to be rejected until novelist, Scott Turow put it on television. Now it's an international bestseller and has been made into a movie with two of the biggest names in Hollywood!
Once, when I was 11-years-old, I wrote a story with a plot that I thought was horrible. Even though most that read it, loved it, I destroyed it. Two years later, I found Liam Neeson as the lead role of the hit blockbuster, Taken. This movie had almost been identical to the plot that had been in my story. Neeson himself said that when he read the script, he thought the movie didn't stand a chance of making it to the big screen... and nearly three years after it's big screen appearance, it's sequel was created... becoming one of the most anticipated films of 2013.
Don't underestimate your power! Don't tear things up after one, two, three, or even fifty rejections. Keep pushing it through. Welcome it back, do some changes, send it in... over and over and over. You might be the next Patterson or find your book in the movies.