James Viscosi's Scribblings

The official blog of speculative fiction (and dog blog) writer James Viscosi

Posts Tagged ‘rejection letters’

Happy New Year! And Yes I’m Still Here!

Posted by jamesviscosi on January 1, 2012

And yes, Shards (AKA “Big Book”) is still on its way. I recently switched from Pages to Scrivener to help manage it. As Peter O’Toole said in “Creator”:

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in fantasy, Publishing, Writing | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments »

Not So Random Rejection: Northern Frights

Posted by jamesviscosi on December 19, 2010

I’ve been hoping to pull this rejection out for a while, as it’s one of my favorites, but I haven’t. So I took matters into my own hands and went looking for it:

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in fantasy, horror, Short Stories, Writing, You Suck | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments »

Random Rejection: Maelstrom, “Pinch Bobby ‘Til He Bleeds”

Posted by jamesviscosi on November 21, 2010

It’s been a while since I reached into my stack of rejection letters, so today I dove in and pulled this one out, from Maelstrom, for a short story called “Pinch Bobby ‘Til He Bleeds”.

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Short Stories, Writing, You Suck | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments »

Random Rejection: Clocktower

Posted by jamesviscosi on October 10, 2010

Today I reached into my massive pile of rejections and pulled out a relatively boring one from Clocktower Fiction’s webzine. This one was for “Love and the Tides of Darkness”, a short story that I originally wrote specifically for an anthology called On The Eighth Day. I really liked this story and tried to sell it to a bunch of different markets, but once the year 2000 rolled around, it was pretty much obsolete.

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Short Stories, Writing, You Suck | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments »

Random Rejection: The Seymour Agency

Posted by jamesviscosi on June 20, 2010

I haven’t done a Random Rejection in a while, so I reached into my giant accordion file and pulled out a letter. This one is from the Seymour Agency in upstate New York (not far, in fact, from where I went to college). Their opinion is that the manuscript I sent, A Flock of Crows is Called a Murder, needs work; fortunately, they’re here to help.

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Books, horror, Writing, You Suck | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments »

Random Rejection: Schooner Bay Literary Agency

Posted by jamesviscosi on April 25, 2010

So this week I reached into my vast collection of rejection letters and pulled out this one, from Schooner Bay Literary Agency:

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in horror, Writing, You Suck | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments »

Random Rejection: The Eclipse Comics Saga Part IV

Posted by Dennis the Vizsla on February 21, 2010

So it seemed as if things were progressing nicely with Eclipse Comics … I was writing “Night Watchman” stories, my artist was drawing panels, and my editor was getting married and moving away.  Good times for all concerned!  Sadly, good times never seem to last …

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Writing, You Suck | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments »

Random Rejection: The Eclipse Comics Saga Part III

Posted by jamesviscosi on February 14, 2010

When we last left off with the Eclipse Saga Part II, I was getting good feedback from the editor at Eclipse Comics about “Night Watchman”. So, while I continued to work on that, I started sending him proposals for all the other series ideas I had. I don’t have the scripts for all of them, but they included several that eventually became novels, as well as others that remain on the shelf in my mind gathering dust.

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Excerpts, Writing, You Suck | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Random Rejection: Zoetrope

Posted by jamesviscosi on December 27, 2009

This week, I reached into the very back of my alphabetically-organized rejection list folder and pulled out this slip, from Francis Ford Coppola’s “Zoetrope” magazine:

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Publishing, Short Stories, Writing, You Suck | Tagged: , , , , , , , | 4 Comments »

Random Rejection: Doyen Literary Services

Posted by jamesviscosi on November 22, 2009

Here’s what I consider an example of a form rejection letter done right: It doesn’t offer uselessly general advice, generic statements about what the agent is or is not looking for, lengthy attempts to justify the rejection, or nonspecific critiques. It’s just a simple “no thank you, try again”, which in my opinion is all a form rejection needs.

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Writing, You Suck | Tagged: , , , , | 4 Comments »

 
Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 36 other followers