My fate is now in the hands of forces that are beyond the ken of mortal man.
Which means I have submitted my story. It’s in the mail. I now leave it in the hands of the editor.
So, here’s where I stand. I’ve written a good story. I really believe that. What I don’t know for sure is whether it’s a really “great” story. But it’s definitely very good. I’m fairly confident that it’s an original take on the theme.
That said, there are hundreds of reasons that an editor might not want to buy my story. I’m hopeful, even optimistic, about the chances of this story making a positive impression. But I’m realistic. I understand that it may take me a while to find the right home for this story. I believe that the right home is my top choice market – to whom the story was sent over the weekend – but even so there’s a sizeable chance that I’m wrong about that.
The story actually went into the mail on Saturday evening. Dear Wife dropped it off at the Post Office while she was out doing some grocery shopping. I was at home with B.T. studying.
All that’s left to be said is: wish me luck!
Sadly, we don’t have much control over this process… What we can do is write the best story we possibly could and hope for the best! You did your best Stephen and I believe you will get the rewards… Best of luck!
You’re right… that’s all I can do. That’s why I accept that it may take a while to find this story a home, but I am optimistic that it will find a home.
Ooooh good luck! Let me know how it goes!
As soon as I hear yea or nay, I’ll be posting it.
Ditto what WritersBlockNZ said! Def keep us posted!
Well wishes! It is a time of suspense. Do you know how long it will be until you’re accepted/rejected/quietly ignored (jk about that last one)? When will you know that they’ve come to a decision?
-j.p.
The Writer’s Guidelines for the market I sent off to state to allow up to 8 weeks for a response. That’s a long time, but I’ve seen data that suggests the average response time is closer to about two weeks. I’m prepared for the long haul, though. If, after 10 weeks, I’ve received no response, I may send a short letter withdrawing the submission so I can move on, but I rather doubt it’ll come to that because the market I submitted to has a very good reputation.
This is a huge step! Kudos on sticking to your plan and getting the story done. I agree with what Lua said. You’ve done your part of the job. Good luck
Thanks.
This is only the third time in my life that I’ve ever done this: submit a story to a paying market. The other two times, though, I was too young and too unpracticed. So this is the first time when I feel like I have a real shot.
(Although… come to think of it… the second time I ever did this, I didn’t just get a form rejection… instead I got one of those “this is a highly imaginative story, but unfortunately it doesn’t meet our needs at this time” rejections… which kind of should have suggested I had some talent and should’ve kept trying. That was back in undergrad.)
Have you considered dusting off that story, revising it, and sending it out again? It sounds like it had promise too
It did indeed. And it may indeed get dusted off one day and rewritten/revised.
Except for one teensy little problem. The story was kind of, sort of a prologue to that book I’d been writing since forever (and am currently letting simmer in the background to turn my attentions to another book that I want to write)… or at least a particularly interesting bit of backstory.
Ever since I wrote it (and thought it was pretty good, at the time; though it does need work) I’ve debated with myself about whether I want to include it as an actual for-real prologue to that book or not. (It’s currently saved on my computer with the file name “Prologue – Story Title”.) There’s also the issue of length. If properly rewritten, the story will probably clock in at around 15 to 25k words, which is a little long for most story markets – it’s solidly in novella territory at that length (which is also probably a little long for a prologue…) So, I have yet to figure out precisely how to do it justice, at this point.
Um, yeah, I think I’d get kinda worn out reading a 25,000 word “Prologue.” Lol. But then again, there’s nothing wrong with Novellas.
Yeah. Originally, when I wrote it, I intended it to be just a short story set in the same world as the novel – albeit one that tells the story of an important event and reveals the origin of one of the important characters. It was later, after a friend (who was familiar with the book) read it and pointed out that “this really seems more like a prologue to your book” that I started flirting with making it just that.
I realize now, though, that it’s just not feasible. As a novella that’s related – but not required reading – to the novel, though… I think it makes sense. I just don’t know how to make it work in a publishable/marketable way, though. People don’t really buy stand-alone novellas much these days.
Anyway, it’s a problem for the future.