Best rejection letter EVER. Or: Tolkien wept

[lcm]

Oh man. I just got a rejection letter from a Young Adult agent (who networking made me foolish enough to proposition, despite the genre disparities). I was reading along and it was like blablabla, not accepting new manuscripts at this time...blablabla, critique...blabla bla, basically the prologue is dense and unsellable and in parts (GET THIS) "

Comments

[yakbites]

Congratulations!!! That's a good one!
I hang my rejection letters on my walls and love on them, but I've never gotten one quite that Tolkien-y. LOLZ

[lcm]

Isn't it? And book stuff? :) DUDE. We must exchange LULZY stories of rejection and triumph! Where are you in this great, unholy process?

[yakbites]

God, book stuff. I'm currently revising mine for the four billionth time, and I'm thinking it might require a massive rewrite. I have rejection letters for poems, short stories, and my book, so I'm up to about 130 letters entoto by now.
(They just make the acceptance ones even shinier when you get them.)
Isn't it just the funnest?
What's happening with you?

[lcm]

Dude. I am so there. I'm on (what I hope) is my big, pre-formal edit. I'm at that stage where I'm tentatively sending it in ten chapter chunks to friends for as brutal a feedback as they're willing to give. I've got two agents I've been speaking with that have expressed some interest, which is pretty awesome, but nothing set in stone yet. But yeah. Man, I would be all about forming a book writing support group. :) Or, you know, chatting the frustrations involved/exchanging readings and crit stuff. Because more support on both sides is amazing. <3 And wow, finishing has got to be one of the most irritating things, because at the end, you're always a better writer than when you started, and while editing can make the material WORLDS better, it can never elevate it to current levels of ability. Arg. XD

[yakbites]

Yeah. They never are brutal enough, are they?
I send mine to a scientist friend who rips it apart like it's a faulty theory, but I'm lucky. Why don't they understand that I WANT TO KNOW WHAT'S BAD ABOUT IT!!! Tell me. F'realz.

And the end! It's enough to make you rewrite the whole thing, only to come to the same conclusion as you finish!
I'd love to read anything you have and provide support/crit/bitchslaps.
Get me at yakbites@gmail.com. I'd love to talk anytime.

[lcm]

Awesome. Yeah, I have an awesome editor who beat into me that lovely rule of thumb - if its not necessary, cut a bitch it. XD And sweet. :) Man, fortuitous meetings are the best. I'd be cool to send you say the prologue and first nine chapters, and then go from there? I'm actually working a desk a friends gallery for the next couple hours, so if you send anything my way, I could read through it ASAP. :) I'm also on AIM at ThoseScaryGuys, for any immediate discussion.

[lcm]

tossed you an e-mail with the first six. :) Looking forward to it!