The most recent 20 comments posted to Making Light by Jenny Bannock:

Another thought: putting the story away for a month (or year or however long works for you), then looking at it again, will often reveal flaws not previously evident. (Argh! The Megaqueen of Baffledom is an awful character! No wonder this story was rejected!) I will not pretend that this isn't extremely depressing...On the other hand, it's a sign that I as a writer have grown, and have learned to recognize flaws I might not have recognized before. If the editor told me exactly what had gone wrong with the story (ignoring the epistemological problem of whether or not there is an unambiguous "gone wrong" for a given flubbed story), I would not have had the opportunity to learn to see the flaw for myself. Not, of course, that I ever would turn down an editor's helpful commentary, in a rejection or otherwise. But see, if I think of it in this manner, I win either way! And I figure as long as I keep making new mistakes, I'm goin' somewhere.

Well said. That's something I discovered only within the last two years of my writing. I have to make myself do it, because there are times I think I've simply written PURE GOLD, but I do know it's better to step back and look at it later.

I wrote a fanfiction piece that, at the time, was probably the best thing I'd ever written. It was certainly the only novel-length story I'd ever finished, and that alone made me proud of my accomplishment. I posted the fic on several websites and received several hundred reviews (which, in reality, doesn't mean anything, but compared to my other fanfic pieces, that was a LOT). I still get people emailing me about it even now, and I wrote it back in 2002.

Six months after I'd completed the fic, I was bored one day and decided to read through it.

I was...stunned.

It wasn't a BAD piece, really, but it was nowhere near GOOD by my standards. I had written it straight through from chapter 1 to the end without a true edit. There were plot holes, dropped threads, whole paragraphs of stilted dialogue...the works. I realize now that I'd essentially posted a rough draft, and passed it off as a finished product. To be fair, this IS fanfiction I'm talking about, and the readers still enjoyed reading, but it was a sobering experience for me.

I want to be a GOOD writer; the only way to become a good writer is to be honest with my work.

So really, I learned two things here. First, that stepping back from my work BEFORE I submit/post/publish/whatever will help me avoid mistakes like that in the future. Second, no matter HOW brilliant I think I am, a first draft is nothing more than a first draft. There is always room for improvement.

...sorry. I know I'm rambling, but I keep coming back to this post again and again. As an unpublished writer, I find the insights and answers here to be very helpful. I'm glad I caught the original post before I got my first rejection letter, because now I think I'll be more level-headed about it. I have no idea what my reaction WILL be, but at least I'll think about the reasoning behind it, be it a form letter or a personal note. Thanks to all of you for your help, however unwitting. ^_^

Jenny

Dear gods. I wish I'd thought of that. I've only been apart from my MS for a week or two, and already I miss it dearly.

Uhm...on another note, I think I made a mistake on my cover letter. Teresa, will I get laughed at (or scoffed at) because I addressed the letter to Mr. Hayden, not Mr. Nielsen Hayden? *sheepish* I thought the name Nielsen was his middle name...until I found this blog and realized my mistake.

Either way, this whole submission process has been very enlightening. At least I can promise that my MS won't smell like cigarette smoke. :D

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