One of my greatest frustrations as a beginning author is that when a story is rejected the reasons are usually not clear. "It doesn't fit our needs at this time", "We receive more submission that we can publish" are often cited reasons by editors.
Although I sympathize with editors and understand that they do not have the time to elaborately criticize every story that falls on their desk, as a beginning writer it does get to me.
I have several strong stories that are currently being considered by magazines (I wouldn't have sent them out if I didn't think they were worth the editor's time), but so far I haven't had any luck. For reasons that remain unknown to me.
Is it that the stories are really not suited for the markets I've chosen for them or is my writing not strong enough? I'm sure every writer has asked him or herself this very question.
For now, there's nothing for me to do but persevere and hope that my stories do find a good home somewhere...
Just to follow up on this post: here is a market that gives very good feedback! The anthology called 'Extinct doesn't mean forever', edited by Phoenix Sullivan.
ReplyDeleteDon't get me wrong, I'm disappointed my story didn't make the cut. But I got some good feedback on how to improve my story. I'm gonna start working on it soon.
Thanks for the feedback, Phoenix!