#63 – Analog Sends First No
02.05.2009So… I checked my mail today and had a good feeling. I received a SASE back from one of my submissions. I didn’t know which of course since they all look the same from the outside. But the postmark was from Manhattan, that much I knew with the “10” digits on the zip code.
Why did I have a good feeling?
Because the envelope was thick. I mean, it felt like there were at least a few pages in there and through the envelope I could see a lot of words written on whatever was inside.
To contrast, rejections from Fantasy & Science Fiction are a quarter sized piece of paper with maybe two-hundred words. Asimov’s returns a full sized sheet but, again, with few words. As it turns out, Analog Fact & Fiction returns two sheets plus the first page of your manuscript. But one can get all worked up about the number of words because the two sheets include not just your rejection but also a full list of reasons why one might have gotten rejected as well as a copy of their submissions guidelines.
Personally, I like the reasons I may have gotten rejected. It’s better than just a form letter saying, “Nah.” But, on the other hand they include:
Manuscripts must be computer-printed or typed, double-spaced, on white paper, one side of the sheet only. The author’s name and address should appear on the first page of the manuscript. Please do not send submissions on a disk.
Yeah. Check. See first page which was returned. It met all of these requirements.
And then:
Since Analog is a science fiction magazine, we consider only sicence fiction stories–that is, stories in which some aspect of realistic science or technology plays and integral part. We do not publish fantasy or stories in which the science is only peripheral.
Yeah. Well… I’ve always looked down on people who don’t read the submissions guidelines in the first place. But it seems like repeating them here is kind of redundant. Couldn’t the first two points be… I don’t know… Assumed?
Of course, who know how many people actually read the guidelines. So maybe they felt this had to be included.
Anyway… I felt that this story totally met their guidelines. Skin has both a strong science element as well as strong characters and an interesting sci-fi background.
Bah….
This marks the fourth rejection for Skin though probably at the market where I thought it had the best chance. Like I’ve described before, Skin is my House story with a whole medical mystery built in. It has two strong female leads and a solution that’s actually based in science fact. I was kind of hoping that it might sneak through. Though, on the other side, the solution is… politically incorrect. But factual!.
On another note, this is my first rejection from Analog, the oldest continually publishing sci-fi magazine in the country. It took them twenty-two days to respond and has pushed my average response time for the year to eight and a half days. No doubt, this response time is going to continue to get longer. Sure, I averaged only seventeen and a half days for the year six with sixteen submissions but the years seven and eight saw submission times around forty days. I think my eight and a half for four submissions is kind of a fluke right now.
So… this makes my sixty-third rejection for this project and I’m still batting zero. Three remain out but more submissions will be made.
In other news, I’ve begun the line edits on my novel. And, it turns out, I have a real problem switching from novel writing back to short stories. I think this problem lies in that I need to outline to focus where I’m going rather than writing and hoping the story comes together.
But the line edits are going pretty well. I think I’m going to print out one chapter at a time and carry twenty-five or so pages around with me to continue editing when I have the time. I also had to rewrite, from the ground up, the first half of the first chapter. But I expect some more of that as I go. And it’s fun. It’s nice having something that I just need to tweak instead of compose from nothing toward who knows what. It’s much easier to remove redundant parts and add necessary detail than think anew.
That latter is where writer’s block comes in and that’s no fun. You doubt yourself, your skills, and your manhood… you know… if you’re a man.
So anyway… the Giants of writing are keeping up their winning score. Stay tuned to find out new and interesting ways in which we can fail.
As always, take it easy, kids.