*gasp* OMFG. Is that person on crack?

*Whoa*.

I think I just added one to my list of "I may have done some pretty dumb things, but I never did THAT."

*blink*

*blink blink*

This person looks like a candidate for the Federal Dumbass Protection Program, because that's the kind of stunt that follows you unless you change your name and move across the country.

Somebody's a jackass! I wonder if he's been one of mine.

I will never, ever understand why people do these things. I mean, I grok that it's trying to shore up their poor bruised egos, but surely they must realize that you're not going to say, "Oh, you're right! Your piece is a marvel! I must buy it immediately!" Surely?

Hhhhh. For all of the bullshit hype in Writer's Digest about how you, yes YOU, can make a grand living off writing science fiction, why won't WD bother to explain your very point to its readers? (Oh, I know the answer already: I'm being rhetorical. Writer's Digest presenting the reality of writing is like Entertainment Weekly noting that George Lucas's or Jerry Seinfeld's next project is going to suck as bad as their last.)

I am reminded of the just-finished third season of Top Chef, won by an egotistical fellow named Hung. Tremendously talented chef, but obnoxious. His attitude when a given high-roller chef judged one dish or another of his lacking in some respect was to roll his eyes and say something like, "Well, that's your opinion."

Yes, it was his or her opinion, and they were collectively paid tens of millions of dollars per year for their various opinions, which had created hundreds of fantastic dishes and opened many successful restaurants, which is why they were the judges in the first place.

Finally, he got over the attitude, at least long enough to listen to their critiques and take them to heart... and he won it all.

LOL, I have only ever disagreed with one rejection I received, and despite the fact that it was a BIG disagreement, I still didn't respond to it. I figured either someone got the stories mixed up, or even if that wasn't it, I didn't want to get the reputation of "Ms. Know-It-All-Pain-In-The-Ass" and have any future submissions rejected out of hand!

Sheesh. I have never heard of anyone *asking* to be sent a form letter!

Considering the feedback I received from Critique Partners before I sent this story out, if you had read the entire story, you wouldn't have made that remark. People bawled over this story because it touched them.

Also, [redacted]'s mom says that [redacted]'s a great writer!

I know you're busy. I'm not saying you should read all of everything that comes across your computer screen "unless it's mine." Right?

If someone reacts this way to rejection, I don't think I'd publish them no matter how good a writer they are. =_=

::cringes::

Suddenly I don't feel as bad about all the rejections I've received, because I've never done THAT when I've received one...

People bawled over this story because it touched them.

BAD TOUCH! BAD TOUCH!

I have been rejected a lot.

I have been rejected by people who couldn't spell.

But good lord I really can't believe people do that. What the hell?

Well, it's certainly a LOT easier to send out the "kthxbye" form than articulating what threw me out of the story and why.

From that viewpoint, I'm grateful that readers tell me anything. Form letters are not helpful; criticism is -- even if I don't like it. Time to suck it up and move on.

But, yanno, I suppose it's like those early singers on American Idol who honestly believe they can sing. Easier to believe family and friends than someone in the trenches. And if you're fed a steady diet of how wonderful you are, I suppose that rejection can be a bit of a shock. ;)

Ah, I've read a lot of slush and gotten my share of those types of letters. On my bad days, it's all I can do not to respond to the response telling the author that responding to any rejection is bad form. I know better than to engage with them, but oh! I feel I should spread the word somehow.

Someone that defensive is not yet ready to cross the line from emotional-happy-fun ego writing to writing professionally.

Crap, you guys keep a database?

Who on earth could be stupid enough to ask for a substanceless form letter instead of personal feedback?

the better question is, how did this thread just spoil me for TOP CHEF!?

argh!!

I got a kick out of reading JJA's comments on my very first rejection and heading to their forums where a few regulars would disect and "explain" what he meant in those scant few lines. It was one of the biggest ego boosts of my life thus far to be rejected. Much more of a thrill than I had hoped for. Given the obvious attempt at encouragement you gave [redacted], I probably would have fainted. :p

And is it bad that I read "Sincerely, [Redacted]" as "Sincerely [Retarded]"?

CP looks to be a volunteer organisation. Bears got things to do, deadlines to make, and wheat to separate from chaff (or would that be meat to separate from skin?)... If [Redacted]'s story didn't grab the slushbear in the first few pages, what's to motivate bears from going through the torture of however many other pages of [Redact]ion? If [Redacted]'s work is So Wonderful and So Heartrending, [Redacted] is now free to submit it elsewhere. Or self-publish. Or use it or toilet paper.

Clearly they stuck two pages together near the end so they could have proof that you didn't read all the way. Probably left out a page also to test that you were reading closely.

Did you shake the original submission envelope to see if any pictures of dead Presidents would fall out of it?

At least s/he didn't write to you rejecting your rejection.

Remind me to double your slush reader salary.

:P

When I worked at Tor we used to keep what was known as The Happy Slush Log, which was copies of the truly weird and the entirely stupid, and the occasional Talk Back to the Rejectionist letters we got. This would have fit right in.

Thanks for the laugh. I'm trying to not leak tears. Maybe the brevity was a bit much on top of the shock of rejection. Poor soul. *snicker*

Clearly someone who did not Get It.

I am painfully reminded of working as a writing advisor in college, in which I had to explain to tearful and/or furious frosh why their first college essay had received a C. Or a D. Because they'd been getting A+s and "Very good!" on their papers all through high school, and if it was good enough for their high school teachers, it should be good enough for the college teachers! And some of them never, ever learned that twelve years of school teachers putting gold stars on their papers for remembering to spell words correctly and having something like a thesis didn't mean they were good writers. It just meant they were good enough to get gold stars in high school. Those were the ones it hurt to watch: they'd bring in papers with the same damn mistakes to the writing center, and demand we tell them that no, the writing was perfect, it was just those awful professors not recognizing their genius.

If it weren't for the one kid who came in for three years and improved from "dreadful" to "quite competent" over that time, I don't know that I could have kept at the job. The angry freshmen weren't stupid, but so many of them refused to ever learn.

*blink* o_O; I would hate to see [redacted] face a -bad- rejection letter! Some days I think Prozac in the water might be a good thing... O_o