That rejection email from a lit mag actually made me a better writer

Got a form rejection from The Cincinnati Review last Tuesday that just said "not for us." Usually I delete those and move on. But this time I went back and read my submission cold. Realized my opening paragraph was all setup and no payoff. Took 3 days to rewrite the first 5 pages. Anyone else ever get a rejection that taught you something about your own writing?

3 comments

3 Comments

phoenixb3417d agoMost Upvoted

The third rejection I got from Ploughshares made me realize my dialogue was all filler. I had characters saying "how are you" and "fine thanks" for like two pages before anything happened. Cut all of that out and suddenly the story had room to breathe. That one edit taught me more than any workshop. It hurt to get rejected but the lesson stuck. Now I read every submission back before I resend it.

emery_white17d ago

Man, I saw a buddy get a rejection from The Sun that made him rewrite his entire ending. He was so pissed at first but then realized his last page was basically him explaining the theme instead of letting the reader feel it. That single rejection fixed a habit three years of workshops couldn't break.

jamesroberts16d ago

Exactly. It's funny how a kick in the pants from someone who doesn't know you can teach you more than years of gentle feedback. Your mileage may vary but I've noticed the same pattern with my buddy who cooks. He spent years getting polite comments from friends about his dry chicken, then one stranger at a potluck just said "needs more salt" and it finally clicked. Sometimes we need that blunt outside perspective to see the obvious thing we've been avoiding.