Why was Your Manuscript Rejected?

As writers, we all want to see our works published. We want to prove that we have something important to say and some readers enjoy reading our words. It is our readers who make breathing worthwhile. Most importantly they make the pain of rejection bearable. Most of us go unpublished and unrecognized from fear of trying to publish or from an overabundance of rejection slips.

Most published writers know rejection letters are impersonal and trivial. They are merely messages to move on. Find someplace else for your work. For the beginning author or the author whose heart is exposed to the world 24/7, a rejection is a rapier cut across the heart. It is highly personal and brutal. It is psychological rape, and its damage is forever.
While there are numerous types of rejection letters, almost all of them fall under four categories. The first category is broad, encompassing nearly half of all rejections, and is entirely due to the carelessness of the writer.

 Rejection by Incorrect Genre 

Imagine you write as well as Dean Koontz. Your grasp of plot and character development are impeccable. Your story will scare your reader into a tizzy of fear and breathlessness as they turn every page. There is no doubt both Netflix and Amazon Prime will be calling you to arrange serialization rights. This literary gem will not only ensure your acceptance into the hall of Successful Writers, but it will make you rich. You submit this well-written scary tale to the editorial staff of Modern Romance, and it is immediately rejected.   Impossible though it might seem, your rejection email is cold and heartless, making no reference to its quality or value. You got what you deserved. Why did you submit a well-crafted, scary tale to a romance publication? There is a rule to be found here. No matter how well written the work, if it is outside the genre of the publication, it is not wanted and utterly worthless to that publication. 

Take the time to determine your manuscripts’ genre. Use tools such as Writer’s Digest and Google to find those publishing houses and publications that handle that genre. Remember, Dean Koontz and Steven King probably never sell to the Romance Industry.

Rejection Because Your Work is   Implausible or Patently Absurd

These are three far too common errors that seem to accrue to writers who write by the seat of their pants. To whit, they have an idea, and they just start writing, and no matter what, they keep on writing. The resulting rejection usually can be attributed to the following reasons.

Fallacies of Plot

What is happening is not plausible. 

Writing by the seat of your pants, while creative and enjoyable, often fosters errors that even minimal organization will eliminate. In the first third of your book, your main character has blond hair and green eyes. In the second third of your book, that character has blond eyes and black hair. Even worse, your hero who grew up in the corn belt now sports a scar gotten while attending the Heidelberg school of dueling.

All these errors are easily seen and easily corrected. Be sure you read your manuscript at least twice with a critical eye.

Using Deus ex Machina

In the year 384 BCE, Aristotle used what became known as Deus ex Machina. No one else has done it as well, and you shouldn’t even try. If you box your hero inside of an impossible situation, do not rely on some god or another to get him out. You put him there, you write a plausible escape. If you can’t do that, rewrite the trap or kill him.

Lack of Character Development and Story Movement is Too Slow.

These two fallacies go hand in hand. Remember you will usually have two or three main characters. The hero, the villain, and perhaps the hero’s sidekick, either a girlfriend, good buddy or someone more than just a peripheral personage but not overly critical to the storyline. You have to build the first two carefully spending the time to make them very real for the reader. Usually, each carries sub stories and incidents which help make them real and fixate them in the reader's mind. Building characters by sub-stories, and simultaneous plotting is fun. Some excellent writers a century or two ago made some really great novels like this. Dickens, Tolstoy, and Conrad come to mind. Keep in mind you are competing with movies, computers, and television. Until your reputation as a writer is secure, you do not want to develop a twelve hundred page novel. Most people no longer have the patience to read such a work.

Remember to build your characters in segments. As you create them, interweave their stories with the lives of your other primary characters, especially the antagonist. Above all, keep your plot moving to points of conflict and dramatic change.

The two remaining serious reasons for rejection are Rejection by Ignoring Rules of Craft and Rejection from Cover Letter Errors.* Both will be covered in my next post.