WHEN THE EDITOR WANTS MEAT AND YOU'RE A VEGETARIAN

By Susanne Rose

 

 

 

            The envelope you sent out was thick and brown.  So is the self-addressed stamped envelope that comes back.  Instead of the standard form rejection slip, there's a hand written note from the editor with specific comments about what doesn't work.

             Your first important task is determining if the editor is just helpfully pointing out problems you'll want to avoid in your next submission or if he/she is inviting you to revise and resubmit.

              Lots of writers (including this one) have made the mistake of responding to an editor's detailed critique by carefully revising and resubmitting to a major women's magazine only to get a nasty note back from the first reader indicating that manuscripts should never be resubmitted without the express invitation of the editor!   If the editor has invited you to revise and resubmit, a few minutes at the computer keyboard will usually produce a happy and profitable ending to this mini-drama.

            What happens when the editor asks for far more than a couple of minor changes?  What do you do if what the editor wants seems positively impossible? 

 

WHY BOTHER TRYING?

            You worked hard on that manuscript from the first wonderful spark of the idea to the last grueling moment of rewriting and polishing.  Why on earth would you even consider starting over from scratch, trying to incorporate all those terrible suggestions from a total stranger?

             There's one very important reason.  That stranger probably reads more manuscripts every year than you'll produce in your entire career.  Experience has taught him/her what works and what doesn't.  You're being given a golden opportunity to learn how to bridge the gap between rejected manuscript and published article/story.

 

HOW TO START

            The perfectly disciplined writer will glance at the editor's letter and sit down at the computer keyboard, never moving from that spot until the revised copy is completed or the house burns down.  The rest of us mere mortals may need a little help.  a simple game of "What if" often provides the needed shove toward the computer keyboard.

            What if that 4,500 word manuscript went on a drastic diet and wound up weighing in at a mere 2,000 words?  What if you sliced away every word of that carefully thought out back story and ever so well written description?  What if you started your mystery tale with the discovery of the body on what used to be Page eight?  What if the main character in your short story changed places with the minor player who's stealing the show?  What if you shifted the slant of your article...

            By letting your mind play freely with the editor's suggestions, you should find yourself ready and able to tackle that revision.

            What if your mind is still a blank?

            Reread your file copy of the manuscript.  Carefully study the editor's suggestions again.  Then, do something else.  Complete other work in progress.  Do some market research.  Catch up on your filing.  Take the dog for a walk, scrub the floor, or clean out a closet. Your subconscious mind will be hard at work sifting, sorting, and processing ideas.

 

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

   Sooner or later, it's back to the challenge of a blank screen and blinking cursor.  Your fingers are stiff and stubborn as you force yourself to tackle the seemingly impossible revision.  This time, pretend that your posterior is firmly glued to the chair. You're going to complete the task at hand.  No matter what.  If you hate the finished product, you don't have to send it out.  Grumble as much as you want but keep hitting those keys.  You may start out thinking that editor is positively insane.  This will never work!

            Suddenly, it IS working.  The idea is much clearer, the impact twice as powerful, when you're done revising and polishing.  By the time you proudly tuck the finished product into a brown envelope or attach it to an e-mail message and hit "send," you've mentally spent the check that wonderful editor is bound to send you.

 

BACK TO THE PROVERBIAL DRAWING BOARD

            Impossible!  Your perfectly revised masterpiece is rejected with a polite "Thanks for trying, but..." or a cold "Sorry, but this still doesn't work for me.  Please don't bother to try us again with this piece."

            What now?  The smart writer (and of course, that's you!) will sit right down and produce another manuscript for the editor who rejected this brainchild so heartlessly.  Obviously, this editor saw something promising in your work.  Taking the time to write a personal note suggesting how a manuscript might be improved to the point where it would be accepted is hardly a routine part of an editor's busy day. 

            What happens to that manuscript you worked so very hard to revise?  Read it again.  If you still think it's as perfect as you did when you resubmitted it, send it out to another editor and another until it finds a home.   Because editors are individuals, one person's "This won't do!" can easily become another's "Just what I was looking for!"

 

This is critical advice if you want a professional career either in fiction or nonfiction.  You cannot afford to let hurt feelings cost you sales.  Indulge in the hurt feelings, rant, rave, and weep, let the manuscript cool off, and then do exactly as Susanne suggests.  Those comments are actually a major compliment. Unless the editor thinks he/she IS going to buy from you eventually, they don’t bother!  --Mary